Review - Lonesome for Bears

Lonesome for Bears: A Woman's Journey in the Tracks of the Wilderness by Linda Jo Hunter

rating: 2 of 5 stars

This is another one that I picked up during my library work. I really, really want to say I liked this book, because I learned a number of interesting things about bears from it (staying calm, staying put, and glancing away from a bear are ways of showing you don't want a fight, for example). Some of the author's imagery was quite good, and I could tell that she cared about her subject. However, I had several major problems with the book:

1. The narrative in the beginning seemed disjointed. I was expecting a book about a woman who overcame her fear of bears and grew to love them, but I felt that her fear of bears was glossed over within a very short space. It made it seem like the central conflict was over within the first chapter. In addition, before she and her husband became managers at Redoubt Bay Lodge, I wasn't sure when the previous events were happening. More dates would have been better.

2. Whatever the writing issue was, I just didn't feel for the bears like I knew the author did. Her prose seemed to lack in just the spots where it needed to shine the most.

3. The whole book lacked a central theme. Because of the solved conflict right at the beginning, the rest of the book read more like a journal chronicling several mostly unrelated events.

Again, great book if you want to learn more about bears--there are several very interesting and funny stories about them, the author being an expert tracker and guide. Not so great if you want an entertaining story that will move you and keep you on the edge of your seat.

View all my reviews.