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.

I so wanted to love this book. The writing/nature elements were beautiful, but the story itself was odd, or rather not so much the story but the characters. Both MCs felt super shallow and one, in particular, annoyed me so much it kept taking me out of the story. I usually enjoy reading about unlikeable characters, but I guess because the characters felt shallow and unrealized, the experience was more annoying rather than intriguing.

Thanks to Netgalley and Knopf for the ebook. On an island off the coast of Washington State, two grown daughters take care of their ailing mother while working menial jobs. One day a bear is sighted in the area and then it’s found sitting on their front porch. This gritty fable explores these two sisters in many wonderful ways.

An interesting reimagining of Snow White and Rose Red that had me intrigued for a while but then ended abruptly and unsatisfactorily. Seems more like an early draft than a fully fleshed out book.

Julia Phillips digs into the gritty and uncomfortable realities of sisterhood and codependency in Bear. On its surface, this novel is relatively straightforward: Sam and Elena are two sisters, nearing their 30s, living with their increasingly sick mother on a small island off the coast of Washington state. Their lives are stagnating, both working dead-end jobs and barely keeping their heads above the water of medical bills and debt. We primarily follow Sam, who motivates herself through this existence with the promise of one day leaving the island with her sister. And then one day, a bear shows up on the girls’ porch, much to Sam’s disgust and Elena’s growing infatuation.

The places that I was expecting this novel to go did not necessarily pan out as I had anticipated. Intentional or not, the title and the setting are evocative of Marian Engel’s polarizing novel Bear, which also explores an increasingly obsessive relationship between a woman and a bear that has wandered into her life. But this novel feels very different. While the themes of environment and the line between animal and human are still prominent, the focus primarily rests on the relationship between Sam and Elena, and the way that the titular bear almost brings to life the differences between the sisters to which Sam is largely blind.

This is a novel concerned with the intimacies between individuals, and the ways that those bonds can be twisted or misinterpreted, even for entire lifetimes. Sam and Elena therefore read as incredibly realistic and true to what sisterhood can feel like—not necessarily something perfect and idealized, but rather a complex amalgamation of love and obligation and decades of buried resentments. It’s hard from me to separate my personal feelings from a more objective read of this novel, but I will say that anyone who has or has had a sister will probably find traces of themselves in these pages.

The writing itself is beautiful, and Phillips makes some really great narrative choices here that allow the novel’s later turns and reveals to carry a lot of emotional weight. For the first three-quarters of the novel, I almost found myself wishing that Elena was the primary character rather than Sam, given the strange, almost religiously reverent way that she interacts with the bear. In short, Elena felt more interesting. Sam, the younger of the pair, reads as much younger than her 28 years, and her reliance on her (only marginally) older sister to effectively parent her starts to become incredibly frustrating. But in the end, this is an important detail of the novel, and to twist Sam’s initial palatability into an increasingly uncomfortable frenzy regarding her sister is a bit of a slow-burn with a worthwhile payoff.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for the e-ARC of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

I love novels that weave in elements of myth into contemporary settings, so when I heard about “Bear” by Julia Phillips, I knew I had to read it. In “Bear”, readers are treated to a completely atmospheric narrative following two sisters in the San Juan islands in the Pacific Northwest. Sam and Elena live on a remote island, desperately trying to make ends meet while caring for their ailing mother. For years, they’ve struggled pay bills with limited work opportunities available in their small community and are feeling trapped and frustrated by their situation. Through it all, Sam dreams of moving off the island with her sister one day and finding what she imagines to be a bigger, more meaningful life.

One day, a bear swims to shore on the island and turns up near the sister’s house. Sam is shocked to find that her sister is captivated by the wild animal, while she is terrified of it. Full of symbolism, “Bear” is an emotional exploration of sisterhood, nature, and desire – and I couldn’t put it down!

Lovely prose, captivating characters, realistic plot. Well, except for the Bear. Illuminating aspects of poverty and (lack of) free healthcare. The plight of the working poor is at the center of these sisters' hopelessness. I kept turning the pages despite the impending sense of doom Phillips conveys. The ferries and the dark waters seem relentlessly cruel, even as they surprise a somewhat living. I think there are redeeming qualities in both Elena and Sam - heartbreaking to see their love for each other even when they try to save each other. This is not a light beach read; it's a literary novel There may be a few triggers for sensitive readers, but it's a lovely story even so. I like the darkness that pervades the narrative.

The author herself describes this novel as a strange beast, and I’d have to agree with that description. I believe from early on, I knew where thr story was heading and wished to be wrong. While I might not have been wrong about where the story was taking us, I think my reaction when I reached the end of the tale was satisfaction with how Phillips wrapped up the book, rather than what I expected to feel. The novel is an atmospheric read, worth your time simply for the travel destination you embark on a journey to. Having lived near the destination at one time, the background is accurately portrayed. The characters are as complex as the tale itself, and we get to see motivations not always pure in nature play out as the central character follows a path to hold her sister close and carry them safely away from the island and their seeming poor fortune. This novel is truly about the complex relationship between these two sisters, and how they fail each other time and again as they drift to a horrible dénouement. This is not a light read, or a tale about good sibling relationships. It is a worthy read that you need to be open too as it will leave you questioning how you feel at the end..

Julia Phillips's Bear brings a fairy tale feeling to a heartbreaking story of two sisters on a remote island. Sam and Elena struggle to make ends meet while caring for their ailing mother, but things come to a head when Sam sees a bear swimming toward island while working on the ferry. Soon the sisters start having encounters with the bear; while Elena welcomes this visitor, Sam wants to be rid of it.

In the broadest symbolic sense, the bear represents each sisters' ability to "bear" the weight of responsibility. The novel slowly reveals that while Elena can hendle many of the challenges that come her way, Sam's attempts to intervene often have devastating consequences.

This novel is certainly a slow burn and was, for me, particularly challenging because I found myself getting upset with Sam. She is the epitome of a spoiled little sister, but at times borders on sociopathic. This isn't a critique, but I'm in a mood where it was hard to work myself into picking the book up because I knew I would be so annoyed with Sam!

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.