DNF at 4%.

I'm just not excited by the opening of this book when I have so many other books to be excited about. I'm still going to give it a neutral three-star rating though!

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House for the ARC. This title published June 25, 2024!

As a huge fan of Julia Phillips’ debut Disappearing Earth, I was incredibly excited about her long-awaited second novel. Unfortunately, Bear just wasn’t for me. As someone that worked a service job during the pandemic, a lot of this struggled to ring true, and the sister relationship did not quite make sense to me. I was so frustrated with the decisions that everyone was making, which just left me finishing the book while kind of mad.

ok. So, I have all kinds of feelings about this book. I requested it from NetGalley because I loved Philllips' <I>Disappearing Earth</I>, and her writing is just as evocative and moving as I remember. There is a fairly dysfunctional family at the heart of this story, but it's almost as if they have no idea they are dysfunctional until it's too late. Each character lives in their own world of reality, with very little overlap between them.

And then, there's a Bear. This is not a spoiler if you've read the title, but I do feel the need to warn you. You might, if you're like me, find yourself irrationally screaming (on the inside) at the characters, "It's a BEAR!!!" but it will not help the situation. I was compelled to keep reading to see how it would all work out (this was not for everyone, if you read other reviews, but I thought it was the only plausible ending). As you might have guessed by now, I didn't particularly care for the main characters, though I did sincerely like several of the secondary characters. I also enjoyed the setting of the story, which might be considered a character in itself, in a part of the world I've never been. When all is said and done, this story left me thinking about it long after I turned the last page, so despite my misgivings, there is something to be said for that.

Set in the beautiful, slightly wild, yet settled San Juan islands of the Pacific northwest, Bear is an intriguing look at the hardships and beauty of life, and the delicate balance of all things.

Sam and Elena are sisters. The circumstances of their lives stem from growing up in an enchanted, isolated place in an inherited home with a beautiful mother who struggled to make ends meet. Along comes a step-father who rules with an iron fist. Sam and Elena learn to depend solely upon each other and they dream of getting off their island and living together, united forever. Their step-father is removed from their lives and their mother floats through the rest of her life. Gradually she becomes more frail and dependent on the girls as illness takes over her body. The only tie Sam feels to the island is her mother's dwindling health and her plans to leave with her sister.

Working for the ferry system, Sam and other passengers are astounded to see a bear swimming in the open water toward their island. Sam wakes soon after that encounter to discover the bear has visited their home. She is terrified and thrilled, but her sister is enchanted. The story is of the very different reactions to the bear in their lives, and how for so long sister were united in their quest for a different life. The story of the bear really is an allegory of how two people are seemingly so in sync, yet vastly different under the surface. Life never brings what we expect. There is beauty all around us, as well as darkness and fear. Essentially what we feed grows and fulfills our expectations.

This is the story of life and it's path of twists and turns. Often the reality we imagine is vastly different from what the outcome brings.

I'm on a streak of DNFing book, so maybe this is on me, but 30% into this book and I kind of hate all the characters and the premise. Nothing is really happening other than a bear keeps coming around and everyone is miserable.

A short and compelling story that is an interesting way to help you feel the emotions of grief, gratitude, grace, love and compassion all within a crazy story in which a bear plays a prominent role. When I finished this book initially I was disappointed. What the heck? That was my first thought, then as time went by I realized I was missing something. So I listened to a podcast with the Author Julia Phillips and her thought process and her reasoning impressed and impacted me. She gave me lots of information to think about, and I gave the story a second pass. Wow! Her writing is great and it is a fantastic way to SHOW us about all of these emotions in events that are very rare. I liked it a lot more. I would give this one a shot! 4 stars.

This was a really interesting story with the Bear being used as a metaphor. The characters weren't super developed, that would have helped some but I liked that there was a sense of hope for something better. Better development would have helped me connect with the story and root for hte main character, who wasn't likeable.

