To Cook a Bear: A Novel Paperback – January 12, 2021

Fascinating story of a historical figure, shedding light on Lars Levi Laestadius’ work. As a Swedish Sami pastor, he founded the revival movement to help his largely Sami congregations, who were ravaged by alcoholism.Northern Sweden, 1852. Laestadius, an avid botanist and pastor, shelters a runaway Sami boy named Jussi. He takes the boy on many excursions into nature teaching him how to observe what surrounds them. The botanical treks are also filled with philosophical discussions, but their spiritual journey is disturbed when a maid goes missing.Jussi is a faithful disciple in every aspect. When they’re pulled to assist in finding the missing maid, Laestadius has Jussi deducing from the scene as much as possible, with which the boy struggles at first. Pastor, on the other hand, while reasoning scenarios reveals in his knowledge. Those scenes may unnerve some.When another maid goes missing, bait and traps are laid in the forest for the killer bear. The blame is put on a bear, but pastor notices traces of something else.Meanwhile, the pastor preaches powerful sermons, praising the farmers and workers, discouraging drinking. When people choose revival over alcohol, the pastor gains enemies among local rulers who see their profits dwindle.Jussi comes from an abusive family. The punches and hunger are the two things he remembers the most, and that’s what made him run away. The scenes of his abusive childhood are short, but are presented vividly, which may rattle some. On the other hand, there is a warm connection between the pastor and the boy. The boy sees the goodness in pastor despite experiencing only cruelty before. There is a nurturing relationship which is heart-warming. It gives the story a softer touch, which alleviates the harshness to some extent.Pastor’s kindness extends to other students. He is convinced that with more education, the drinking would diminish, and with better diet some diseases would be eliminated. Thus, introducing potatoes in the north where one plant can produce many potatoes. Pastor is an extraordinary character who has a vision for a better future for the people of his harsh Arctic land. He knows that with kindness and education you can get much farther than with harshness and punishment of shortcomings. “The region needed pioneers who, with wisdom and tenacity, could lead the flock forward.”The story offers the great wisdom of the pastor, which is very engaging, but his detailed reasoning at times can send a chill down your spine. Nevertheless, it keeps one guessing and in suspense. It also brings what then would be something new in solving a murder case, scientific methods of papillary patterns (fingerprints) and light-pictures.Overall, it is a very absorbing and gripping story, with characters that engage, and captivatingly setting in motion philosophical questions of life, especially at such remote place as Arctic region with as harsh climate as people’s judgements.

My second Niemi's book. It's a great writing about Sweden's North, folk, history of revival movement and mistreatment of Lapps in the 19th century Sweden... not so great detective story though - quite a few findings seem to be rather supplementary than complimentary, looking more like gap fillers to make the detective part of the story smooth towards its end... At this moment, there are more than enough of those that the author couldn't resist surprising the reader by revealing who the bear is...The story is not dynamic at all, heavily focused on depiction and analysis of the characters of several protagonists and surroundings. This, when a reader immersing deeper and deeper, is beautifully transitioned to portraying environment of those days - very similar like it was done in the "Popular music..."... and very alike, I had a feeling that when the author thought that he said enough, what by all means was done nearly perfect, he became sort of bored and wrapped the story up... A bit sad, yet I did enjoy most of it.

How nice that a book I was very excited to read lived up to my expectation! Your pal, Candace Siegle, Greedy Reader, has been reading a LOT for a long time, and it is hard to surprise me, but "To Cook a Bear" did.Set in the far north of what is now Sweden, it's the story of Laestadius, the Lutheran revivalist preacher and naturalist, and the Sami boy he takes under his wing. Most of the story is told through the eyes of Jussi, who, like Laestadius, is part of the indigenous community of Sami reindeer herders who are being destroyed by alcoholism. There's a murder in their village, and the pastor does not believe that the young woman's death was the result of a bear attack. We're in the 1850s and Laestadius is inventing investigatory methods.The translation is excellent and the story flows. I'm sure I'm not alone in knowing little about the far north where people speak Finnish, Norwegian, Sami, and occasionally Swedish. It's remote, but the latest technology does find it's way in in the firm of photographic equipment for Daguerreotypes. The pastor makes creative use of this edgy new technology in his investigations.I highly recommend this novel for its originality and creativing. You will be enchanted.Deepest thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for access to this wonderful book.~~Candace Siegle, Greedy Reader