"So it's kind of like a parlor game, then?...
The question is apparently of Ancient Eastern extraction....
It seems to be a gut thing. The ... read full description
reviews
Jun 03, 2007
Trin
rated it: 
Bear V Shark was Chris Bachelder's first novel, U.S.! was his second, and reading them, you can really tell that they were written in that order. U.S.! is much more accomplished, whereas Bear V Shark, while clever, suffers from being far too one-note. It's also more bleak and depressing, eviscerating American culture—which, in a not-too-distant future where televisions no longer turn off, involves a nation that has become obsessed with a virtual fight between the titular animals—without leavi
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Jan 06, 2012
James
rated it: 
Constantine, the typical tyro playwright in Chekhov’s “The Seagull,? famously rejects convention, cries out for new forms, and produces a tedious flop. Thankfully, Chris Bachelder, a first-time novelist, realizes the value of having something relatively old to say. Bear v. Shark tells the satirical tale of an ordinary American family traveling to Las Vegas to witness the greatest—that is, most-hyped—spectacle of this or any age, a staged battle between two of nature’s most perfect killing machin
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Mar 05, 2008
Keith
rated it: 
If you've read this, it's not as good as you think it is and you need to get over it. If you haven't, you should, because it's better than you think it will be and I think you're kind of ignorant for not giving it a shot.
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Jan 27, 2010
S.
rated it: 
I ordered this on a whim and after a couple pages I thought it was going to turn out like most of my whim books - like crap. A few pages in, it occurred to me that this was the kind of pop culture satiric overload that I'd like to avoid.
But very soon I was laughing like crazy. I was laughing until I cried. I really can't remember the last thing I read or heard or saw that was this funny. First thing I did when I finished the book was go back and read some of my favorite chapters - like, u More...
But very soon I was laughing like crazy. I was laughing until I cried. I really can't remember the last thing I read or heard or saw that was this funny. First thing I did when I finished the book was go back and read some of my favorite chapters - like, u More...
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Jul 09, 2010
Max
rated it:
I picked this book up after a failed attempt to read Chris Bachelder's later novel, U.S.!: A Novel (a book I'd also highly recommend now I've finished it!). Such a wonderfully inventive novel with a structure and style unlike anything I've read before. Told through the medium of everything from narrative to eBay listings, the novel snipes at society's seemingly unending need for inane lowest-common-denominator programming and merchandise. Fantastic :D
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Sep 02, 2008
Matt
rated it:
Not as good as U.S, this is is some ways maybe a more interesting book, if you like that kind of thing. I mean, it's nakedly didactic in ways the other novel is not, and it never loses sight of its end goal (or nearly never-- maybe we could no more about TeleLand or whatever it is, if people can usefully resist-- but that's a pretty minor sideline).
]
What makes it interesting? Well, there are these sustained and therefore more noticeable stylistic innovations-- look at "7 second More...
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What makes it interesting? Well, there are these sustained and therefore more noticeable stylistic innovations-- look at "7 second More...
Dec 13, 2009
Ted
rated it:
Bear V. Shark by Chris Bachelder is another very funny novel, a real self-reflective, post-modern hoot. Don't let the tag "post modern" put you off, because Bachelder gets it exactly right as he skews his target, television and the culture of Total Media Saturation. Bear V.Shark is a great, wild read for anyone who enjoyed Pastoralia or the work of Mark Leyner. There is a vaguely described though loudly trumpeted Big Event forthcoming that's precisely what the title suggests, in a futu
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Feb 12, 2012
Kate
rated it:
Who would win in a fight between a bear and a shark? I want to say the bear because I love bears. And sharks, well, sharks are the worst. But if the water were deep enough for the shark to move with its characteristic dexterity, it would have the advantage over the bear. Even though bears are better.
Some people really hate this book. I'm not one of them. I like it because it makes me laugh, it makes me think and it makes me feel a bit clever. Some people hate the self-referential as More...
Some people really hate this book. I'm not one of them. I like it because it makes me laugh, it makes me think and it makes me feel a bit clever. Some people hate the self-referential as More...
Aug 08, 2011
An interesting look at where media saturation may take us. A world full of desensitized drones who are all waiting for the next big thing, a rematch between a Bear and a Shark - though this time the battle has been perfected. Warning - the story is disjointed and the characters work with attention spans much like gnats, and so the chapters and vignettes are commericial-esque in their length and their message - quick snippets of what you need to know.
Aug 15, 2010
MJ
rated it:
This fast-paced satire on TV's enslavement of the docile American masses packs a mean wallop. It put me in mind of Requiem For A Dream the movie, with all the jump-cuts and invading TV voices, though as a satirist Bachelder is clearly indebted to Kurt Vonnegut.
Chris B has an innovative and original voice, though his corpus so far has been rather slim: this novel and U.S.! are his only full-length works. Sob.
Chris B has an innovative and original voice, though his corpus so far has been rather slim: this novel and U.S.! are his only full-length works. Sob.
Dec 30, 2011
John
rated it:
Bachelder's novel is a hilarious sister to Delillo's White Noise. Although at times a little too indebted to White Noise's media-obsessed environment, Bachelder amps up the satire as he describes a consumer-driven America obsessed with the upcoming pay-per-view fight between a bear and a shark. Clever and insightful, if a little too loose in terms of plotting or dialogue.