"𝘚𝘢𝘮 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘧𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴, 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘦 𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘯𝘰 𝘴𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘴, 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘭𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘥."

I picked up 𝗕𝗘𝗔𝗥 after my friend @jennydlovesthebooks raved about it and I'm so glad I did.

It's the story of two young adult sisters living on San Juan Island whose worlds revolve around taking care of their terminally ill mother. Their lives are small and repetitive, stuck in a rut they can't seem to escape... until a rare brown bear appears in the area. Younger sister Sam is terrified of it but Elena is enthralled, seeking it out and changing the course of their lives forever.

Julia Phillip seems to infuse elements of fables and fairy tales into the book, with hints of mysticism and strong ties to nature. There's a really strong sense of place and the audiobook narration brings the story to life beautifully. While the first half of the book is a slow burn, the second is propulsive, hurdling the reader toward a jaw dropping ending I won't soon forget.

Thanks to PRH Audio and Random House for the copies to review.

3.5 stars. I received Bear as an ARC through NetGalley and read it over a couple of months. Two sisters in their 20s living on an island with their dying mother discover a bear and a parable or fable of sorts begins. The relationship of the sisters and their mother is purposefully frustrating (hanging with Sam’s brain was a challenge) and the author expertly uses the atmosphere to enhance the story. Julia Phillips has a quiet style that approaches relationships and subject matter in a unique way. I loved Disappearing Earth which captured loneliness and isolation in a way that has stuck with me. While the pacing of Bear didn’t completely work for me (second half was much stronger) I look forward to reading more of her books in the future.

Thank you netgalley and Random House Hogarth Books for the advance copy of this.
I loved Disappearing Earth and was excited to read this next novel by Julia Phillips. The writing was great as I expected, and I did feel dropped onto San Juan Island. This book dug deep into how siblings can be so close but still have different memories of how things happened, or ideas about how things are going to unfold. Many reviewers said the ending shocked them, but to me it was not shocking. This story lies halfway between reality and fairy tale, but it calls to the fairy tales that didn't always have a happy ending, the Hans Christian Anderson type insteed of the Disney-fied version. I couldn't put this book down and I had a lot of empathy for both sisters, but especially Sam as the reader mostly gets the story from her perspective. I also had oldest sibling empathy for Elena. This is a book you should read if you like literature that isn't black and white and leaves you pondering what exactly the story was about after all.

Thank you @netgalley and @randomhouse @hogarthbooks for this advance copy.
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Isn’t this the most gorgeous, eye catching cover? Bear is a beautifully written story with a fairytale like quality about two sisters who feel stuck in their small island community while struggling to care for their ailing mother. And then a bear shows up at their house. I was interested in the story as the family dynamics of these two sisters were slowly revealed, but the point of the bear was not entirely clear to me, and much of the story focuses on it. It would be interesting to discuss this one with a book club to get different perspectives on the bear and what the author is trying to say, if anything. A unique and thought provoking family drama.

This could have easily bumped up to a 4-star read for me, but I had some issues with the way the characters were treated and developed. It's a great story about family and duty and sacrifice, loss and grieving. I liked the root of the characters - Elena is the older sister, the responsible one who does what's expected of her with little push back. Sam is the younger sister, immature and drifting through life, doing the bare minimum. They're both struggling with caring for their dying mother, but their struggles form what seems like an unbreakable bond. It's their story, their relationship, that I enjoyed most about this book. Enter the bear. It appears on the island one day and seems fixated with Elena, and she with the bear. Here's where I struggled. Both Sam and Elena's reactions to the bear bordered on ridiculous and out of character for both of them.

I was not surprised by the ending; based on the build up, it really was the only way it could end. But I was disappointed in it; it felt like an easy way out of so many loose ends.

I received an ARC of this book and was really looking forward to it based on the description. It’s written in a really interesting way where everything seems slow and almost mundane while at the same time, somehow, symbolic and fantastical. It was a bit of a slog for me, I’ve got to admit. Not enough to abandon it, but still. The characters felt very real, very much people and situations you know exist prolifically and heartbreakingly. But then there’s the bear. It’s an interesting yet odd one, and I’ll leave it at that.

