This was a wonderful contemporary fiction. I enjoyed the writing style and the different characters were relatable and intriguing.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an electronic copy to read and review.

WOW!! I loved this book so so much! A father does his best to help himself and his son move forward after the death of his wife. His son hasn't spoken since the accident that took his mother's life over a year previously. There is a rich cast of characters and I laughed out loud so many times! The story is heartwarming, and funny, and just so wonderfully told. This will definitely be an author to watch!

Thank you @simonschusterca and @netgalley for a copy of Bear Necessity by James Gould-Bourn for an honest review.

Bear Necessity is about Danny and Will, a father and son still adjusting to the grief of losing Will’s mother in a car accident one year ago. Will, who was in the accident, has not said one word since. Danny is struggling to make ends meet on one income when his landlord threatens to break his leg if he doesn’t pay the rent plus interest. Then Danny loses his job and needs to make money fast. After looking for work and running out of time, he does the last thing he can think of, gets a Panda costume and starts dancing for cash in the park.
Bear Necessities is a great story about how a father and son adapt to their new reality, dealing with grief and struggles to adapt along the way. Very interesting cast of characters and a few laughs too.

This is a sweet and heart-warming story about a man named Danny who became a single father to his eleven-year-old son, Will, when his wife died tragically a year before. Danny’s been trying his absolute best, but things aren’t going so well. He’s just been fired from his construction job and his nasty landlord is threatening to break his legs if he can’t pay the rent. Not to mention, Will hasn’t spoken to anyone since his mother died.

Desperate for money, Danny is inspired by a group of local street performers and purchases an old and ratty panda costume—and becomes a very poor dancing panda. It’s his last chance to earn money, and also reconnect with his son.

This was definitely cute at moments, especially in scenes between Danny and Will. Danny is just honestly trying his best, but he’s a bit clueless about the whole parenting thing; his wife was always much better with Will than he ever was. There are also some lovely lines about grief and family, and how one can cope with it all.

That said, I didn’t always *get* the humour or it felt a bit over the top for my tastes. It could sometimes feel a bit absurd, with wildly random events happening and characters sometimes feeling a bit cartoonish.

But all in all, a sweet novel about a father and son doing their best together in the face of loss.

Such a feel-good contemporary fiction book with a lot of funny parts. I really felt myself rooting for the characters and was really invested in the story. (3.5 stars)

This was exactly the type of book I needed right now! It was a quick read for me that was sweet and heartfelt.

Danny's life was falling apart after the tragic loss of his wife Liz. He was now a single father to his 11 year old son Will, who since the loss of his mother, had not uttered a single word to anyone. On top of that, Danny was recently fired from his job and had his nasty landlord breathing down his neck about the rent that he was unable to pay. Needing money fast, he took to becoming a street performer in the park. One day while performing he saw his son being bullied and intervened. Upon this, Will opened up and spoke for the first time, unaware that the dancing panda was his father.

I was rooting for Danny and Will through the whole story and I loved how their relationship progressed. A cast of quirky secondary characters really brought the story to life. While the story was sad and emotional at times, it also had a lot of heart, along with humor and charm! This story was unique and fun and I really liked it a lot! Huge thanks to Simon and Schuster Canada and Netgalley for sending this one my way!

