Summer of the Bear (Pollen) - Book Reviews

Book Reviews
Full of vivid detail.... Pollen is an acute observer of people and places.... a skilled dissector of the subtleties of sibling warfare.
Washington Post


Pollen delivers a potent narrative about a family gripped by grief.
Terry Loncaric - Chicago Post-Tribune


There’s magic at the margins of The Summer of the Bear.... The novel has a bit of the style of Lemony Snicket and a smidgeon of The Secret of Roan Inish. Pollen’s writing is clean and clear enough that you can really smell the peat smoke and feel the wind.
Los Angeles Times


Affecting.... Riveting.... A thrilling tale that unravels mysteries of the human heart, The Summer of the Bear is spine-tingling. (4.5 stars)
People


What's real and what's imagined is at the heart of this gem of a novel, which is one part fairy tale, one part international thriller, and all-parts engrossing family drama.... Pollen's lyrical and often witty prose makes this a stirring tale of loss and self-discovery.
Lynn Schnurnberger - More


In the time it took me to finish the first two or three sentences, I was already hooked: the characters, their feelings and their behavior seemed entirely real and true to me.... The Outer Hebrides are so vividly described that I am obsessed with going there for a visit.
Nancy Pearl - NPR


A haunting, unsentimental look at estranged families and hidden secrets.... Magically melancholy.... Tender and wistful, Pollen doesn’t shy away from harsh truths, but at the heart of her story there’s an unquenchable belief in love and redemption
Marie Claire (UK)


In 1980s Berlin, there's evidence that the British Embassy was undermined by a mole, and when diplomat Nicky Fleming dies unexpectedly (was it murder? suicide?), it's easy enough to point the finger at him. Trying to protect her three children, his widow resettles in the Outer Hebrides, where odd but brilliant young Jamie discovers a brown bear while exploring the island with his teenaged sisters. Jamie believes that the bear is somehow connected to his father, and what really happened back in Berlin begins to emerge. A fascinating plot, and now that British author Pollen has two novels in film development, one must wonder whether she is heading for a breakout. With suggestions of both political and psychological tension, this should appeal to a wide range of readers.
Library Journal


Pollen sensitively and intricately takes each family member through painful stages of grief and longing. —Carol Haggas
Booklist


(Starred review.) In her moving, beautifully written fifth novel, Pollen (Midnight Cactus, 2006, etc.) serves up an improbable mix that, on the face, seems as if it shouldn't work. The main strand of narrative is something out of Cold War thrillerdom (whence le Carré): Letty Fleming's diplomat husband, posted to Berlin a decade before the fall of the Berlin Wall, dies there.... A shocked Letty, with children in tow, retreats to the Outer Hebrides to sort things out.... [Young son] conjures up a conversation about grizzlies with Dad, an admonition from Mom that "there are no bears in Scotland" and, in good time, some reckonings with the grizzly himself, who is quite a smart and sensitive fellow.... A sensitive and literate story told on several levels, all of them believable—if some of them improbable, too
Kirkus Reviews