ARC review: publish date 6/25/24
Thank you NetGalley for letting me read more books!

While this book sings with atmospheric prose and called on fables for inspiration, it misses the mark in plot and character. The main protagonist, Sam’s, endless complaining grated. This story could have been told in a few pages and I’m not sure why we needed a whole book. I didn’t hate reading it but expected so much more.

Honestly, it was written beautifully. But Sam made
me crazy with loathing, I really was expecting a paranormal/spiritual twist but was left wanting, and the ending absolutely sent me.

2.5 stars

This book has gotten a lot of buzz, and I can see why. I was intrigued from the get-go. I like the writing style, and the fact that a Bear is in the book makes it all the better.

I appreciate the publisher and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest opinion.

"Bear" has the air of fable or parable: elements of unreality, allusions to roses and poisoned apples, to dark and light. An island, San Juan, in the Pacific Northwest. A family: two sisters and their mom. One sister (Sam) works at the snack bar on the ferry going back and forth from the mainland -- a job interrupted (along with its pay) by the pandemic. She is bitter, closed off; her single non-family relationship is with a co-worker with whom she from time to time has emotionless sex in a ferry bathroom when business is slow. The other sister (Elena) tends bar at the club of a golf course. Mom stays at home now, dying from exposure to the chemicals she used everyday working at a nail salon. Their house is aging but the property it sits on is valuable: builders of vacation houses would buy it in a second if the family offered it for sale. The sisters have long planned to sell it when their mom passes away.

Each day follows the next with predictable sameness. Then one day Sam looks out a window on the ferry and sees a bear swimming towards the island. She is surprised, even bemused, but doesn't make more of it than that... until the bear appears one day on the porch of the family house. And reappears again. And again, as if it were visitation of some kind. The sisters react differently, Sam with fear and Elena with fascination.

"The Bear" is the story of how the sisters respond over time: to the bear, their neighbors, authorities, secrets.

Phillips is a hell of a writer. Vivid passages like this, for example, drew me in: Sam thought about the water off the sides of the ferry. The white pattern of ripples on top, and the bear’s bulk breaking through, pushing past. The tree-covered hills that met them at every return to the island. The swaying masts of the hundreds of sailboats moored. She thought about the girls she and Elena went to school with. The few who had stayed; the many who’d left.

And this, an entirely different kind of clarity that conveys so much: "[She] spent a long time talking about [the bear's] body. The impossibility of its size. The thickness of its arms, the depth of its smell, the force it exuded -- its presence had made Elena's ears keener and her eyes sharper, had shocked her senses into new sensitivity. It had looked right at her. Taken her in. Its eyes were small, close-set, colored a rich orangey yellow and lined with black. Its nose twitched as they stood there together. It inhaled her. Elena talked about her sighting the way a person might if an angel touched down in front of them, or if a burning bush spoke, or if, Sam supposed, a grizzly walked up, met their gaze, and did not do them harm.

If you choose to enter the world of "The Bear," go with a open mind. The story unfolds in a "normal" way but you'll find your balance thrown off by the You'll want to grab characters by the shoulders and try to shake some sense into them, or tell them to... well, I'll leave it there.

Bear is the story of two sisters who live with their dying mother in a house that is falling apart on an island filled with money and tourists. When a bear swims to the island and starts to terrorize the inhabitants, the two sisters have opposite reactions. Sam sees the bear as a threat to their lives whereas Elena sees the bear as a sign of miracles to come. The bear becomes an object that draws a wedge between the two sisters and is ultimately a bringer of truth.

