Customer Reviews

On Bear Mountain: A Novel

5 star:		(31)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I have been reading everything by Deborah Smith for years and ask myself why she isn't better known. She should be on the best seller list and there should be movies made of her books. My favorite one is "A Place to Call Home," but I loved "On Bear Mountain." I usually don't like novels where the couple are introduced as children and don't meet for 100 pages, but in her novels, the characters are so wonderful that I keep reading, anyway. Both this novel and "Home" remind me of "To Kill a Mockingbird," not because they are about prejudice but because Smith writes about the pecularities of the south like Lee. I found myself laughing and crying at this novel which I read in one night. To heck with sleeping! It took me about six or seven pages to get into, an unusually long time for Smith. Her past books have concentrated on romance; this one is a story of two families and their future links with art, guilt, and redemption. However, it's center is a great romance. It is a novel that would appeal to people who like family stories, as well as those who love romances. It's a cliche that we know a book is good when we don't want to let the characters go. It was with a sigh that I finished the book and I wish that Smith had written it longer or had written a epilogue. I hope that Deborah Smith learns to write faster, as I always adore her novels. Get going, Deborah!

A controversial bear sculture... doesn't seem like the catalyst for a book about the frailties of human and family relationships and how common needs and lucky timing are sometimes the best gifts one can receive. Richard Riconni is the sculptor and creator of the bear. It seems like his only supporters for his art are his wife and young son, who give up so much in order to support him. But then there's the chicken farmer in Georgia, Tom Powell, who adopts the bear and saves it from the town's distruction. Through a series of circumstances, the children of these two men are brought together, years later. As both search for more in life, a tale of love, commitment and human understanding is told in this heart-warminig story. This was the first book I've read by Deborah Smith, but it won't be the last!

Do you know the feeling some will have when you finish reading a really, really great book! That sad, and at the same time elated feeling, that you have just experienced something really special. You read the last paragraph of the story and then back up a page and re-read it again because you just do not want it to end. Then you close the book and hug it to your breast and just sigh, wishing you could read it all over again. ON BEAR MOUNTAIN by Deborah Smith is just such a story!

Deborah Smith, a wonderfully gifted storyteller, has written a definite keeper with On Bear Mountain. It is the story of two families; the Powell's of North Georgia and the Riconni's of New York City. On Bear Mountain tells the story of how these two families become connected and the heartbreaking, sometimes tragic history of their lives. It is also the love story between two wonderful characters Ursula Powell and Quenton Riconni.

Ursula Powell was born in the North Georgia Mountains. Her family, land rich but dirt poor has not needed money to be happy and content. Her father Tommy, an intelligent, loving but eccentric man, while always looking out for Ursula and her mother, believes that love and happiness, not money, is the most important part of life. Bear Mountain, their home has been in the Powell family for many generations. At one time, the black bear used to roam the mountains freely, hence the name. Although hunted and driven out by neighboring settlers, the Powell's had tried many times to re-introduce the bears back to the mountain. To the Powell's, the symbol of the bear had mythical qualities and was directly connected to their families happiness.

Although unsuccessful in bringing the real bears back, Tommy Powell decides to try something else. After reading about a Brooklyn artist by the name of Richard Riconni, and with the financial help of the town matriarch, he commissions the artist to make a sculpture symbolizing the bear. He and the town gather and send the artist large collection of old iron and metal machine parts. It is decided that the sculpture would be placed at college, honoring the contributions made by both the families that founded the town of Tiberville, the Tiber's and Powell's.

Richard Riconni, the Brooklyn artist commissioned to make the sculpture, realizes that this could be the piece that will finally bring recognition as a serious artist to his career. Although happy with the love and his life, his wife Angele, and proud of his young son Quenton, Richard is also driven like many artists by passion and depression. Richard crafts a wonderfully whimsical piece he titles "Bare Wisdom" and sends the sculpture to its rightful home. It arrives in Georgia via the railroad. A huge sculpture of a bear made from old iron machine parts; it is either revered as a masterpiece by the town and the Powell's, or despised by others. Affectionately re-named the Iron Bear, the sculpture is placed at the town college. Over the years, Tommy appoints himself the bear keeper and he lovingly maintains and looks after the sculpture. When the matriarch of the family passes away, her son John Tiber, who has always despised the bear decides to have it torn down. Tommy, proud of what the sculpture has come to mean to the town and it's people, talks him out of it by offering to buy it from him. Although he knows that his family can't really afford it, once paid for, the Iron Bear is moved to the Powell farm on Bear Mountain.

