A fable of grief, loss, and survival. Of letting what was remain in the past and what may come come as it may. Of letting nature take what is hers and deal you her own hand.

<i>The Bear</i>, like the intricately woven patterns of constellations above, is a tale of the two last people on Earth. The father teaches his unnamed daughter how to navigate the wilds and tells her stories about wise old bears and memories of her mother. And when tragedy strikes, it is her turn to brave the wilds.

Krivak's writing is very soft and lovely, like a dawning sunrise. It is picturesque and descriptive and simple, barely brushing the surface before moving on, and it does not go much in depth. In a way, it is a little magical, like the darling vintage books passed down many generations that end up gathering dust in the corner of an old shop, waiting to enchant posterity.

So I do not have much to say, as there is not much to remark on. It is short, and fast, and smooth--and a darling read, if you want something quick and fluid.

A short, sweet book that could have been longer to expand upon some plot points, but overall did work.

I found this to be a beautifully crafted tale about the last two people on earth, a man and his daughter. Part fable with some elements of magical realism devoid of all the dramatic portrayals so many present. It's quiet, reflective and poetical. The setting is in the wilderness and there is great respect for the earth and her gifts. It made me nostalgic for a world I will never know. It also did an excellent job of portraying the grief and extreme loneliness of the daughter.
I would like to thank NetGalley, the author and publisher for this beautiful work. I look forward to reading more.
.

Fans of ‘The Alchemist’ (Paulo Coelho) will love The Bear! The Bear is set in a post-apocalyptic setting. Time plays an important role as much of the tone is set on the meaning of life; with literally no civilation left to mankind. Almost biblical and reading like a religious parable of the sort. No names are given to the characters.

Annually, a young girl journeys to the grave of her mother with her father. Many great nuggets about the wisdom of nature are also reflected between the two of them. In the second half, she befriends a bear. No doubt, this story is also about love and missing those that have departed from us. I enjoyed this interesting book. Short and simple, but a fairytale treasure. 3.75

It's something I have always wondered about, living off the land, hunting for food and finding shelter. This book shows how a young girl learns to do that from her father who teaches her so much. They live on a mountain forest that fronts a lake with the world that is left after total devastation. It's a moving story of a journey they make together to the ocean. Soon middle way of the book she meets a bear who helps her find her way back home. Really a touching book you will remember for a long time. I highly recommend it and I will go back and read his other books now!

A stunning book full of imagery and pain. Krivak gives us a startling view of the future; of being alone and trying to understand a world that no longer exists.

Full disclosure: Book abandoned at 33%.

I was bored by this story. A father and daughter live together somewhere in the wilderness, the implication being that they're the last few survivors after some apocalyptic event. In the beginning, the (nameless) father and (nameless) daughter spend time talking and hiking up a mountain, whose summit is shaped like a bear. Some magical realism elements come into play later in the story.

The Bear reminded me in a few ways of Cormac McCarthy's The Road. It's about a father and his child surviving post-apocalypse; both characters are pointlessly nameless; and dialogue pointlessly lacks quotation marks. It isn't as bleak--I didn't feel the hopelessness that I felt while reading The Road--but it's dull because nothing happens and it's unclear where the story is heading. I disliked The Road, but at least it has some suspense and made me feel something.

The only thing I did like about The Bear is the little fairy tale within this fairy tale. Maybe Andrew Krivak should have made that his story and scrapped this.

I am a big fan of post apocalyptic fiction, and that is what originally drew me to 'The Bear.' I found myself pleasantly surprised by the author's concise prose and understanding of the natural world around his characters. The setting for 'The Bear' is genuine. There are no zombies hidden around every corner, no disease constantly hovering in the background. In fact, no mention at all is made with regards to what happened to humanity, and that was ok. I found myself too engrossed in the lives of the father and daughter to care much about anyone else.

Ultimately, 'The Bear' is about our stories and their lives. While we all will die someday, our stories can still live on in the lives of others. This is what made this book so personal for me. Story telling and its importance to society is central to my work and life. 'The Bear' reminded me of this fact while expanding my understanding.

I highly recommend this book and look forward to having a hard copy on my shelf once it's released.

I was really excited to read this book based on the description and the cover ate, which i LOVED. I was really frustrated with the actual writing though. The characters go the entire time without names which makes it difficult to connect with them, and the lack of quotation marks drove me up the wall (which others have also mentioned). The actual story was very much like a fairy tale and just kind of meandered along at a slow pace, which is okay because the book itself is fairly short.
Overall... it just wasn't for me.

Thank you NetGalley and Bellevue Literary Press for the ARC in exchange for a review.

Human civilization has ended except for a father and his daughter. He teachers her how to rely on nature to survive; hunting, fishing, which plants to eat, how to follow the stars. He tells her stories of long ago (but the reader never finds out why humanity has died out). On a journey to the ocean to get salt, the father is bitten by an animal while searching for items of long ago, and he dies. The girl is left alone and stricken by grief. It is a bear who comes to help her.

The language is beautiful and descriptive. Following the girl on her journey home brings you to closer to nature and helps you appreciate it's beauty in life and in death.

I think this is a great book but for a very specific audience. It really is told like a fable, where we never even learn the girl’s or father’s name kind of fable. I enjoyed the first half of the story, but after the father dies and the bear come back to guide her, it just got lost for me.

