Bear (ARC) Review!!
Author - Julia Phillips
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spice 🌶 - 1.5
scare 😱 - 2
plot 📖 - 4
characters 🧍- 4
stars ⭐ - 3.5
Bear.. was something.
It is a very atmospheric novel about two sisters, Sam and Elena, who live on the San Juan Islands off the coast of Washington. They live in a dilapidated house that their grandmother bought, who passed when the girls were very young. Now, their mother is in that same bedroom withering away from a terminal illness. Sam and Elena are the sole caregivers.
The medical bills are piling up along with a multitude of others, even with working double shifts and almost no days off their heads are barely above water. However, they have a plan: once their mother passes on they can sell the house and take the money from the sale to get off this godforsaken island. That was the plan anyway; until a bear appeared at their front step.
I have some things to praise and some things to gripe about. I'll start with the praise.
You don't notice it until after you've finished the ~300-page read, but there is A LOT packed into Bear. Flashbacks, inner monologues, and self-reflection accompany the normal dialogue and present-day plot. Phillips also does a wonderful job of making you feel the sister's struggles. While their dire situation brings you down, the friendship between Sam and Elena lifts you back up still making it an enjoyable reading experience.
Now, the gripes.
There are no chapters in this book. It makes it hard to soldier on when you see multiple hours "left in this chapter". There are breaks in the book that slightly mimic chapters so at least there are stopping spots, you just don't know how long it will take you to get there.
I loathe Elena. I was pretty neutral on both sisters, given their circumstances, but in the back quarter of the novel I couldn't handle Elena anymore. Sam had her immature moments and throughout the whole book, Phillips feeds you the narrative of "big sister" and "little sister" when in reality there are only fifteen months between them. Sam is 28 and Elena is 29, almost 30. They are both adults. Some of Elena's choices did not sit right with me, I'm #teamsam.
Books like Bear push me out of my comfort zone, which is something I think every reader should do from time to time. You never know when you will find a new genre or book you love if you keep yourself in a box. Unfortunately, not all of them will be winners and Bear was not one for me.
P.S.
Don't feed bears.
Thank you, NetGalley and the publisher for sending me an ARC of Bear in exchange for an honest
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