The Bear
By Andrew Krivak

ANDREW KRIVAK YOU ARE AN AMAZING WRITER OF THE HIGHEST ORDER!
After reading, "THE SIGNAL FLAME," and absolutely loving it for its gorgeous prose and the telling of a fabulous story with some gentle characters. You can only imagine how excited that I was to be approved for an eARC and receiving it this morning after I requested it only last night. "THE BEAR," was pure poetry, a loving ballad of mortality, the planet with its beautiful landscapes of nature, of the love we feel for our families, the love that we feel for the lushness of the flora and fauna. There is so much to admire and appreciate about Andrew Krivak's latest well crafted novel called, "THE BEAR." The first few beginning pages took my breath away in its spare imagery and poetic language. I felt like I was inside the story hovering above these lovely characters both human and animal..

I devoured this beautiful fable in one short sitting and could feel the love that this father felt for his daughter in the way he gave her a gift every year of her birthday on my favorite day of the year also---the Summer solstice, June 21, the longest day of the year. His gifts signified some very meaningful things. He honored his late wife and daughter by teaching her how to make things to survive and always with respect for the land and animals. This novel refreshes me on this dreary winter day like the restorative peace I feel out in nature by myself with the glowing warmth of the sunshine's energy. The evanescence of the simplicity with which father and daughter live appreciating and honoring their sources of food and they don't waste part of the wild whether it be animal, plant or fish.

I felt a sense of overwhelming grief when the daughter tells her father not to go down into the depths of the earth and I can only imagine what bit him as they make their way to the ocean to collect salt. I knew he was not going to be able to make the journey back with her and I was so very sad. I found the stories within this story to be enchanting. I felt such an overwhelming wave of emotions when she meets the bear and puma, but especially her musings with the bear. I loved the magical realism of the bear explaining to her how every single form of life including him expressing how every single form of life communicates and how the trees hold the everlasting memories that whisper tales of life of all of earth's species. This fantastic fable had a bittersweet ending that only left me wanting more because I enjoyed this so much. I was truly bereft to realize that I was reading the the last written prose but ultimately hopeful because I know that I can read it again and again..

With the warmest thanks to Net Galley, the talented beyond words Andrew Krivak and Bellevue publishing for generously sharing their eARC with me in exchange for a fair and honest review. There is so much more praise I could give this novel and Mr. Krivak and you all. It is easy with such a favorite author to want to share such a masterpiece with the Hope's that this book gets all of the recognition it deserves.

Publication date February 20, 2020

#NetGalley #AndrewKrivak #TheBear #BellevuePublishing

A fable, an ominous tale for the human race, one that leaves us not knowing what the thing was that spares the beauty and bounty of nature, but no human beings save for a man and his young daughter. The beautiful writing and a story that held me, had me reading this in one day. I wasn’t surprised. I loved both of Krivak’s other novels. It’s taken me some time to write a review because I didn’t want to give too much away and still do justice to this story.

In this novel there are amazingly beautiful descriptions of nature, touching tales of animals, stories that the girl’s father tells her of her mother, a story of a bear that saved a village, a story of a care giving puma. Tales and stories and lessons are told that will stay with the girl for the rest of her life. We don’t know when or where the story takes places and we don’t know their names. I’m usually left feeling detached from characters when they are not given names, but in this case I could not have been more emotionally involved with the man and his daughter. I felt them in their moments of pain and sadness and grief and in their moments of joy and relief. The care and love her father gives her teaching her to hunt, to fish, to make a bow and arrows, to survive by herself for the time when he is no longer with her melted my heart. It’s a joy to her and to the reader, when he teaches her to read. It was achingly sad, but at the same time beautiful when he takes her to the mountain where her mother’s remains are buried for the first time.

This is a short book and I wanted there to be more of the story before that last chapter beautiful chapter. I won’t say much about the plot because you really have to experience this yourself. I’ll just say that this book is about a journey, a journey of survival, of instinct, of the desire to pay honor to a loved one, full of love and loss, joy and sadness, a journey of life. This is one of those books that will remain with me for its beauty and it’s significance.


I received an advanced copy of this book from Bellevue Literary Press through NetGalley.

In The Bear, Andrew Krivak weaves a hauntingly beautiful novel of elegant simplicity, visually rich and unforgettable. The story of a girl and her father surviving alone in a wilderness becomes a fable, a testament to familial love, and a portrait of humankind's place in the world.

This is a novel that entered my dreams, strangely offering a sense of peace and a feeling of oneness with the natural world. Strange because this is also a dystopian novel set in a future when mankind has disappeared and his civilization has crumbled, reverted to its basic elements.

