This NetGalley book came to me at just the right time. I have been on a reading streak and the hardest thing for me about being in a reading zone is finding the next book and hoping it’s as exciting as the last one.

Bear is the story of Sam, who lives with her close in age sister Elena, as they care for their terminally ill mother, scraping to make ends meet. Life as it is feels interminable, with change only promised when their mother passes and they can sell the house and finally begin their independent lives. When a bear visits their property, the sisters react in different ways: Elena is enchanted and Sam is alarmed. As their circumstances change, the girls struggle with the pull of staying and leaving, allure and repulsion, and facing their resentments and expectations. This book is a slow burn, like their monotonous life, building up to an explosion of change, all at once, forcing the sisters to confront everything they’re ever thought of for thier futures. This story is surprising and perplexing, I am still thinking about the ending. This would be a great read for a book club discussion.

I loved Julia Phillips’ first book, Disappearing Earth, and Bear is very different, but is compelling and propulsive in its own way.

Bear will be out June 25, 2024, thank you NetGalley and Random House for the advanced copy.

What unfolds when the timeless Brothers Grimm fairy tale of Snow White and Rose Red intertwines with the harsh reality of working-class life on San Juan Island, off the coast of Washington State?

Enchantment transpires. The result is a narrative that retains its mythical essence while intimately immersing the reader in the daily struggles of those trying to make ends meet.

In the small household of Sam and Elena, two sisters born just a year apart, their ailing mother languishes in a slow decline. Elena, the elder sister, tends bar at a local golf club, while Sam serves coffee and snacks on the ferry shuttle to dismissive and entitled wealthy commuters. Though deeply attached to their mother, the sisters harbor dreams of liberation—anticipating a time when they can sell the property and chart their own course.

Their lives take an unexpected turn when they encounter a massive bear, seemingly having swum to the island on its journey to Canada. Elena is captivated by this "dreadful, holy sight," describing it with the reverence one might reserve for an angelic visitation. Sam, on the other hand, experiences a range of emotions, from awe to fear, eventually resolving to report the encounter to the authorities and ensure their safety.

Who is this bear? Merely a creature foraging for food, or a mystical gift from the animal gods? And how do two sisters, navigating a world that demands self-defense without providing the means to thrive, interpret his presence? As the sisters drift apart, revelations about their true selves emerge, casting a layer of moral ambiguity over the narrative.

This compelling and dynamic tale continues to hold me in its grip, even after reaching the final page. Gratitude to Hogarth Press for granting me early access in exchange for an honest review.

As others have shared….”The Bear” is very different than “Disappearing Earth”, (Julia Phillips debut)…..
No problem for me …I enjoyed them both. I trust Julia’s power.
I believe in her power. She entertains while connecting us to the vulnerabilities of her characters…..unveiling a string of emotional strengths, weaknesses and flaws in each of them. Julia is also quite skilled at presenting compelling conflicts….her characters struggle with internal conflicts, as well as external conflicts. The wooded atmosphere and unique San Juan setting creates the perfect context to tell this story.

In ‘The Bear’, Julia explores both good and evil of various spiritual manifestations. Myth and fairytale interlace ‘The Bear’ symbolically and literally—disrupts and divides sisters Sam and Elena ……
Family expectations, assumptions, jealousy, resentments, hopelessness, death, loss, grief, and love are explored.
The finale is spooky- haunting- and pretty darn abrasive….
but….it makes one think.

…..a terminally ill mother.
…..a dilapidated old house that sits on property worth a small fortune.
…..Elena and Sam (both late twenties) struggle financially.
…..Dreams of better days.
…..a bear appears at the doorstep (Sam is terrified. Elena is ecstatic and becomes obsessed with it).
…..Life is never the same once that bear appeared.
…..mysterious? You bet!