This is an incredibly sweet book. I'm sure there are others out there that touch on grief and the breaking of familial bonds because of it, but it was a new topic for me. I thought the way that Danny strived to reconnect with his son after the death of his wife/his son's mother was heartwarming and admirable. He was trying so hard, just missing some of the signs and had a lack of recognition in what truly mattered to Will. I don't fault him at all for this, because after all, he's dealing with his own grief as well, and has found himself in a situation that he never imagined he would ever possibly be in. His still strong connection to Liz is evident, and he's struggling to live a life without her, alone with their son, not really knowing how to be a father without her around. It's completely understandable that he wouldn't know where to begin, and it's easy to just become complacent and put in the minimal effort when nothing you try seems to be working. And the way he does it is admirable in its own way as well. Throughout the course of the book he puts away his pride and through growth of character, builds his own destiny through hard work and determination. All for the sake of his son and trying to break that wall that has built between them. When Will finally starts to speak to his father - albeit, he doesn't know it's his father, but a dancing panda in the park - I struggled a bit with the idea of a small child sharing his life and feelings with a stranger. While I understand that this seemed necessary for the sake of moving the story along and getting Danny to realise that he doesn't know his son as well as he thinks, it made me uneasy. We are all taught stranger danger as kids, and this breaks that first huge rule. Anyway, Will does eventually piece things together after his father makes changes in their lives after hearing the story as a panda. I liked that bit quite a lot, because then we got more father-son bonding time when Will teaches Danny how to dance, a passion and talent he got from his mother. I even liked Krystal, and how she managed to go from an angry woman in the park to actually being an important part of Danny's wellbeing and assists in helping him bond with Will (I did find it very funny when she/her club offered Danny a job as a performer and Danny, (SPOILER ALERT) accepts it). I also liked the comedic relief in Ivan, and how it was his connections that really helped Danny and Will's situation in the end. The writing overall isn't anything to write home about. It's a bit choppy in places and quite basic, but I found I didn't really mind. The story was compelling enough and I cared enough about the outcomes of the characters that I chose not to dwell on it. If poor or basic writing does make you want to DNF this book, I would encourage you to persevere and read it anyway. The story wraps up nicely, and this book is really just a nice little package of a novel about a dad trying to reach out and bond with his son after tragedy (albeit taking a nontraditional route to do it).

One year ago, Danny’s wife died in a car accident and it’s been one year since their son, Will, has spoken a word to anyone. Danny, now a single father and who works in construction, is trying to balance his home life with his work. After showing up late once too many times, Danny is fired from his job.

Now he’s lost his wife, lost his job, is up to his eye balls in unpaid bills, his son won’t talk to him (actually, he won’t talk to anyone), and his scary and unsympathetic landlord has given him 2 months to pay off all the rent he owes, or else...

But he doesn’t give up, he pounds the pavement looking for something, anything.

He sees an ad for a worker at a costume shop. This job is not to be, but he walks out of there with a used and funky smelling panda bear costume. Not telling his son what their life has come to, he convinces himself that with this smelly panda suit, he will entertain the people in the park and they will throw money at him for all his natural talent and amazing charisma. Yup, he was so wrong. He actually leaves with less money in his pocket than what he started with, and has suffered abuse at the hands (and feet) of the small children in the park.

But it’s one particular instance that has made his life as a street entertainer all worth it. The moment when Will approaches a man in a panda suit and actually starts talking to it.

This is the story of a father and son, and how they turned their sad and lonely lives and fought to turn it around. The story of a father who rebuild his life and found his path.

With the help of quirky characters and comical situations, the author turned some serious topics into a light and heartwarming read. If you liked A Man Called Ove, then you’ll definitely love Bear Necessity.

A big thanks to #NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the advanced copy, this wonderful book has been placed in my hands at the exact moment I needed it.

Not a unique concept, but a very interesting way of writing about it. A solid emotional contemporary story, but honestly not very memorable.

This is a debut novel from an award winning British screenwriter. Bear Necessity is a sweet story of Danny, whose wife died in a car accident a year ago. His eleven year old son was also in the car and has not spoken since. When Danny loses his job and is being threatened by his landlord over the rent he owes, he decides to try being a street performer - as a dancing panda. This is a good recommendation for someone looking for a light uplifting read.