Sometimes metaphors are hard to figure out, but in Bear, the arrival of the animal and the two sisters' opposite reactions make it pretty easy. The huge figure of the hulking animal, smelling of musk and rot, is really the arrival of reality for Sam. She has lived in a world of obviousness and delusion, thinking that there are plans for after their mother died, and that it was just her and her sister against the world. The bear shows her that Elena has other interests besides her plans. Elena is burdened with the day to day crush of debt and her mother's care, problems with no end in sight, and the threat of their house falling apart. To Elena, the bear is something new, something that gives her hope, something that makes Elena think about a better life where she spends time escaping her burdens. 

I enjoyed Bear more than I expected. I did not initially care much for Sam. She is rude, condescending, and not really interested in anything but getting off of the island as soon as her mother dies. While the story unfolds, the delusions that she holds unravel, and we realize that needs our sympathy more than our judgment. Both sisters are dealing with the same central grief of their mother’s eventual death, and Sam’s way of dealing with her mother’s sickness is to have dreams and almost an excitement toward how much different and better her life will be as soon as she dies. This makes her cold toward everyone she meets, and while her delusions fall apart, there is a little sense of satisfaction that she was so completely wrong and left with nothing in the end.

Bear is a good novel, and it is one where many pieces of the story will stick with me for a long time after finishing the novel. I like the remoteness of the island and the indifference of the character who changes the life of Elena and Sam. The bear does not care about their mother, their finances, their house, their life situation, and the secrets that they keep from each other, but he is able to be the catalyst to the truth being revealed. 

I received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

A hauntingly beautiful portrayal of sisterhood. This novel follows two sisters born thirteen months apart, Sam and Elena. They live in the Pacific Northwest and their mother is dying. The sisters are financially struggling, trying to make ends meet. One day, Elena spots a bear swimming in the channel as she is on a ferry. She can’t believe what she has seen and tells her sister about it, who is skeptical. But then the bear shows up at their house. Elena thinks this encounter is magical, Sam believes it’s dangerous. What follows is a stunning story about the human – animal connection, the ways in which humans continue to encroach on nature, and of course, sisterly love. Phillips has done a striking job rendering a strong sense of place. This is the perfect book for people who like unique stories about animals, sisters and family bonds.

I loved the writing in this book so much - yes it’s the story of a bear coming into the sisters’ lives just as their mother is dying, but the central theme is really all about the sisters’ relationship. such an interesting look at sibling dynamics and how grief can tear apart the closest of family, with the bear part of the plot serving as an interesting and unique storytelling device. i also gasped at the ending i did not see coming.

This was the first book I had read by this author and I will go back and read her other, Disappearing Earth. Sam and Elena are two sisters who live with their terminally ill mother on an Island in Northwest Washington. Elena works at a local golf club and Sam, after trying to work at the golf club as well and getting fired, works for the Washington state ferry, though not as an employee of the state, she works for a company that provides drinks and snacks for riders. One day Sam notices a bear swimming in the water beside the ferry, everyone thinks it's swimming to Canada. A few days later the bear shows up in front of their house, to say they are terrified is an understatement. They contact the Wildlife office who tell them it's probably a black bear and to leave it alone and not try to get close to it. Sam is convinced it's a grizzly but no one believes her. Sam has a friend with benefits fellow who also works on the ferry, they get together usually in the back seat of a car or in a bathroom on the ferry, she doesn't see a long future with him but she's going with the flow for now. Sam has grand plans, the house they live in was originally owned by their grandmother, her mom, her and her sister have lived there their whole lives. Sam and Elena had discussed what would happen when their mother passes, the house sits on a large plot of land and there are several other houses that have been developed into large mansions, they think they can easily get half a mil for theirs even in the dilapidated condition its in. Elena has always been the person that looks after the finances, her and Sam's meager earnings go to medical bills and to keep them alive. The bear becomes a magical thing in Elena's life something to make her feel alive. I won't go on as I would hate to give the ending away, this was a beautiful and so very sad book, and I really enjoyed it and highly recommend. Thanks to #Netgalley and #Hogarth for the ARC.