“One day they would leave San Juan. Their world would expand, grow richer and more stable. The happiness would come constantly, and the rest would drop away, but Sam would never make it to that point with her sanity intact if she didn’t start trying right now, to match the equanimity of her sister. They had a plan. They were going to get out of here. Beyond that, nothing mattered. Everything else, the tedious, and the glorious, could be borne”.

Deliciously brave — equally haunting!

A beautiful book about sisterhood, love, growth, humanity, and the world we live in. The Pacific Northwest was a gorgeous backdrop for an intriguing, tense, and unique novel.

Thank you Netgalley & Random House Publishing Group for an eARC ♥️

Aww this book is like a mesmerizing dream that combines the best of mythical storytelling with the gritty realities of everyday life. You've got two sisters, Sam and Elena, who are trying to make ends meet on an island off the coast of Washington. They're struggling, but they've got each other... until a mysterious bear shows up and shakes everything up.

Elena is captivated by the bear, while Sam is terrified. And that's when things start to get really interesting. The bear becomes a symbol of something bigger than themselves, and the sisters have to confront their own desires, fears, and dreams. It's like a modern-day fairy tale, but with a lot more depth and complexity.

I love how the author explores the bond between sisters, the struggle to make a living, and the magic that can be found in the natural world. The writing is vivid and engaging, and the characters feel like real people. Plus, the Pacific Northwest setting is basically a character in itself - it's like you're right there on the island with Sam and Elena.

“Bear' is a must-read for anyone who loves a good story that'll keep you turning the pages. It's like a breath of fresh air, with a dash of magic and wonder. ☺️

I truly adored Disappearing Earth by Julia Phillips and was really anticipating this novel. It's an unusual one, with an ending that I didn't expect. The main characters are well drawn and there's a fantastic sense of place. It lacks the narrative propulsion that her previous novel had but still a moving read nonetheless.

This was exactly what I needed. The perfect read for a cold winter day or rather a cold rainy day. It’s giving Twilight vibes. A mystery that’s totally satisfying and enthralling. I can’t wait to recommend this thriller to my friends and colleagues. Don’t miss it!
#Bear #NetGalley

The bear offers a powerful look at the lengths people will go to in the quest to escape from daily life and seek wonder. A story of family love and betray and hope.

What a beautifully written and profound novel. It's a short book but it definitely packs a punch. This is a very singular story, not much happens in terms of plot, but this book is all about emotion and the importance of family. Sam is such an interesting and complicated character. I also found her deeply delusional. Sam is a dreamer and she's also depressed. She wants desperately to escape for her mundane life/job. Her sister Elena is also in a dead-end job but she's not a miserable as her younger sister. One morning, the sisters find a bear wandering outside their house, after this terrifying incident, the presence of the bear becomes something more magical for Elena. Elena becomes obsessed and transfixed by the bear, to the bewilderment of her younger sister, Sam. Even though this is not a perfect novel, it still left a lasting impression on me. Julia Philips is a lovely writer. I definitely want to read her previous novel, "Disappearing Earth" as soon as possible.

Thank you, Netgalley and Random House for the digital ARC.

Oh my dear goodness. This is haunting. If you'd have told me in the first 50 pages how I'd feel now, having finished it, I wouldn't have believed you. I almost put it down because I was bored. I persisted, and was rewarded. That last page was just powerful.

I really wanted to like this book because I have been looking forward to this author's new book for a long time. I love nature and animals and it should have been right up my alley but the dynamics between the sisters just didn't quite work and and there just wasn't much positives to take away from the story.

In the San Juan Islands, Sam lives with her sister Elena and their dying mother. They’ve been spending fifteen years taking care of their mother, and it seems like her decline is finally coming to an end - at the same time the sameness of their days is changed by a bear sighting. First, in the channel, and second, in their yard. Sam is troubled by the bear, while Elena describes it as magical. The bear becomes the flashpoint of their relationship, highlighting their differences and their secrets.

