What an amazing little book. Loved the story and the characters. Phillips is an amazing writer. Will see recommend to many patrons.

Thank you so much for the arc of The Bear. This book reminded me of Lauren Geoff's the Vaster Wilds in a way. I think it was how Bear was a survival story where the landscape has such an impact on the characters.

I loved the PNW setting because I could easily picture the ferry and the Islands. And I really liked the relationship between the sisters as seen through Sam's point of view.

I'm still not sure how I feel about the ending...it was unexpected which I appreciate but really really sad!

I'll definitely read Julia Phillips' next book!

Bear highlights two sisters living on an island off the coast of Washington state, caring for their ailing mother. Their world begins to turn upside down when a bear appears at their home.

This gave an interesting perspective into nature, sisterhood, and the feeling of being trapped because of circumstance. The idea being will undoubtedly leave the reader with strong emotions.

Thank you to NetGalley and Hogarth Books.

I struggled with this book a little. It took me a bit to get into it. This book is about two sisters and their very complicated relationship and one bear that complicates it even more.

I really wanted more juicy revelations or scandals with this being a family drama. I think this book just didn’t resonate with me like it would have had I been the right audience.

I’m rating this book 3 stars because I did find myself getting caught up in the story once it picked up and it made me want to finish the book to find out how the sisters story would end.

I was captivated reading Bear. Having no prior knowledge about this book I was pleasantly surprised. A huge brown bear appears on the island of San Juan, Washington and the people are concerned. The bonds of sisterhood are strained by caring for an ill mother, their jobs, wanting a better life, love, and keeping secrets. The bear mesmerizes the oldest sister, which eventually brings this story to a boiling point. Thank you, NetGalley for the opportunity to read Bear!

This book!!!!!!!!!

Julia is a masterful story teller. I absolutely loved Disappearing Earth a few years back and I was eager to get my hands on this. That being said I felt like the build up and the mystery of the story were rather anti-climatic. The ending I know was intentionally awful, but I really feel like it should have ended differently (a reader's woe I guess). The relationship dynamics between the sister really drive the story and I could picture everything really well.

I do not think this book is for everyone and don't think I could really recommend it (hence the three stars).

“Bear” by Julia Phillips is a mesmerizing novel set on a Pacific Northwest island. It follows two sisters, Sam and Elena, whose lives are disrupted by an unexpected visitor—a mysterious bear. Phillips skillfully weaves complex characters and emotional landscapes, although I found the bear-focused sections less engaging

Two sisters on San Juan Island have committed to staying on the island to care for their mother. The very different sisters work all the time, live a secluded life and stick by each other. Enter a bear, unusual on the island this bear seems to be uniquely coming to their home, staying near and seemingly befriending Elena while Sam is terrified. The wildlife officers have deemed him harmless but advise everyone to stay away. Why is Elena so intrigued by this special bear? Do they have a bond?
Read for yourself!

Sisters Elena and Sam live on an island off the coast of Washington State with their bed-ridden mother. Their lives are centered around caring for their mother, working low-paying jobs, and dreaming of a better future. One day, a bear is spotted on the island and he seems drawn to the sisters. As the impending loss of their mother draws closer, Elena engages in increasingly risky behavior around the bear. Inspired by the fairy-tale Snow-White and Rose-Red, this is a beautifully written novel.

I am not 100% sold on this novel, but I think there are some very bright spots throughout. The writing is wonderful and the setting is very atmospheric, but Sam and Elena, while intriguing, just didn't do it for me. I appreciated the story, I didn't appreciate the pacing. I needed things to speed up a bit. Again, the story is wildly beautiful, but I just wasn't able to stay connected all the way through.

Bear has been a unique engrossing read about two sisters who are wrestling with big life issues. They wrestle with feeling trapped by a small town. When a bear appears on the island their hopes and fears are elevated and makes them examine all they believe and understand to be true. I love Philips writing style. Her weaving of this tale, imagery and word choice is perfect. I am grateful to the publishers and Net Galley for the opportunity to read this engaging book.

Bear is a wild book in so many ways. It starts as a fairy tale, but this is more of a dark Grimm fairy tale than any gentle tale of girls in the woods. It's smart and beautifully written, with lush prose. It didn't entirely work for me, however. I love a fairy tale retelling, but I spent much of the novel frustrated with the two sister's actions- though much of the story revolves around the question of who is the good sister, anyways. I did not love this, but I liked it, and I thought it was a fitting meditation on humanity versus nature, and what it means to want more when more may be beyond us. Four complicated and messy, but powerful, stars.

This is a big, brave and brutal book - a story of two sisters living a hard life on San Juan Island off the Washington coast. The geography was a character of its own, one I know well having been to the island several times. The depictions of the landscape, the water, the ferries, and the town of Friday Harbor added to my enjoyment and investment in the story.

Elena and Sam are struggling to get by, as their mother lingers from a deadly disease. Elena is the 'responsible' one who holds this fragile family together. Sam is the dreamer, who knows one day they will pay off their debts, get off the island, and have a chance at a better life.