These two remaining live an idealized oneness with nature. They have some antiques--a glass window, some moldering books, a silver comb, singular heirlooms of another time. The father teaches his daughter how to fish and hunt, how to turn animal fur into clothing and blankets, how to sew shoes from leather and sinew. They drink pine needle tea and gather nuts. The weeds we heedlessly poison become their salad. The maple helicopters that we curse when cleaning the gutters are their survival food.

What a long way we have come, we humans with our large brains and big dreams and greedy appetites! I look about my yard and neighborhood and understand suddenly the plenty that surrounds me. Not just my father's apple trees that bore thousands of fruit this year, but the maple trees and the oaks down the road. Not just my raised bed of chard and kale but the weeds I diligently pull up one by one.

Krivak's heroine is aided by her totem animal, the bear whose profile is seen in the mountain where her mother's bones rest. With winter, he sleeps and the girl is aided by a puma. These magical creatures feel a kinship--a kinship humanity has rarely returned.

Oh, no, we are to conquer and subdue and use and abuse!

But what has that gotten us?--Decimation of species, destruction of the environment, pollution that poisons us, alienation.

The gorgeous style of Krivak's writing, his story of survival and death that somehow brings a sense of peace, the love and respect shown by his characters, the themes eternal and crucial, earmark this as a must-read novel.

I received a free ebook from the publisher through NetGalley. My review is unbiased and fair.

The Bear is one of those stories that quietly takes hold of you. It somehow captured a pensive and introspective mood. The writing was lyrical and the imagery was beautiful.
It is definitely a book that will stick with me.
If you are bored by slow-build pacing and need lightning-fast pacing, this book is not for you.

Overall, I quite enjoyed it and thought the writing was great.
Thank you to Bellevue Literary Press and NetGalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

THE BEAR is a beautifully written modern fable. The story is very simple — a girl must survive on her own in a vast wilderness — but it reads like an elegiac meditation on humanity and loss. It feels both timeless and very much of our time, as it plays on anxieties about climate change and the end of human civilization.

The Bear is an enjoyable, intriguing read. Its descriptions, themes and events are very simple stated. However it works to create a interesting tale that left me better than before reading it. The story flows gently, taking us through a world in which there is both happiness and pain. It reads somewhat like a fairy tale as it describes a father and daughter, the last two humans on earth. It’s a very good book! I love the characters and enjoyed the story. I highly recommend it and will definitely read more by this author. I would like to thank Netgalley, the publisher and the author for providing me with an advance reader copy in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion of this book.
#ReadTheBear #NetGalley

The Bear is a short novel at only 275 pages. Honestly, I'm not sure what I was expecting when I picked this book up, something magical perhaps? Something more fairy tale like? But what I got was a sad story about a girl who at a young age is left alone to try and not die in the woods.

This book is possibly post apocalyptic, I'm not sure. All I know is that there isn't any one left except a dad and his tiny daughter. We learn the mother has died when the girl is young, and the dad has buried her on top of a mountain.

It's a strange story, and honestly the majority of the plot takes place one winter with the young girl (now around age 11) trying to survive the winter. It felt more like a survival how to guide than it did some magical kind of story.

Honestly, I finished this book and put it down and wondered what on earth I'd just read. The plot was strange, and there's no quotation marks to signify dialogue, which may be the author's style (it's my first book by this author), but it was jarring at first and I had to get accustomed to the style.

That said, I wish I enjoyed this book more than I actually did.

Girl and Father are the last known humans alive. An unfortunate incident leaves Girl alone to battle the forces of nature herself. "The Bear" immerses the reader in nature and explores man's relationship with the surrounding life.

Brutal. Beautiful. Heartbreaking. Told though the struggle of father and daughter and teaching her the ways of the world.

This was a very thoughtful book. Very much a fable, it's the story of the last two people in existence, a man and his young daughter. It traces their life story year by year (which is actually fairly brief and very poetic in its writing,) and takes the reader to a time when only one of them remains. This story has elements of both post-apocolyptic stories (without the usual violence,) mythology, Native American folklore, and Grimm's Fairy Tales, and I breezed through it in a day since I couldn't put it down and wanted to know what would happen.

My biggest complaint is that this book wasn't longer and that there wasn't more to the rest of the story about the survivor. I was invested and just wanted more. Even so, I highly recommend this for the story that was there. I will be looking for more by this author.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with the ARC of this book. It has not influenced my review.