Danny is down on his luck. A year ago, he had lost his wife in a car accident. His eleven-year-old son, Will, was in the car at the time and has not said anything since. Feeling alone and unable to move on, Danny does his best to make ends meet. When Danny is suddenly fired from his job and unable to find work elsewhere, in an act of desperation, Danny does the unthinkable. He buys an old panda costume and decides to become a street performer.
One day, Danny (while in costume) sees Will being bullied by a group of boys. Without thinking, Danny saves Will and sends the bullies away. To Danny’s surprise, Will starts talking to him and opening up to him about his mother’s death. But will he stop talking once he knows that Danny is inside the panda costume?
Bear Necessity is an adorable story about moving on and making the best of life. I really enjoyed the book, but it was so very cliché, I was able to predict with ease what would happen next. The ending was hardly a surprise as well. Bear Necessity reminded me of a movie you would see at the movie theatre, and a week later forget what the title of the movie was. All you can remember is that you went to see a cute movie.
I was initially drawn to this book because I thought it was mostly going to be about conversations between a father and son while the father was in a panda costume. Instead, the story didn’t really focus too much on the conversations between Danny (in costume) and Will. I wish there would’ve been a bit more development in that regard.
I would recommend Bear Necessity to those who are looking for a nice light read.

Bear Necessity is about a father named Danny. He lost is his wife in a car accident nearly a year ago. He almost lost his son, Will, also but fortunately he pulled through. Since the accident nothing much has gone right. Will won't speak - literally not a word to anyone. His landlord raised his rent and his breathing down his neck. He's also got a real jerk for a boss down at the construction site.

In a desperate move Danny buys a used panda costume. He scrapes together a plan to start making money again and maybe get his rent paid before his knee caps get broken by his shady landlord's thug. But time is running out and he's not sure the plan will be enough.

I thought Bear Necessity was a good story line but although it's not a long book there were parts that I thought dragged a bit. There was a lot of swearing in the book that I didn't really think was necessary. Although the cover accurately represents the book, I think it's a little too cute for the story.

I adored the premise of this story - what’s not to love about a Dad dressed in a panda costume trying to make some money to look after his son. There were some truly hilarious moments in the book and I loved that there were some really unusual and interesting characters. Ivan from the building site and Krystal the pole dancer were brilliant and I totally didn’t expect them! But as well as being funny and light hearted, the story looks at some important issues and is ultimately a really moving book. I would definitely recommend this to anyone, it will have you laughing and crying; possibly both at the same time

Wow. This book made me laugh, cry and feel so wonderful. It is one of the most heartwarming yet heartbreaking story with a large dose of humour added to make this a perfect story. The characters are a cast of mismatched people that you would never think could work together and be friends yet they are. The author did an amazing job of creating each of these characters and I could picture them easily in my mind. If you told me this was a story of family, loss and finding each other again I would have thought this would be a book that would leave me sad and feeling down. This book is far from that. It made me laugh out loud numerous times and some of the characters are so feisty you can’t help but love them. If you want to a big smile on your face when you are finished then I highly suggest you read Bear Necessity by James Gould-Bourn. I can’t thank NetGalley and Simon and Schuster Canada enough for allowing me to read this book.

I actually had no idea about this book until I stumbled upon it on Netgally. The cover was sweet enough to make me want to look at the synopsis. I wasn't really sure what to expect other than this being a quick and sweet read. It was that, and more.

It took me a little bit to get into, but I read it in two sittings. I was engaged and interested in the characters and their story. It was sweet and unique. The writing was fun and quirky and I felt told the story well. I felt many emotions during my time reading the story and was ready for a happy ending. The book covers many struggles including death, grief, job loss, bulling. There was definitely a lot of sorrow felt in this book and it made me want to root for Danny and Will. The secondary characters were also great and added to the story over all.

What I felt was missing was that the focus shifted from the father-son relationship, wish I thoroughly enjoyed, to winning a performer competition to help with money struggles. I would have loved the focus to remain on Danny and Will, although I do understand this helped their bond. I just felt it never really looped back to it to tie up lose ends. I Also felt the landlord depiction was too much and unnecessary. All that was needed was someone who was a grump and difficult, not someone who resorted to physical ham.

Additionally, I would have liked the story to be told from both Will and Danny's POV in the first-person, not third person. This would have helped engage with the characters more. I also would have liked to know Will's thoughts when he was not talking.

Overall, I enjoyed this book and would recommend it as a light, sweet and funny read. It covers a lot of sadness, but also happiness too.