On Bear Mountain is told, strangely enough, in the first person by many of the characters of the book. Deborah Smith is one of the few writers that does this and does it really well. Alternating between Ursula Powell and Quenton Riconni, the story unfolds by giving us the history of each of the families from their perspective. We learn of lives and loves lost and how both of them, each in their own different way, deal with the tragedies that fall upon their connected families. How each deal with what they feel is both their fathers' betrayal and their own guilt. It is the Iron Bear that finally brings these two wonderful characters together and they begin their own love story. A love story, one that is ultimately about healing and forgiveness of self and those dear to us.

Like all of Smith's books, On Bear Mountain, is not a fast paced action read, it is a slow but wonderfully developed story of family, love and life. Readers that enjoy reading a story, which includes the history, and events that drive and form the characters of the story, will laugh and cry as this tale unfolds. On Bear Mountain is another masterpiece by Deborah Smith and the story of these two families will stay with the reader long after the last words are read.

Sandy C.

I really wanted to like this book. I've read other books by this author and I was truely looking forward to seeing what all the hype was about. However, I was greatly disappointed. The book was good until the leading characters actually met. The meeting counldn't have been more contrived-a tornado that just destroyed her barn and nothing else-no one ever mentioning it afterward. I was even disturbed by the hero's handling of a autistic man. Just 'act like a man'. Why didn't we think of this before? Autistic, kissing cousins who are made for each other because of Mickey and Minnie Mouse shirts-who can gather black bears and drive them around town. And let's not talk about how the hero is shot, at which point I literally dropped the book and groaned.
Again, the book started off good when the characters were in their own element, but when the two met, I was left scratching my head and wondering what the heck happened.

This book was enjoyable. It has redeeming value, insight and quirky and believable characters. There is great wisdom -- and humor -- within its pages.

But, the author needs to hone her craft. With some simple editing, continuity and polish, she could join the likes of Lee Smith, or the wordsmith herself, Kaye Gibbons.

But she is a romance novelist that hasn't quite shaken off the gimmicks. The storytelling at times gets in way of the story. She is at the level of Rosamunde Pilcher -- pre-The Shell Seekers. As Ms. Pilcher -- her first works show potential!

The story is told in two voices, Ursula and Richard. They are children of two distinct locales: Ursula grew up poor in the small chicken-producing hamlet of Tiberville, Georgia -- Piggly Wiggly, college politics, better off cousins, local color, a visit to jail for upsetting status quo. Richard grew up in an old neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York -- Catholic school, tenement apartment, mother with ambitions for greatness for both her son and her husband.... What is amazing is both places and the author's descriptions of them, the characters and their family stories ring true.

But there is a problem with basic storytelling techniques.

Half-way through the book.... midst trying to rekindle the flame, Richard's old girlfriend finds "pictures of me" in his bedroom dresser.... I literally stopped mid-paragraph and wondered "who is 'me?'" Why would pictures of Richard bother her? Isn't the action in New York at this moment? Doesn't Richard tell the New York parts? No! "Me" was Ursula -- but wait -- how did she get there? Other than her likeness in the incriminating photographs --- she was off down in Georgia, pining, wasn't she? I had to stop this diatribe in my mind.

The author had changed storytelling techniques mid-story -- she had changed the "voice" telling Richard's part of the story. This disconcertingly continues. What I call "personal pronoun confusion" peppers the last half of the book.

The first chapter of On Bear Mountain is a gimmick. You find out what is going to happen at the end. SKIP IT. Literally: do not read the first chapter.

Ironically, the gimmick kept me from getting involved emotionally with the book -- if you know it is going to burn, do you put your hand in the fire?

And even more ironically, it is a great book to get emotionally involved with! Richard and Ursula find compatriot chords within each other, grow and learn together because of it. Theirs was a powerful story -- it deserves to be told honestly. Straightforwardly.

