I LOVED this concept but didn’t love the book as much as I expected. I still really enjoyed it and flew through it in an afternoon, but it felt almost YA and like some of the pieces didn’t quite make sense. The final third of the story was fantastic and I loved the ending. Would absolutely recommend for anyone new to litfic and looking for a relatively approachable read that still has lots of depth.

Bear is a novel of two sisters living in the Pacific Northwest with their dying mother. Both are trying to get by day to day working in low paying jobs until one day their life changes when they wake up to an unexpected visitor in their front yard. Both young woman have completely different reactions and ideas of what to do and as it turns out, both have very different ideas of what they want their lives to be. I could not put this book down, there were so many plat twists and the ending took me completely by surprise. An engaging read.

4.5 Stars rounding up to 5

I am going to start this out with the fact that I have an irrational fear of bears. In spite of that I really liked this book. it was deep and a little dark and was a nice break to all my summer fluff reading. This book was so sad at points. The main characters are not always likeable but their life was tough and sometimes life is just not easy and perfect. They were not perfect and didn't have any big heroes to rescue them even though some tried. I think this is a great book to add to your summer reading. It was wild!

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for the opportunity to read this book.

In her latest novel, "Bear," Julia Phillips delivers a haunting and richly layered story that explores the complexities of sisterhood, survival, and the mysterious presence of nature. Set on a rugged Pacific Northwest island, the novel captures the life of two sisters, Sam and Elena, as they navigate the challenges of their constrained existence while caring for their dying mother.

The narrative kicks off with Sam spotting a bear swimming in the channel as she works on the ferry. This unexpected sighting becomes a turning point in the sisters' lives, symbolizing the encroaching wildness and unpredictability of their world. The bear’s repeated visits to their home elicit starkly different reactions from the sisters: Sam is filled with dread and sees it as a sign to leave the island, while Elena is enchanted and finds a sense of purpose in its presence.

Phillips skillfully uses the bear as a metaphor for the sisters' inner turmoil and their contrasting worldviews. The tension between Sam's practicality and Elena's dreaminess is palpable, driving the plot forward with a sense of impending change. The island setting, vividly depicted with lush descriptions, adds to the novel’s atmospheric quality, making the reader feel the isolation and beauty of their surroundings.

The strength of "Bear" lies in its character development and the dynamics between the sisters. Phillips portrays their bond with authenticity, capturing the nuances of sibling relationships – the unspoken understandings, the shared history, and the divergent paths that can emerge even in close-knit families. The supporting characters, including the enigmatic bear, are well-drawn and add depth to the narrative.

However, the novel’s pacing can be uneven at times, with some sections feeling a bit slow as Phillips builds the tension and explores the characters’ backstories. The climax and resolution, while satisfying, may leave some readers wanting a bit more closure or clarity about the bear's symbolic role.

Overall, "Bear" is a compelling and thought-provoking read that blends literary fiction with elements of myth and nature. Julia Phillips has crafted a story that lingers in the mind, prompting reflections on family, fear, and the wild unknown. Fans of her previous work, "Disappearing Earth," will appreciate the same meticulous attention to detail and emotional depth in this new offering.

Thanks to NetGalley for this advance copy of The Bear. I loved Julia Phillips The Disappearing Earth, so I was eager to read her next book. While different in plot, this novel has the same strong sense of place and an exploration of sisterly and family bonds. Phillips is masterful at creating a sense of unease and dread in this story of a bear who mysteriously appears in the San Juan Islands and upends the lives of two working class sisters. While I had been warned of a twist, it still ended up being a shocker without being exploitative or false to the themes of the book.

This book had so much hype that my expectations were high and I was sorely disappointed. It is very poorly written -I don’t recommend.

I thought it would be more impactful. It was a good story but not one that stays with you after you turn the final page. Maybe for me, there was too much description of the area and not enough depth to the characters and the actual story the author intended.

I included this one on my weekly pub day recommendations but it definitely deserves its own post.

I didn’t know what I was getting into when I picked this up but I absolutely loved it. It’s been awhile since I read true literary fiction and while this one is hard to classify - Fairytale? Myth? - it definitely falls under the lit fic umbrella.

At its simplest: two sisters living on the San Juan Islands in Washington caring for their dying mother are visited by a bear.

The sisters are struggling. Swamped with debt, in jobs they don’t love, on an island they want to leave - the bear brings magic to their story.

