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apostrophen's review
4.0
I'm a fan of audiobooks and finding more and more titles from Lethe/Bear Bones and Bold Strokes has been a real joy to add some quality audiobooks to my two-plus hours of commute every day.
"Bear Like Me" works on many levels - on the surface, this is a fun and light story of a guy in way over his head: a gay clone twink type who is unjustly fired from his job at a magazine is left twisting in the wind, and his friend convinces him to go undercover into the bear community and write a book about the experience. Hijinks begin from the first confusion over "husbear" and then a second plot wrinkle enters: he has the opportunity to maybe do some sabotage to the magazine that let him go. Juggling identities, lies, sabotage and a romance that is starting with a burly bear makes life complicated, but the biggest struggle might just be realizing that the only thing better than pretending to be a bear might be actually being one.
On that fun mad-cap level alone, the story works. It's actually mildly a period piece as well, and keeping in mind the tale takes place as the internet age is dawning will also make some of the chuckles all the more amusing - I didn't get his absolute confusion about computers for a moment or two, until I realized that.
On a deeper level, though, there's more here. On his quest to investigate the bear identity, the hero also bumps into the same struggles I remember all too well from my brief foray into the bear world when I first came out: the community can be the most supportive and wonderful culture, but just like anywhere else, there are some who take the rules as permission to be exclusive and cruel. Being new (and fake), the hero of the tale gets a double-dose of that double-edged reality, and there were more than a few moments that made me want to reach in and strangle a character or two for my younger self, even as I shook my head in amusement at the antics of all involved.
"Bear Like Me" ultimately left me smiling, and I can happily recommend it - especially to anyone who didn't fit any of the molds when they first came out.
"Bear Like Me" works on many levels - on the surface, this is a fun and light story of a guy in way over his head: a gay clone twink type who is unjustly fired from his job at a magazine is left twisting in the wind, and his friend convinces him to go undercover into the bear community and write a book about the experience. Hijinks begin from the first confusion over "husbear" and then a second plot wrinkle enters: he has the opportunity to maybe do some sabotage to the magazine that let him go. Juggling identities, lies, sabotage and a romance that is starting with a burly bear makes life complicated, but the biggest struggle might just be realizing that the only thing better than pretending to be a bear might be actually being one.
On that fun mad-cap level alone, the story works. It's actually mildly a period piece as well, and keeping in mind the tale takes place as the internet age is dawning will also make some of the chuckles all the more amusing - I didn't get his absolute confusion about computers for a moment or two, until I realized that.
On a deeper level, though, there's more here. On his quest to investigate the bear identity, the hero also bumps into the same struggles I remember all too well from my brief foray into the bear world when I first came out: the community can be the most supportive and wonderful culture, but just like anywhere else, there are some who take the rules as permission to be exclusive and cruel. Being new (and fake), the hero of the tale gets a double-dose of that double-edged reality, and there were more than a few moments that made me want to reach in and strangle a character or two for my younger self, even as I shook my head in amusement at the antics of all involved.
"Bear Like Me" ultimately left me smiling, and I can happily recommend it - especially to anyone who didn't fit any of the molds when they first came out.
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