Bear
A Novel
-
-
3.3 • 87 Ratings
-
-
- $11.99
Publisher Description
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • From the celebrated author of Disappearing Earth comes a tale of family, obsession, and a mysterious creature in the woods—“a mesmerizing story about hope, sisterhood, and survival with a truly shocking twist at the end” (People, Book of the Week).
NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW EDITORS’ CHOICE • A GOOD MORNING AMERICA BUZZ PICK!
FINALIST FOR THE JOYCE CAROL OATES PRIZE • LONGLISTED FOR THE CAROL SHIELDS PRIZE FOR FICTION • A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: NPR, Vulture, Chicago Public Library
“Thrilling and propulsive, glorious and terrifying. Julia Phillips is a brilliant writer.”—Ann Patchett
“Beautiful and haunting . . . this is brilliant.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
They were sisters and they would last past the end of time.
Sam and Elena dream of another life. On the island off the coast of Washington where they were born and raised, they and their mother struggle to survive. Sam works on the ferry that delivers wealthy mainlanders to their vacation homes while Elena bartends at the local golf club, but even together they can’t earn enough to get by, stirring their frustration about the limits that shape their existence.
Then one night on the boat, Sam spots a bear swimming the dark waters of the channel. Where is it going? What does it want? When the bear turns up by their home, Sam, terrified, is more convinced than ever that it’s time to leave the island. But Elena responds differently to the massive beast. Enchanted by its presence, she throws into doubt the desire to escape and puts their long-held dream in danger.
A story about the bonds of sisterhood and the mysteries of the animals that live among us—and within us—Bear is a propulsive, mythical, richly imagined novel from one of the most acclaimed young writers in America.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Two sisters have very different responses to a grizzly bear appearing in their lives in this allegorical tale. In the wake of COVID-19, two twentysomething sisters struggle with financial worries, caring for their dying mother, and watching their dream of escaping San Juan Island fade. After Sam spots a bear swimming alongside the local ferry she works on as a vendor, it then unexpectedly turns up at their home. Sam is terrified, yet her older sister, Elena, becomes obsessed, seeking out the creature at every opportunity. The subtly tense and compelling drama builds as author Julia Phillips’ impressively deep yet flawed characters try to work out why the bear has disrupted their lives and what, if anything, it wants. Delving into topics of inequality, sisterhood, and obligation, the novel stalks around its wooded setting, feeling ever more claustrophobic. This gorgeously written, haunting tale is a powerful fable about class, family, and our relationship with nature.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In the beautiful and haunting latest from Phillips (Disappearing Earth), two 20-something sisters contend with economic precarity and their mother's terminal illness on present-day San Juan Island, Wash. Sam, the protagonist, and her older sister, Elena, have spent their entire adult lives caring for their mother, a former manicurist whose lung disease was brought about by exposure to chemicals while on the job. Faced with spiraling medical bills, the sisters have no choice but to take unrewarding jobs (Sam as a vendor on the local ferries, Elena as a waitress at a golf club), the drudgery of which is leavened only by the expectation of a "better future" after their mother dies and they sell the house. That is, until they encounter an unexpected visitor to the island: a grizzly bear, which becomes a powerful symbol of hope for Elena, who believes the animal is magical; and terror for Sam, who considers it nothing but a dangerous menace. The bear provides a vehicle for the author's masterful characterization, as the sisters clash over their perception of the grizzly's meaning in their lives, and for the increasingly suspenseful plot. Phillips prefaces the story with an excerpt from the Brothers Grimm fairy tale "Snow-White and Rose-Red," about two sisters who play with a bear, which sets a simultaneously playful and ominous tone and contrasts powerfully with the novel's supremely executed realism. This is brilliant.
Customer Reviews
So depressing
I wanted to love this book. I’ve spent time around the San Juan islands and love it there. I love bears. This should be a great book! But wow, it was depressing from end to end. And while Sam is a complicated and tragic protagonist, I did not find her sympathetic at all.
Sisters forever…
A great read! It’s a disservice to call “Bear” an allegory, because it’s such an intimate and richly detailed depiction of two sisters’ very real lives in the backwaters of one of the Pacific Northwest’s crown jewels. But, as readers of Phillips’ “Disappearing Earth” know, her characters’ very grounded lives exist in a world where larger than natural forces hold sway. The way Phillips renders that tension is spellbinding.
Ridiculous!
I kept trying to convince myself this would get better with a believable conclusion. Don’t waste any money on this garbage.
Anyone who resides in the PNW wouldn’t be as ignorant as these two sisters. Elena for being some twisted version of Dian Fossey, “Gorillas In The Mist” Then there’s poor me, selfish, vindictive just barely younger sister Sam who’s too lazy to seek employment from other than concessions on the WADOT Ferries holding a ‘Mariners Certification’.
Bottom line…if you want to read about some major family dysfunction with some passive aggressive affair carried on while on duty on the ferry, then toss in a bear, have at it! Lastly, the location of the San Juan Islands was used like name dropping some knowledge of the Islands.