Thank you so much @librofm for allowing me to listen to The Bear by Andrew Krivak for free! This was my very first experience with a full length audiobook and overall it was very positive! I think I’m a definite convert now - chores and cooking are much more enjoyable!

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A gorgeous blend of post-apocalypse fiction and a fable, The Bear is the story of a girl and her father, the only two inhabitants left on Earth. I actually loved the fact that Krivak makes no attempt to tell us what happened to wipe out the human population. It simply is, and we are thrust into their sparse world where nature rules with little concern for their comfort or safety.

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In a way this book was the perfect choice for my first audiobook, although I chose it with little knowledge about the actual plot - I just saw ‘Edenic future’ and clicked download. But with beautiful vivid descriptions of mountains and forests, talking animals, and a melancholy lesson in love and loss, it was almost like being read a bedtime story for adults. Not that I listened to it before bed. But I’m so unused to LISTENING to a book that it was nice that it felt like a familiar format, a nighttime fairytale.

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In terms of the narrator, I think Eric Jason Martin was chosen because he can do an absolutely stellar bear voice. However, I did not appreciate his attempt at a ‘little girl’ voice when she had dialogue, as it came off weirdly breathy and a little creepy. Thankfully there isn’t that much dialogue, and as the girl gets older, his (not great) attempts at imitating a young girl taper off.

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So overall this was a lovely surprise, as I’d not even heard of Krivak before but ended up loving this tale! If you like quiet apocalyptic fiction, books where Mother Nature rules, and survival novels then this is one for you!