Deborah's writing is mature enough to keep us turning those pages to the end! The characters are great. The story is lively and at times very, very funny. It is very, very real. And is very, very distinctive -- how many writers you know invent a porn artist come children's book illustrator, a love story for the retired, a love story for the autistic and a bear tale all rolled into one? Not to mention the great, hilarious scene starring a rack of beef jerky in the Piggly Wiggly?

Keep writing Deborah. You are good, creative and inventive. Your imagery and wisdom shine through. But just pour out your heart!!! You have a great one!

My grandmother recommended this book to me and when I finally picked it up, I couldn't put it down. The novel has two stories. In one, a scupltor struggles with his career and family and is comissioned to build a bear out of scrap metal for a small southern town. The second story details how the bear scuplture divides the town into those who love it and those who hate it. One man in particular is moved by the sculpture and it becomes a symbol of his family. Years later, the scupltor's son comes to claim the bear from the man's daughter meet. The result is tension, small-town gossip, and eventually some romance. This story is very unique, full of interesting characters. It is a nice, deep story in contrast to the many light-hearted Bridget Jones novels that are so popular today.

I can't say enough good things about this book. In ON BEAR MOUNTAIN, Deborah Smith gives us unforgettable characters in an irresistible setting, all bound together by an inextricable sense of destiny. She does destiny nearly as well as John Irving, but her voice is all her own--uniquely Southern, by turns gritty and gentle, soft and sassy, and etched with a tender irony that can make you laugh out loud or break your heart. She writes with genuine emotion and sentiment, but never stoops to manipulative sentimentality. Like her protagonist, Quentin Rinconni, she is a brilliant and sensitive artist who can instinctively find and give meaning to the complex patterns that define even the most ordinary of lives. Bravo, Ms. Smith, and thanks for another extraordinary read!

I've read every one of Deborah Smith's books. They just keep getting better! I picked up "On Bear Mountain" yesterday afternoon and finished it last night, putting it down only long enough to fix another cup of tea. My eyes are still puffy from shedding some tears, but my spirit is invigorated.

There are few authors who can bring readers to Kleenex and laughter in equal measure. Smith skillfully builds complex and colorful characters who expose the frailties and powerful strengths of the human spirit.

In this generation, she is the finest chronicler of a disappearing race, the hill people of North Georgia. As I read "On Bear Mountain," childhood memories flashed through my mind. The poultry trucks that slowed our school bus and the quiet poverty of children who worked beside their parents in the tar paper covered "coops" of 100,000 chickens vividly reappeared. I felt again the gentle dignity of people who had few worldly riches but vast fortunes of character and determination. Thank you for keeping the spirit alive.

Like her other books, On Bear Mountain was hard to put down! I can't say enough about her style of writing. The way she writes, the language, the laughs and the tears..... wow. My favorite is still A Place To Call Home. On Bear Mountain only comes in second because it ended too quickly! I'm a sucker for a happy ending, and it seemed that Ursula and Quentin no sooner got together and the story ended. I am in no way a writer, though, so I'll leave it to Ms. Smith who kept me entertained throughout the story. I agree with one of the previous reviews - if only she could write faster!!!

Ursula Powell and Quentin Ricconni come to know each other through circumstances beyond their control. The past haunts both of them in a way neither can imagine. Drawn together by a sculpture of a great spirit Bear created by Quentin's long dead father, the quest to reconcile their past begins.

Superstition and blood feuds are a way of life deep in the Georgia Mountains. For generations the Powell's and the Tiber's have lived side by side as kin and as foe. Ursula is drawn back to her roots when her father dies suddenly leaving her a run down artist's commune and the sole protector of her mentally challenged younger brother. She is faced with the realization that her brother cannot live in the city and barring institutionalizing him she must return home.

While demolishing an old warehouse Quentin finds a long lost letter that brings to light a piece of his father's legacy that he had thought gone forever. He desperately wants to find the Great Bear and return it to his mother as part of his father's legacy in art. All indications are that the Powell family on Bear Mountain owns it. He doesn't bargain for the depth of feeling Ursula and her brother have for the bear, love and hatred combined.

Learning to love and to trust again, Quentin and Ursula come together in a beautifully written story. This book has wonderful elements of intrigue and surprise as well as romance. I would rate this book as a 4.5 if possible. Great work!