The writing in this book is beautiful. I both listened and read an e-copy. Sophie Amos’s does a stunning job as narrator but I also loved seeing the sentences and rereading many of the passages. Beautiful. Weird. So good!

I’m sorry but what did I just read? 🤨

Bear is a story about two sisters on San Juan island in Washington, working service jobs and taking care of their dying mother. When a bear swims onto the island, one sister feels a deep connection to it while the other is terrified of it. That’s all I can really say without spoiling anything.

One thing I will always always love is a woodsy Pacific Northwest setting. Julia Phillips does an amazing job of capturing the atmospheric, peaceful setting of San Juan island. The story was told in a beautiful way.

But again, what did I just read? 😂 I would’ve connected with the story more if Sam wasn’t such a miserable negative character to see the story through. I usually like a strange story but I didn’t connect with this one as much as I wish I had.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC!

Bear features two sisters scraping by and supporting their sick mother on an island off Washington. Each of them had a very different reaction to a bear showing up at their house. I was skeptical but intrigued by this premise. Fortunately, Julia Phillips is an excellent storyteller. the writing was beautiful, and I was captivated throughout this book. Without spoiling anything, the ending was both frustrating and, I think, what it needed to be.

I was excited to read Bear after thoroughly enjoying Disappearing Earth, and Bear cemented Julia Phillips as a auto-read author for me.

Surprising. A slender idea - strange bear on island - comes to carry so much freight. Class, family, belonging, ambition, abuse, attraction - all have a role in this odd and readable short-ish tale. It’s an impressively smooth, well-crafted piece of work, except, perhaps, for the ending which seems inevitable, rushed and not quite right. Nevertheless, I applaud it. She’s a written to watch.

5⭐️ 𝚁𝚎𝚟𝚒𝚎𝚠: (Thanks to @prhaudio and @hogarthbooks #gifted.) I absolutely adored 𝗕𝗘𝗔𝗥 by Julia Phillips! Inspired by the Grimm’s fairy tale 𝘚𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘞𝘩𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘙𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘙𝘦𝘥, this is a stunning story of sisters Elena and Sam. As in the fairy tale, the two live with their mother in a small house in the woods, and one day find a bear on their doorstep. From there the story is its own.⁣⁣
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The sisters, only 14 months apart, have lived on San Juan Island (right here in the Puget Sound) their whole lives. Together they live with their ailing mother in the only house they’ve ever known. They’ve always been close, and work hard to pay their mother’s mounting health care bills. The pandemic puts them even further behind, but Elena and Sam get through that and seem to be back on track when they find a huge bear sleeping on their doorstep. Terrified, they call the authorities, but the bear is gone before they arrive. In due time, he’s back and a certain fascination with the creature begins.⁣⁣
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𝘉𝘦𝘢𝘳 is a beautiful tale of sisterhood and how sometimes we can know a person to the core and yet still discover new layers. I started this on audio which was well narrated by @sophie_amoss_vo_actor. After a couple hours, I was so engrossed in the story that I also picked up the e-galley. Depending on what I was doing, I alternated between the two formats and finished the rest of this book in a single afternoon. I COULDN’T put it down. In case I’ve not been clear enough, I highly recommend this one. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⁣⁣
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P.S. I also want to give huge kudos to Julia Phillips for getting San Juan Island, Friday Harbor and the WA State Ferry system exactly right. Bravo!

This was one of my most anticipated reads of the summer... and wowie - it wasn't quite what I was expecting. But I liked it!

Based on a Brothers Grimm fairytale, BEAR tells the story of two sisters close in age, living on the San Juan Islands in Washington (south of Vancouver Island). They're desperately trying to stay afloat, living paycheck to paycheck while caring for their terminally ill mother and balancing the costs of her medical treatment and their family home.

One day, a grizzly bear arrives on the island and has repeated run-ins with the sisters. Each has a different reaction to the bear, and after this, nothing in their lives is ever the same.

I realized after reading the last page, that I loved the slow-burn progression of the story, the unravelling of Sam, and slowly learning the circumstances of why she is the way she is. We watch the complicated relationship with her sister Elena, the main caregiver of the family.

I really didn't enjoy Sam's character — she was standoffish, angry, and bitter about how her life was going and I often wanted to shake her — but even though I didn't like her, it didn't make me want to stop reading. Julia wove the story in a way that made me want to keep turning pages to find out where things were going. I loved the themes of unmet expectations. And that ending. 🤯 Sure didn't see that coming!

