A beautiful story captured with spare prose, Krivak has written a true gem that will have me reflecting on many of its themes for awhile. If you've ever read any Native fables or stories, the narrative structure of The Bear echoes back to how many of those tales were and are told and written down. In The Bear, the father and his daughter are the two main characters, and we follow both of their paths as they live in a nature that has been untouched by humanity (other than them) for a long, long time. The author chooses to focus on their story, and not the story of how the modern world ended, and that made the story all the richer. The focus on nature, and how much it can tell us if only we open our ears to hear, was beautifully written - especially with characters of the bear and the puma. I enjoyed each season of their tale in this book, but especially the beginning and the end. Anyone who loves nature and nature writing should check this one out.

I think I was just the wrong audience for this book. It has many glowing reviews on Goodreads, but I was so incredibly bored the whole time. I've seen some comparisons to "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy, but I didn't get those vibes at all from this book (except them both being post-apocalyptic). "The Bear" follows a father and daughter who appear to be the last people on earth. They spend their days hunting and surviving off the land. After a hunting trip goes wrong, the story becomes about survival and carrying on when all hope seems to be lost. I usually love magical realism or fantasy elements thrown into a story, but this aspect of the novel just felt out of place and awkward to me.

I think I would have absolutely loved this as a short story. Krivak's writing is really very beautiful and the story had a soft, sweet lyricism to it. However, I felt like every page was the same and it felt like such a slog to get through it.

I don't know how anyone could rate this book as lower than 5 out of 5.

THE BEAR by Andrew Krivak drew me in and held my attention and I was unable to put it down.

This is a post-apocalyptic tale unlike 99% of the other books in this genre.

Instead of marauding bands of half-feral people, THE BEAR is about a father and daughter who are the only people left in the world... at least that is how it seems.

With prose that details the beauty of the natural world, author Andrew Krivak forces readers to think about the natural world.

Beautiful is not a word I have ever used, prior to this, to describe any post-apocalyptic fiction, but this is the one .

I highly recommend this book.
The characters are relatable and this book should have readers thinking about the importance of keeping our world 🌎 in a state that will benefit our future generations.

I enjoyed this bittersweet tale of living off the land. It left me wondering more about the world they live in, such as how the father and daughter became the last people in the world-or, I suppose, that they know of. How much time passed since the apocalypse occurred? These are questions that are not really answered, but also aren’t relevant to the story at hand. It does make one wonder, however.

The Bear is definitely worth a read, especially for fans of books such as My Side of the Mountain, by Jean Craighead George.

I listened to the audiobook for this one. And I think it’s a good thing I did; as I was stitching while listening. Had I been reading, with no other multitasking distraction, I suspect I’d have fallen asleep. Even at only 224 pages this felt a bit long. Sad but true.

While The Bear is very poignant, beautifully written, immensely sad, and lovely narration of the changing of the seasons; it doesn’t really have a plot. It could be that The Bear is intended to be a story to help us understand loss, loneliness, or respect for animals. I would accept any one of those three reasons. Overall, it’s quite dull. If you are hoping for some sort of dystopian or climate change story I can tell you that does not exist here. We are merely told our man and girl are the last humans with no further description, ideas, or even wondering about how, why, and what took down the once viral human race.

I was initially so excited to read a story that (hopefully) portrayed winter appropriately. As a Canadian girl who lives in a very snowy, wintery place (Calgary, Ab), where the wind and snow literally have a song and haunting of their own (as I write this it’s a howling snowstorm outside my warm home), I had really hoped for some good winter descriptions and experiences. I was sorely disappointed.
While the issue of hunger and food was well handled; the constraints of cold, frostbite, ice and other elements were not. A couple things were well done (like the girl laying on her belly on the river ice) and the absolute mandatory find of shelter (ie: cave, lean-to, etc) from the howling ice cold winter wind; most were poorly done. I’m sorry but frostbite (at a minimum) would have plagued our characters long before most things that cause them actual grief. And don’t even get me started on the fatality rate of anyone who gets wet in subzero temperatures!! Alas, once again, I’m let down by another winter portrayal. :(

Overall there are much better books out there to read about survival, wilderness, and our relationship with nature and death. This one is okay; but I wouldn’t read it again, nor am I inclined to recommend it out. There are better overall books (including the classic The Call of the Wild) that tell this type of story just as well or better.

Please note: I received an eARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. This is an honest and unbiased review.
That said the copy I listened to came from my local library.

What a lovely story of nature, love, and loss. It reminded me of what once was and what could be again.

This book is a fascinating look at humanity and where can happen after culture and society collapse. You see a lot of how nature reclaims and retakes the world after collapse and within that you follow a girl who lives with her father near a mountain. The girl comes up on hard times and has to learn to adapt and listen to her environment to learn. This is a very interesting cautionary tale and one that tries to show us the fragility of humanity.