I really enjoyed this book. It reminded me in many ways of The Dog Stars by Peter Heller. It was a bit of a slow burn, but about one-third into the story I had a hard time putting it down. It’s an allegory of The Man, and The Girl living in a secluded environment. This book is difficult to describe without spoilers so I need to be vague. Through a series of events, even though the girl was alone I didn’t feel she was truly alone. It’s beautifully written and I need to re-read this one to try and pick up on the subtleties I’m sure I missed. There aren’t many books, which I want to re-read; however, this is one of them. By the end of the book I juts wanted to be out in the wilderness and go fishing.

I received a digital copy for free in exchange for my honest opinion.

This fable-like novel about the last two humans on earth is poignant and moving. While the premise is bleak, the actual story is actually quite beautiful. Quiet and enchanting with exquisite descriptions of nature, we get a glimpse into what their lives are like in a post-apocalyptic world. With elements of magic realism to reinforce the lesson that we are all one, I was left with hope and a steadfast reverence for Mother Nature.

Written in sparse, elegant prose, The Bear is the story of a girl surviving in the wild as one of the last inhabitants of Earth. Despite the depressing setting, the book is actually quite the opposite of bleak.

But as lovely as some of the scenes were, particularly those that showcased the relationship between father and daughter, as well as the wonderful ending, I found myself struggling to maintain interest at many points. Much of the book reads like a wilderness survival guide, with a tedious level of detail going into the girl hunting and fishing and foraging through the woods. Halfway through the book, I wound up skimming these scenes, and honestly nothing was lost in terms of the narrative.

Luckily, this is a short book, and had its highlights that made it worth ploughing through. I imagine this will be quite the divisive book, with one side declaring this a work of art and the other giving up halfway due to boredom.

”The bear looked into the fire then and said, The wood you burn to cook your food and keep you warm? The smoke that rises was once a memory. The ashes all that is left of the story it belonged to.”

I thought this story was beautiful. It’s a story about a father and daughter and nature. I loved the relationship between the father and daughter, especially that he was teaching her survival skills. I love how they live off the land and respect it. It reminded me of the first half of “Where the Crawdads Sing” which I enjoyed very much.

Part story, part fable and part fiction it was a riveting read and I enjoyed it very much!

Thank you to NetGalley and Bellevue Literary Press for an advance copy of this book.

I enjoyed this quite a bit. I was initially attracted by the cover and am happy I looked further into it. Might not be for everyone.

This is the type of book that some readers will be engrossed in and others will not be able to finish. I found the pacing of the book to be good and the author's writing style easy to read. The theme of the book has it's roots in native american beliefs which I always find interesting. My major disappointment was that the author wrapped up the book quickly making me wonder what happenned to the main character in the intervening years.

I recommend getting it from your local library once it is published to determine first if it is a book that is your cup of tea.

I have also posted my review on Net Galley, Goodreads, Amazon and my review blog. I also posted it to my Facebook page.

This book was haunting, it was beautiful, it was poetic. Exploring grief, and loss in an enchanting way. This book totally captivated me. I really love end of the world novels in general, but I especially love ones that really explore poignant topics as deeply as this one did. I am so glad I picked this one up.

This was an interesting read for sure, but I don't think that it was for me. It's unique, and thought-provoking, and possibly I just wasn't in the mood for it. It's a quiet read, for lack of a better word. Perfect for if you're able to curl up and absorb it, but I wasn't able to.

4.25/5 stars

I first want to start by saying thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

So far this is one of my favorite ARC’s I’ve read. It’s hard to actually explain why because mainly the novel doesn’t have a lot going on through it, mainly it’s about the main character (the girl) forging and hunting, and fishing. She has her difficulties, around halfway in a tragic scene takes place, which I felt in my soul when reading that scene, made me feel for the girl.

But if you’re looking for a novel that gives you the meaning of life, along with how spirts never die than pick up The Bear when it comes out and give it a read.


#ReadTheBear #NetGalley

While I think this book is attempting to be a meditation on death, and the challenges of isolation, it misses the mark. The Bear is a look at a post apocalyptic future, where the two remaining people are a man and his daughter. And a talking bear and an eagle. I think the challenge is that this book feels like it is trying to be too many things, yet fails to be anything cohesive. There are elements of magical realism and times when the book shines with lyricism and poetry. There are also moments when the book demonstrates ability of nature to bounce back regardless of the impact of humanity.

This 224 page book took me 4 month to read. It just didn't hold my interest and there was nothing that made me want to return to the book, with the exception of not liking to have unfinished arcs. I don't normally like to give one star and I know there are redeeming qualities to most books- there are people whose reviews you can see that loved this book, but I think I am in the minority.