1.5 stars.

I've been having trouble with ARCs lately—the synopses make these books sound like something I'd love, but when I try them out, I can't get more than a chapter or two in. Well, I read all of The Bear—it's extremely short, after all—but I didn't get any real enjoyment out of it. The world and characters were too vague (though one could say this was done purposefully) for me to connect to the story, and generally with a book such as this, you'd think there'd be some sort of intention behind it, but I had trouble finding what that might be. The lack of quotation marks grated on my nerves, and the writing itself seemed to flow out of control into confusing territory, so that I had to go back at times and reread sentences. When I came to the end, my only question was: What was the point? I don't have any extremely strong feelings toward The Bear, I just found it very forgettable.

More fable with its halcyon prose and mythic style, Krivak delivers a superbly written tale.

The Bear narrates the story of a father and daughter, the last surviving humans on earth in a world where nature has reclaimed her primacy for all of creation.

Knowing that she will outlive him, the father spends most of their time together teaching his daughter the skills to survive on her own. He does this with profound love and patience, always thinking ahead to prepare her for whatever she might face. Krivak’s incredible depiction of nature’s splendour in all its glory is in perfect balance with his representation of how quickly it can turn cruel and savage.

When tragedy strikes, the young girl is left alone far from home, and so begins the fight for survival. The bear appears into her world as she sinks in sorrow and loneliness. In surreal realism, he talks to her, helps feed her, provides her with protection and guidance, and tells her stories. Slowly, she accepts his presence and together they embark on a fantastical and arduous journey to get her back home and to the mountain that stands alone.

The Bear is a short read - deep with rare traces of light. It keeps a consistent pace between the grand, organic beauty of nature and the great sadness of loss and isolation.

Yet, it is so beautifully and exceptionally written that it was not the heaviness I took from it, it was how the light of human nature will continue to shine long after the flame has gone out.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bellevue Literary Press for the read of Andrew Krivak’s, The Bear.

Hauntingly beautiful, written in a poetic style, I highly recommend The Bear. A story between father and daughter, how he teaches her to live and survive, and her way of seeing her world.

I absolutely devoured this beautiful Fairy Tale. I thought it was a wonderful
story. The last human on earth sleeping in a Bear den with a talking bear is
GOLDEN to me!
The cover is really awesome but I keep thinking what if it was a human hand inside
a bear paw. Yes, I truly ate this fable up. I think any adult with a bit of Fairy Tale
left in them will like it.
Great book!

I really liked the idea of this book, but I hated the format. I understand the author wrote it this way on purpose, but the lack of proper punctuation and structure bugged me the whole time. This was a short, though poignant, book but the format just made it really difficult to get through.

*Book received from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

Very good book! Loved the characters, and how very descriptive the author was to describe the landscaping and the characters. I enjoyed the story and would highly recommend and would definitely read more by this author.

This is a dreamy, atmospheric tale of the world many years after the demise of the human race. Cities, buildings, bridges, roads, barely a trace of them remains. A single shard of glass is regarded as a rare treasure.

The narrative is lyrical and poetic, with the father and daughter never named. The girl carries alone when she outlives both parents, or not so alone, given the companionship of The Bear. In one memorable scene, she sleeps in a cave, nestled between a bear and a puma. The visuals, the language, the mystical feel of the story is magical.

But, even though her dad takes her to the ocean, she never sets sail to find other human survivors across the vast waters. She hears stories of a man-bear-god, but the bear never transforms into a man to help her restart the human race.

I'm trying to avoid spoilers here, but if you are looking for hope, look elsewhere. This is poignant and beautiful and all that, but so depressing, I could barely lift my head to the sky and rejoice that I am alive in a world that has not yet ended.

Dystopian, dark, despairing fiction is not my first choice. The words are lovely. The girl is marvelous. The world goes on, but not with any more of the gene pool she descended from. My heart is heavier for having read this, but you may come away rejoicing.

It really is beautifully written.

A lyrical tale reminiscent of folklore passed down through generations. My heart and mind as so full that I struggle to put it all into words. I was struck in the first few paragraphs and did not stop until it was finished. The description was simple yet poetic and left it very easy for my mind to picture it all. I was so easily drawn into the world of the man and the girl. More than once, it left me saddened by the modern rat race which has forgotten most of the ways of living spoken of in this book. Sad for the forgotten beauty and respect of nature and animals gifted us by God.

I was provided with an ARC of this book by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Part fairy tale, part fable, a possible glimpse into our future? It takes a good deal of suspension of disbelief to stay with this story. I will admit I gave up half-way through. I just was not drawn to the characters or to their story enough to finish.

Thank you NetGalley for the free ARC. This read a little like a fairy tale. A girl brought up in the wilderness by her father is then cared for by a bear. Lovely writing and story.

I loved everything about this book. The storyteller way it was written, the content, and the nostalgia because it reminded me of books I loved as a child, like Julie of the Wolves and Island of the Blue Dolphins - those books always sparked a spirit of adventure in my and caused me to want to learn to be more self-sufficient and braver.
This book is for any age, and I hope it becomes a "classic."

This book is a wonderful, captivating read. It's very simplistic with its descriptions, events, and themes, but it works to create a memorable tale that left me better than before reading it. It reads like an old folk tale, especially with the positive relationship between nature and the human characters. This is not a book full of hard action or mind-bending twists. Instead it flows like a gentle river, taking us through a world for which I both grieved and longed. This world, where there are only two humans left at the beginning of the story, is bittersweet because of it. Some may not like how short the book is, but I do. When Johnny Cash recorded "You Are My Sunshine," the editors left a bit at the end when he only sang a couple of verses and someone asked, "Is that it?" Johnny said, "Well, when I feel like my song is sung, and I feel like my song is sung." That's this kind of song. It doesn't need a lengthy narrative to tell me something that means something to me.