I don't really know what this story was about, besides a family living in the woods??

The Bear is a post-apocalyptic story where a girl and her father life off the land in the woods. While they have remnants from present day society like books and panes of glass, they live off of nature and what they can make. The two set off to go to the ocean and collect salt, but once there the girl's father dies and she must fight nature and winter to make it back home.

This was just very strange?? I don't know how I feel about it. Everything is very distant because we never get physical characteristics besides girl and father. Like what do these blob people look like? Do they have names? Also what the heck happened to the human population?

This was an easy listen and it definitely was a nice break to just dive into nature through the narrator. But I am also still very confused??

Post-apocalyptic fiction isn't usually my favorite, but I enjoyed Krivak's writing style and the way he developed his characters and the plot. It feels like the opposite of the garden of Eden, with a father and daughter as the last people on earth.

The Bear // by Andrew Krivak

It took me a little bit to get into this one but by the end, I was pretty happy to have read this after all. It's both not as deep and deeper than you think it is. Or maybe it just means you can enjoy it both ways. One, as somewhat of a fairytale and two, as a reflection on love and loss that will have you thinking about it later on still. I can't say there is a ton of plot to this. It's rather a quick recitation of the girl's life, with a particular focus on one journey that she takes with her father. It's a really quick read that left me with warm and fuzzy feelings by the end but I also wish that there would've been a whole lot more to it overall. I'm a sucker for learning about new worlds and would've loved to find out more about hers.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A lyrical, poetic apocalyptic story. I actually cried while reading this. I found myself very moved by the story and the writing style. I finished this book quite some time ago and it is still sitting with me. If you’re into mystical reality or fantasy, pick this one up. I think it will impress you.

I enjoyed this bittersweet tale of living off the land. It left me wondering more about the world they live in, such as how the father and daughter became the last people in the world-or, I suppose, that they know of. How much time passed since the apocalypse occurred? These are questions that are not really answered, but also aren’t relevant to the story at hand. It does make one wonder, however.

DNF at 75% mark. This was an old net galley arc that I downloaded on audio. The story moves at a slow pace, and the plot was unsubstantial. The story read more as a Fable, with our main character being a girl and a man. Father and daughter, the last two humans on Earth. It was an immersion into nature and simple stories, with the theme appearing to be about accepting death and living a simple life. I was hoping for more of the dystopian - what happened to the end of the world explanation, but I don't think that is where the story is leading.

At the point I ended, the girl is alone and being guided by animals (primarily a bear) back home. The bear speaks to her which gives this a magical realism feel, but everything was missing the mark for me to connect. The writing has prose and feels like a campfire tale, but just not keeping my interest and I'm ready to move on. So I'll mark this as DNF and leave off my star rating.

This is a really beautiful story about a father and daughter and life alone in the wilderness. I think what I loved most was the focus on the experience and inner feelings of the young girl as she grew up in this setting. A very well done novel!

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. It was an interesting read. Sometimes it was slow and dragged on a bit. Still enjoyable

Such a beautiful tale of Earth’s last two humans. The story was haunting and poetic in its exploration of grief and loneliness. It read like a fairy tale in the best way possible.

The Bear by Andrew Krivak is a beautifully stunning read surrounding a girl and her father surviving the end of the world. Andrew Krivak gives readers astonishing descriptions of nature, providing an amazing atmospheric experience. Despite being the end of the world, the story does not focus much on this phenomenon. Instead, the novel allows readers to explore the loneliness and natural world of this event. This book is an experience to read - it is very easy to feel many feelings from this book. I normally enjoy it when a book makes me feel so much, but towards the second half of the book, I just kept wondering what was the point of continuing to live on. I never really received an answer for why the main character does. Overall, I enjoyed this reading experience, and I am left with questions surrounding what keeps me surviving.

What a beautiful fable! A young girl and her father are the last of the human race in the far future. The girl's father teaches her everything he knows about survival in anticipation of the day when she is alone. After her father passes while on a journey, it is up to the girl to find her way back home again. She is accompanied by a bear who helps her find her way through the wilderness.
There is so much depth to this equisite novel. There is the basic story but underlying it are layers of mystical folklore.

WOW, this book. This isn't something I would have normally picked up, but it piqued my interest and now I regret waiting so long to actually read it. Andrew Krivak's storytelling is so spare and beautiful and poignant - so much that I read this book in one sitting, and I regret finishing it so quickly! It's the story of a father and daughter who are the last people on Earth after some mystery apocalyptic event. No spoilers, of course, but this book is a fantastic lesson about companionship, love, nature, growing up, and the symbiotic relationship between mankind and the world around us. Absolutely beautiful.

Beautifully written. Reminded me of the lost in the wilderness books I read as a child. I enjoyed the way the characters did not have formal names. I also liked the beautiful ending.