I’m giving it three stars because it wasn’t a bad book, it was well written and constructed, I just think I’m not the target audience for this. I thought it was an interesting twist on fable telling, the fact that it’s about the survival of a dad & daughter after the apocalypse was pretty cool. If you’re into talking, spiritual animals and more... airy (I can’t think of another word to describe it, but very nature oriented)... storytelling, then you’ll quite enjoy this book. It was just a bit of a miss for me.

I absolutely loved this adult fairy tale about a father and daughter (referred to throughout as “The Man” and “The Girl” a la The Road), the last two humans on earth.

The first half of the book follows The Man and The Girl as he shows her how to survive, and tells her stories about her deceased mother, and tales of the bear who saved the village.

The second half takes a bit of a detour, as The Man and The Girl embark on a quest to the ocean. This is when you will need to keep an open mind and embrace the experience. The prose is stunning, and reason alone to finish the novel. I was mesmerized.

This book could be shelved with The Dog Stars, The Overstory, and of course, The Road.

Thank you to Netgalley and Bellevue Literary Press for providing me with an advanced digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I wasn't really expecting talking animals in my apocalyptic fiction, but I found that it worked reasonably well. I think Krivak definitely has a gift for unique stories and I know my patrons will really enjoy his work. Thank you so much for allowing me to read this one early!

Lyrical and beautifully written prose throughout the whole book with a moving story about a girl struggling to survive in a world devoid of humanity. I’m so glad that I decided to ask for the arc of this on Netgalley. This is from an author I’ve never even heard of before, but rest assured I’m definitely invested in this author now. I should note that I’m also unfamiliar with this publisher, but am more curious about them as this is my first book read by this publisher, I do believe.

The Bear is a survival story. It’s a story about war, death, and the strength to move on when all you want to do is give up and surrender to the dark side. It’s a story about characters and people who have become the last two human beings in the world, an old man and his daughter. The story focuses primarily on the daughter, and how she grows up to become a strong, independent woman…alone in the entire world.

I found that you did have to suspend belief for some of the story, but otherwise it was very well done, and I greatly adored the writing and prose in this book. It’s well deserving of the five stars.

Not going to lie, this got weird. I was expecting an apocalyptic, wilderness survival type of book and for the most part, it was. I was not expecting talking bears and pumas but it worked. It was a slightly strange, otherworldy journey to take us to times that man has forgotten. My expectations were never realized in the plot, instead there was a shift from man to nature that was very enjoyable.

I was intrigued by the description of this book and had really been unsure what it was going to be about. This book was interesting as it lead to so many unanswered questions, which was indicative of what our main character knew and didn’t know. They book really gets you thinking about survival. My only qualm was that there was just a little too much about hunting, killing, and prepping meals, atleast proportionate to the rest of the story. I would still be very interested to know more about this world!

Having recently finish the monolith of The Overstory, this short tale seem like an adjunct lesson on how you are either one with nature or destroyed by it. Starting with a premise that only two people are left in the world, the author choose to uplift the reader as much as possible. Survival is just that a simple grasp of what it takes to not despair. You learn to walk and know the land without all the names, dates or any significant back story.

This short novel is very much like a poem where each line leads to an other and there is harmony in that alone. The magical realism or not, the Bear and the Puma can be the spiritual embodiment of the father to guide the young daughter to survive as long as she can. Fables always have a moral and I am left still pondering several..

What a gorgeously written book. It takes place in the future but is not a futuristic book, if that makes any sense. The characters, the girl and her father, are living off the land. They make their own shoes, they hunt and eat wild animals, and sew clothes from hides. But there are artifacts of the civilization that came before, and that is the only way a reader would understand the time in which these two live.

There is magic, but it is the magic of the land, of the wild, of the world as it is in The Bear. I could not put this down, and I found myself highlighting so many passages I might as well give in and just say this is brilliant. Read it.

In the midst of dystopian largesse, Andrew Krivak delivers a refreshing, folksy, and touching story of a post-industrial world. Not without tragedy, The Bear tells the uplifting tale of a young woman as she learns to live at one with nature in a wild new world generations after the collapse of human civilization. Beginning with her father, our young protagonist is ushered into adulthood by a series of mentors who teach her not only practical survival skills but important lessons about nature’s reciprocity and humanity’s place in the circle of life. The Bear isn’t about human devastation, it is about human resilience and interconnectedness. A simple story written with an unflinching but compassionate voice, Krivak’s tale should be thoughtfully savored while it slowly winds its way into your moral conscience.

(Thank you to Netgalley for providing me an advance copy to review.)

I didn't finish this book--so let that be a disclaimer right off the bat. It's not a long book, but I found it actually pretty depressing. It's supposed to be this futuristic story set after everyone in the world is gone except a dad and his daughter, and they forage for food and travel to the ocean and all that, but I think (at least from what I read) that it would have made more sense to have been a pre-historic book. Besides some shards of glass, there wasn't any evidence of previous human inhabitants, but there was a lot of myths and story-telling that reminded me of more ancient civilizations. It was written in simple, almost poetic prose, without ever telling us the characters' names or putting anything they said in quotation marks, which was annoying even though I knew it was done for the art and style of it. While I suppose it could be described as hauntingly beautiful, for me, it was more hauntingly somber and sad. I will admit to picking this book solely based off of the cover, as I love stargazing, but (as far as I read), no mention of Ursa Major was even made, just actual bears and rocks in the shape of bears. Great potential here, but ultimately too melodramatic and left too many questions unanswered without any sense of purpose or direction in the story for my taste.