We all know I love a memoir and this was no exception. This is a really beautifully written memoir that intertwines the author’s experience learning of a rare genetic mutation that led to her getting diagnosed with the same skin cancer that took her dads life when he was 43 and her investigation of a rare predatory bear attack.

In 1991 a black bear attack took the lives of a couple camping in Algonquin provincial park and ever since she can remember, she has been obsessed with the case, as bear attacks are extremely rare. I felt like her attempt to understand this unlikely attack was a metaphor for her trying to understand her own rare health condition.

This memoir included extremely interesting research about bear attacks, it was also full of life and heart, and it will stick with me for a long time to come.

My only critique is it did feel like we went off track here and there from the focus of the main bear attack discussed, but otherwise it had my attention the whole way through.

I bought a copy right away to share with my mom and grandma as I’m sure they’ll enjoy it too!

4.25/5⭐️ for any memoir lover, this was so well done and so different than other memoirs I’ve read before.

This book surprised me in a good way! I must admit that title and cover drew me in at first 🐻 Kudos to this 🇨🇦 author that really poured her heart and soul into this book ❤️‍🩹

It's an interesting and clever telling. Claire explains about her Father's death and her own devastating cancer diagnosis. She's always had a love of the outdoors and wilderness and in particular bears. This time that love will help her grieve and empower her. There was a black bear attack in one of Canada's National Parks (Algonquin Park in Ontario) in 1991 that has always stayed with her. She goes on a quest to try to understand and find out what really happened. Also we have a third POV and that is of the bear and Claire's imaginings of what might have happened to provoke the attack.

I was lucky to receive both a digital and audiobook copy of this book. I enjoy camping to an extent but I've never been really outdoorsy so this book really surprised me. I couldn't put it down or stop listening to it. I even googled more about the bear attack in 1991 as the book had piqued my interest.

There's so much good research and information in this book. I learned the difference between a grizzly and black bear. I also didn't realize just how similar bears can be to humans. There's also a lot of information about other attacks all over North America. If you love the great parks of Yosemite, Yellowstone or Algonquin (or any other Great Wilderness area) you will most likely enjoy this story.

Publishes March 25, 2025

I'd like to Kindly thank Penguin Random House Canada for granting me access to the digital and audiobook Advanced copies.

The synopsis of How to Survive A Bear Attack by Claire Cameron grabbed and gripped me very hard as I have experience with bears in the wild and always yearn to learn more about these oft-misunderstood and mysterious creatures. After reading the book I turned to my husband and said, "Now THAT was a wow book!" The book is poignant, sad, uplifting, and hopeful along with a thread of mystery running through it, the mystery of why a healthy black bear predated an unsuspecting couple (Carola and Ray) and cached their bodies in Algonquin Park in Canada. No one knows the precise true story of what happened on that dreadful day but Cameron pieces it together along with official reports including the necroscopy, investigators and her personal knowledge and experience. In doing so, the bear becomes a character using the knowns such as his age, his health, bear behavior, torpor, and habits, how and what they eat and hunt. How fascinating to see things from his eyes, hear things from his ears, learn his stomach and gain knowledge on the power of his paws on a typical day in his life, leading up to the attack, and after. Real clues from the scene showed an unopened pack of raw hamburger, tracks, a broken oar, eyeglasses, and drag marks. What the couple went through is incomprehensible.

Interwoven throughout the narrative are pieces of Cameron's life and parallels between her and the bear story. When she was a young girl her dad died of a rare genetic mutation which became cancer. She is now living with that same rare cancer and as such must avoid UV light which is ironic and extremely challenging as an outdoorswoman. A few years after her dad's death she found healing in Algonquin Park, which gives so much yet takes away. Goosebumps appeared on my arms several times as my own dad died of a cancer when I was a young girl and I found nature (or it found me) and that is where I spend much of my time.

The more I ruminate on this book, the more strongly I feel about it and the topic of predatory bear attacks and how bears behave. It truly is amazing that we co-exist with them when they are capable of breaking a moose's back in one swipe and we have no natural protection such as teeth or antlers. But we do have bear spray which is proven to have a high success rate under the right conditions which isn't always the case. Bears are highly instinctual and intelligent, more than we will ever know. Sadly, sometimes humans and bears are at the wrong place at the wrong time.

A thoroughly compelling, informative and heart crushing book. It was clever, beautiful, moving and hopeful, considering the tragic and irreplaceable loss of human life, cancer attacks and bear attacks.

Thank you to Net Galley and Knopf publishing for the advance copy of How To Survive.A Bear Attack.
This is an excellent book. Another book that I’d give a 4.5 but will bump up for my score. Short and easy to read, but with so many layers. The author uses a unique perspective in this writing as its part memoir, part non fiction, part historical fiction, part fiction.
I am not sure if I love her connections to her battle with cancer but it does work in connection with this story.
They could piece together the information from the island to reasonably recreate the events, but they cannot be fully sure of how the attack played out. What was really unique was her fictional part……the bear’s perspective. I found myself looking forward to the next part of the book that highlighted the travels of the bear. In doing this the author created the bear as a character with the full character development present in most fictional tales.
This book was hard to put down, tragic, sad and informative.