Julia Phillips’ Disappearing Earth was weird but decent and this is the same: weird but decent. Did I like it? I’m not even sure that matters. Bear is a strange story of family and escape, and the comforting lies we tell ourselves. It drew me in regardless of whether I wanted to be or not.

Bear is an emotional rollercoaster that beautifully portrays the bond between sisters. As someone with an older sister, I found the themes incredibly relatable. The book also really sparked my interest in bears and now I want to read more novels about them! Despite its sadness, "Bear" is a moving tale that kept me hooked throughout. Philips skillfully navigates complex emotions and human relationships, creating a narrative that's both touching and thought-provoking.

I truly despised this book. Sam was incorrigible, selfish, immature, etc. She read like a child even though she was almost 30. Her sister is so desperate not to have to run a household she seeks out the bear. To me, the book went like this:

Sam complains. Sam goes to work, complains, lists every mundane task out for us to see every time she works, which, of course, is constantly because her life is hard. Sam takes a survey on her phone. Sam dreams of leaving.

Wash. Rinse. Repeat. Over and over.

She finally gets the chance to leave and doesn't take it? I guess because she wants to be there for her sister. Although, she has never stepped up and let her sister shoulder it all their entire lives.

I'll end with how disappointed I am that a female writer would include a narrative that physical abuse from your husband/boyfriend is a family trait passed down through generations. 2024, and we're still doing this? Gross.

Two sisters, Sam and Elena, live with their ailing mother on a Washington coastal island where among wealthy tourists and vacation home owners they struggle financially and emotionally, working at low paid, unsatisfactory jobs. The unexplained arrival on the island of a wild bear upsets their future dreams and fragile bonds of sisterhood in a sort of mythical unraveling of their lives. This novel is a powerful depiction of how unrealistic and unfulfilled expectations, as well as circumstance and past trauma, shapes the personalities and ultimately destructive behaviors of these two women.

If you’re expecting this novel to be anything like Disappearing Earth, you won’t find it here. You’ll find the cleverness of myth and fairytale intertwined in this novel that borrows, slightly, from Brothers’ Grimm’s Snow White and Rose Red.

And you’ll find an entirely different writing style from Disappearing, this one feeling almost middle-grade in sentence dynamics and character development compared to her previous literary trademarks of deep interiority and lush description. Maybe that was by design, given the goal of retelling a fairytale?

But for me, it didn’t take. I wanted more of the bear, a deeper emotional connection to the sisters. I was sad that I never hopped into their skin. I can’t help but think this might have been a more effective short story rather than a novel. There was a ton of repetition that felt like "filler" to make this a book-length story.

I may well end up being an outlier here. But I will definitely read a future Phillips book since I was so taken by her debut.

I must admit that I couldn't wait to be done with this book! I didn't like any of the characters...the sisters claimed they were close and yet they kept vital secrets from each other. Each continued her own pity party about the burdens she carried, never thinking the other was equally or more burdened by their situation. Financial decisions were made unilaterally but impacted all. And there was the bear. Elena's response to and interaction with the bear were just crazy! And Sam calls her on it and fears the worst, which is, of course, exactly what happens!

After LOVING Disappearing Earth, this book was a little challenging for me. The world was really fully realized and the characters felt authentic and three dimensional … but I didn’t really like either of the sisters, which really limited my enjoyment of the story. I kind of wanted to shake them both at various points. But the book is excellent at escalating the tension throughout, and I found myself reading the last third or so almost between my fingers as I waited for something to give. Probably closer to 3.5 stars, but rounding up because of how immersed I was in the story.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC

I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

BEAR by Julia Phillips is a deceptively simple story that I will think about for a long time. Two sisters live with their mom on an island.

I picked up BEAR to read this morning and did not put it down until I turned the final page, crying, heartbroken that it was over. Julia Phillips has delivered another incredible, imaginative novel that captivated me and will stay with me. These beautifully flawed characters, all trying to find their way, in one of the most compelling settings, the San Juan Islands. I can't wait for this novel to be release so readers can discover its magic!!!