I have yet to read Phillips' first novel DISAPPEARING EARTH, which was a finalist for the National Book Award for Fiction and received widespread acclaim. I'm now bumping it up my ridiculously long TBR list to compare.

Recommend! Also IN LOVE with the cover art.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Big thanks to @randomhouse and @netgalley for the #gifted copy.

Come for the complicated sister relationship.
Stay for the intense complexity of wild bear fascination.
This story will break your heart a little but you'll feel like it needed to happen.

The author of the Bear, Julia Philips, does a great job with setting the scene.
Her description of the atmosphere is wonderful and the story of two sisters was authentic and real.
The story was a bit slow and plodding and not easy to get through.
Neither of the two characters was likeable to me.
The ending was not satisfying to me but many readers will love this story I am sure.
Thank you to Netgalley and publisher for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I love when you can tell an author respects it’s readers. I feel rewarded for the attention I gave this book. Reading it feels like digging a hole thinking you’ve gone an inch deep, only to find you’ve reached the earths mantle.

One of my top reads of 2024. If the Brothers Grimm were here today they’d be envious of Random House, wishing they could publish it themselves.

OKAY:

What drew my to this book was it’s setting: the islands of the Puget Sound. This one in particular is set on San Juan.
It’s a tale of sisterhood, of surviving, and Stockholm syndrome. As someone who lived on one of those islands during the pandemic, the post-pandemic setting of this novel hit home for me.

But it wasn’t what kept me, no, this novel pulled me in, and didn’t let me go. Even after finishing it it still has me.

The book follows a younger sister, Sam. She is hardwired into routine and beliefs about the world. It’s the only way she can cope with it.
I found her incredibly human; a perfect result of her circumstances. If you struggle admiring Sam I would resist the urge to judge this protagonist at a surface level. She is vivid, she literally changes on the page before you. It’s not often I find an character arc so stunning.
Her and her sister take care of their dying mother, and one day a bear shows up. What could this mean? How will it change their lives forever? Wild, right?
You don’t even know.

The ending is so satisfying, while being one of the most horrifying I could imagine. I had made many guesses of what might happen, but it wasn’t what I expected. This book had a plot rich with momentum, forcing me to finish it in less than a week, but it was the prose, the WAY in which Julia Philips captured the moments she painted that had me mesmerized, my jaw on the floor.

This was the kind of book that had me gushing about it to my husband after every reading session. It’s a GREAT book club book; I can only imagine the wonderful discussions this novel could provoke.

It’s not a slow burn, but it’s a steady build up. One you can feel build, like an unsteady broiler getting hotter and hotter beneath your feet.

Thank you so much to Random House and Net Galley for the ARC eBook copy. All thoughts are my own :)

I have been eagerly anticipating a new book from this author since Disappearing Earth came out a few years back. I was not disappointed. This book was terrifyingly beautiful! It was just a wonderful story that will leave you breathless.

I really wanted to like this book because I had enjoyed Julia Phillips debut novel, Disappearing Earth.
But I just couldn't get into the story. Sam was such an unlikable and immature character and I felt like you really didn't get to know Elena. It may have been a better story if you could have understood the sister's relationship from both their perspectives. Thanks to NetGalley for the digital ARC.

Blown away. This book starts with a passage from a Grimm's fairytale that made me gasp - it prepares the reader for what's to come. Set on San Juan Island, this is the story of two adult sisters taking care of their terminally-ill mom. The setting is another character in this beautiful, haunting book. The nature comes alive on the page. I could smell the wet leaves and hear the waves surrounding the remote island. Themes of socio-economic inequality is a focus as we get to experience via these vibrant characters the impact of COVID on a job fully-reliant on tourism. A bear swims to the island the plot begins. Throughout the book I wondered if the bear was real. I won't spoil the book but know the novel is one that will haunt you - what does the bear represent? How does the bear's presence affect the characters? I need to join a book club to discuss this one - it's full of wonder and interpretation as the brilliant author doesn't spoon-feed the meaning to us. Go get this one and then reach out to me so we can talk. THANKS TO THE PUBLISHER for the gifted copy.

This didn’t have the vibe I expected it to have at all—the blurb makes it sound like a book about our relationship with nature and each other, but Sam was terrified of the bear and wanted nothing to do with it. As someone without sisters maybe I just can’t relate but I had a hard time getting invested and feeling a lot of emotion from this. I kind of wish it had been told from Elena’s perspective instead. Definitely not bad but didn’t love it.