Then something mysterious happens - a bear shows up on the island, and at the sisters' front door. Sam is afraid and cautious, but Elena sees the animal as a sign. And so the split between the sisters begins. Sam wants to report the bear to authorities, Elena considers the bear her spirit animal.

Sam begins a campaign to win her sister back to her side, working with state officials, a friendly neighbor, and a wanna-be boyfriend.
The story focuses on the struggle between the sisters, between human and wild animal, and between dreams and idle wishes. Highly recommended!

Sometimes I think if I read another book about a middle-aged woman finding out her husband is having an affair; or about a thirty-something finding love where she least expects it; or about a divorced woman hiding from her abusive ex... I will just give up on reading! (haha - not really. NEVER!)
BUT - I've never read a novel with a plot like this one (I guarantee you haven't either) and it was awesome. I was hooked from the beginning and I read through it very quickly, loving every page. Without spoiling anything - I'll just say that the story is about two sisters who have had very difficult lives, but seem to be managing. Then the title character arrives.
I was a fan of Phillip's first book, Disappearing Earth. This book is very different and I liked it even better. She is brilliant at using words and phrases that surprised and delighted me. An experience riding on a ferry happens during a "few wet minutes", the moon is "a hole in the darkness". Metaphors are light and perfect. Twists are unexpected but absolutely earned. Loved it.

BEAR by Julia Phillips is a novel purportedly about two sisters, Sam and Elena, who live with their ailing mother in financial precarity on San Juan Island off the coast of Washington. When a bear starts coming around to their home, Sam becomes increasingly distraught, while Elena views it as a thrilling diversion. Halfway through, I was wondering where, exactly, this was all going—because a bear isn’t that scary or unusual to me. Knowing Phillips’ brilliance from her first novel, DISAPPEARING EARTH, I kept reading, trusting that she’d spin something splendid from this premise.

She does. This is a novel about dreams deferred, the things we hold on to, misperception, and sisterhood. What I love most is that there isn’t just one interpretation of the bear and what it signifies; there are multiple levels at which the narrative works, the bear a shape-shifting shadow that casts dappled patterns onto the terrain of the story and onto the psychology of the sisters. There’s their mother’s abusive boyfriend, a stale friend-with-benefits situation, terminal illness, the suffocating sensation of being trapped on an island, the older sister-younger sister dynamic, and the disorienting vertigo of questioning everything you ever believed. It’s a Rorschach test of sorts, perhaps, but I don’t want to give the impression that this is just a cerebral book that twists your brain into knots. Rather, it coaxes the reader to accompany Sam to the emotional precipice of that moment that she’s been waiting for all her life, after which everything will finally fall into place.

I will absolutely read anything Phillips writes; her prose always reminds me of why I love the act of reading—pure pleasure. I fully recommend BEAR to patient readers of literary fiction who are willing to wait for the payoff; the second half of the novel acquires escalating complexity and intensifying unease as the reader is led into an open-ended modern parable with age-old themes.

I didn't care for this book.
My sympathy was for the bear. I was against Elena’s feeding the wild animal or having any intersection with it because it’s always to the animal’s detriment.
I didn’t like any of the characters except for the bear.

This was an absolutely spellbinding story of two sisters and their lives on the island of San Juan, Washington. It felt like I was reading a modern-day fairytale where you have a sickening sense of dread at what you sense is coming but you can’t stop reading.

At some points, while reading, I wished that we got POVs from both sisters instead of just Sam. I really feel like their perspectives and the way that they interpret events would have made an excellent contrast. Even without Elena’s POV, the interactions between her and Sam show the full range of sibling relationships. It felt so raw and real. The struggles that they go through are depicted in such a human way.

A captivating and thought provoking story about sisterhood, class, and our relationship with nature. The writing is atmospheric with rich character development. A good read!
Many thanks to Random House and to Netgalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

BEAR follows two sisters, Sam and Elena, who live with their dying mother on an island off the coast of Washington. They’re barely scraping by with their low-paying service industry jobs while attempting to manage their mother’s care and mounting medical bills. Their lives are upended when a bear arrives on the island and seems to have a connection to the sisters. While Sam is terrified, Elena is enchanted.

I was intrigued by the unique, seemingly trance-like premise of this book, but despite how quickly I read it, I didn’t get that sort of hazy experience I was hoping for. The characters felt one-dimensional with little nuance, and I didn’t care much about either of the sisters. I really disliked being in Sam’s head the entire time and wished we could have gotten Elena’s perspective. I think Elena’s POV would’ve made the book much stronger.

Aside from the characters, I also didn’t find the writing style to be effective. It felt a bit bland and kept the reader at an arm’s length throughout. I was hoping to get swept up in a strange fairytale retelling, but I ended up feeling detached and frustrated.

Thank you to NetGalley and Hogarth for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. Based on other reviews I’ve seen, I’m in the minority on this one. BEAR is out today, 6/25!

A beautiful story about sisterhood and life struggles. The descriptions of the place and the bear were captivating. I highly recommend this book.