Customer Reviews

The Bear's Embrace: A Story of Survival

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The knee-jerk reviews that call this an 'inspirational', 'you can overcome anything' memoir are unbelievably obtuse. The unexpurgated, NC-17 truth of the matter is that the author committed suicide shortly after the publication of this book, apparently overcome by the enormity of what had happened to her and what was taken away from her by this horrible encounter with a bear. I felt that the end of the book, with its strenuous and somewhat fake-seeming efforts to find a 'silver lining' in her misfortune were perhaps the result of pressure from the editor/publisher to end the story in an upbeat way. The bottom line in the publishing biz is that downers don't sell. Sorry, all you 'smile button' types: sometimes the unvarnished truth is that you cannot turn the page, because the page weights a ton.

I believe that this story was a great description of a persons will and determination to survive. The book is very well explained and tells a lot about the human spirit. It is something that you would read on a rainy Saturday afternoon with a cup of hot cocoa or a hot cup of coffee whatever you prefer. A great read indeed.

I read the book in one sitting. I simply could not put it down no matter how many pressing/important things I needed to do. It has stayed with me long after, as well. This book was not what I expected. After chapter two which was the attack and rescue I wondered how the author could fill the rest of the book with the recovery. In moving prose, with bare honesty, she takes us on her harrowing journey. Through it all is her Homeric husband(demanding work, chronically ill/incapacitated wife, growing needy children AND building his own home - whom we come to love and admire, too). Yes, this story is an unwitting condemnation of the Canadian socialized quality of medicine, but it is ultimately the strength and perseverance of the human spirit. Please continue to write, we readers have come to care for you and your family deeply.

This book was written very well, I could feel the authors pain and suffering. The book mentions a documentary TV program that is about this incident--but I haven't been able to track it down.

This is a deeply moving story about surviving---not just a brutal bear attack, but the facial disfigurement, long-term pain and surgeries, and the deep depression caused by no one understanding Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome, 20 years ago. As someone who lived in Canada for 20 years, I believe that Patricia's critique of her medical care is NOT a critique of the Canadian system of health care funding, but of how little was understood back then about trauma, and how to rebuild one's life after such horror. This is a deeply spiritual book, in spite of its graphic descriptions of her facial damage, and the clumsy surgical attepts to fix it. This book should be required reading for all people in the health care and mental health fields. It might teach compassion for "difficult" patients, who have much to teach us.

This book is not a tale of survival of a bear attack, which is what I thought it would be. Its more like a book about the author's depression. I was expecting a story about the actual attack and the events which happened immediately after the attack, sort of like the mountain climbing accidents I often read about. It was nothing like that at all. Also, this book is not for those with a queasy stomach. I could hardly read some of the details of surgery and medical conditions.