Bear by Julia Phillips
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Ok, wow.
I have to give this book a 5-star read because it’s unlike anything I’ve read. I love when I discover books that have such unusual premises that even after having read thousands of books, I can still be really surprised.
On the surface, Bear is the story of two siblings who live on a Pacific Northwest island, taking care of their ill mom and working at dead-end underpaying jobs to pay the medical bills. But underneath, there’s so so much more going on. Sam has been waiting for the day that she and Elena can stop having to take care of their mother, sell their house and move off the island, as Elena promised years ago.
And then a bear shows up at their house. And the two sisters have wildly different reactions to the bear. We only see everything from Sam’s perspective and her alarm grows and grows, causing a greater wedge between her and her sister and she feels it’s imperative that she resolve the situation before all their dreams go up in smoke.
And, of course, of course things are not as they might seem to Sam. And, of course, of course things don’t go as planned.
This is a powerful novel unlike any other. I loved it.
with gratitude to netgalley and Random House for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review
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