Oct 06, 2009
Zach
rated it:
It is like the cultural satire of DeLillo's White Noise pumped to eleven and taken to its natural conclusion. Bachelder knows this, I'm sure, considering the references to the book and DF Wallace and Baudrillard and many others. Hilarious, inventive, clever but not to a fault, working on more levels than you think, yes yes yes yes yes. Read it.
Mar 20, 2007
Emily
rated it:
In a future society plagued by surveillance-based on-demand television, a family experiencing all the standard trappings of American life takes a roadtrip to Las Vegas in Bear v. Shark, Chris Bachelder's humorous and ultimately poignant satire. Bachelder's novel asks questions you've probably been considering: what's with the American love of reality television? How much privacy have we got left? Who's invading our homes more, the government or corporate fishing machines? And -- altho
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Jul 13, 2009
Jimmy
rated it:
This was a cool book. Anyone who sees the points made in Idiocracy in everyday life will appreciate this book. Reads really fast and is written in a way that really drives the point of the book home. Like Idiocracy, I now kind of wish I hadn't read it because I see it everywhere.
Sep 26, 2008
Thomas
rated it:
Been after this book for the longest time. Eventually got it off Amazon, which maybe I should've just done in the first place. It's a series of two page sections, all of which kind of follow a narrative. Sort of like Life After God by Douglas Coupland, similar kind of postmodernism, except Douglas Coupland's earlier books feel weird now because the internet doesn't get mentioned much. Postmodern books seem to age really fast.
Inasmuch as it's about everything, it's about America being More...
Inasmuch as it's about everything, it's about America being More...
Dec 02, 2007
Chris
rated it:
Chris Bachelder's debut novel is basically a rewriting of Don DeLillo's White Noise. While DeLillo was interested in dissecting the television culture of the 1990s, Bachelder picks up where he left off, and with overwhelming success.
The premise of Bear v. Shark is simple. Given an even playing field (i.e. water deep enough for a shark to swim in and shallow enough for a bear to maneuver in), who would win in a fight: a bear or a shark?
Bachelder sets out to answer this q More...
The premise of Bear v. Shark is simple. Given an even playing field (i.e. water deep enough for a shark to swim in and shallow enough for a bear to maneuver in), who would win in a fight: a bear or a shark?
Bachelder sets out to answer this q More...
Nov 06, 2009
Darrin
rated it:
I would rank this just as high as Bachelder's other novel, U.S.! Some people might have a tough time connecting to the characters, but I didn't. Best of all, though, it's funny as hell and a brilliant satire of American culture.
May 20, 2009
Doug
rated it:
100 perfect chapters...except possibly chapter 70, which was long winded and could've been broken down into 3-4 separate chapters...but then there wouldn't have been 100 chapters...and they might not have been as perfect. The index was very helpful.
Nov 16, 2007
Matt
rated it:
The reading voice I utilize in my head was very wrong for much of this book. A true hobo, a true drunk king among drinking peasants, could have read this to me with the gusto I needed to hear in a vocal chord. The satire in this book is think, at times the two page chapters read like well executed punches to the face, it was hard to read it in long periods, hence why the hobo would have made it better. I enjoyed the book, don't get me wrong, but the parts I loved, were the top of it all, and the
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Sep 16, 2009
Kona
rated it: 
I only got to page 15 before I threw in the towel and gave the book away. The story begins with 3rd person prose and inanimate objects with thoughts and language. No Thanks!
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Apr 19, 2009
Wyatt
rated it:
The shark rips the bear's heart out...
Actually this book tickles. It's not just a post-modern pummeling. Sure, like Pynchon--except readable.
Actually this book tickles. It's not just a post-modern pummeling. Sure, like Pynchon--except readable.
Jan 12, 2011
Andrew
rated it:
Really engaging, entertaining side-swipe at mass consumer culture. Great first novel.
Dec 01, 2010
Randall
rated it:
I seem to remember thinking this was clever enough. Been a while since I read it.
Apr 20, 2009
Emily
rated it:
A clever little book, entertaining and playful with sinister undertones. Pity it kind of lost steam for me near the end, but still one of the better pieces of dystopian lit that's come out for awhile.
Jun 09, 2008
Deidra
rated it:
I thought this book was hilarious. Dealing with a shallow, impersonal society that turns the event of the title into an experience on par with the Super Bowl, Bear vs. Shark is one of the most darkly humorous books I ever read and has some of the wittiest, most absurd banter ever. I would love it if they turned this into a movie, if only for the commentary it gives on the state of completely asinine entertainment in America. So who wins? The bear? Or the shark? I'll never tell.
Sep 11, 2007
Andrew
rated it:
Not the sort of book I expected considering the source and the title, Bear v. Shark: The Novel is the logical product of a generation that grew up on Fahrenheit 451 and still felt spooked shitless by the world that blossomed up around them. Don't be fooled by the saccharine opening; the author coats a tremendously ugly satire in something sugar-sweet and brain-dead with happiness, and it works better than I'd hoped. Best read in one sitting.
...Bear, all the way.
...Bear, all the way.
Aug 18, 2008
Tom
rated it:
Glib, surface-thin, sharp satire on TV's power in the USA. Could have been a counter-cultural blast from 1973, parodying an imagined future - is from 2002 and is (as the contest around which it is constructed is described) -
"Savage, bone-crushing fun for all the family". Very tightly written - "The Museum Of Las Vegas Secession", a quick read but definitely one to re-read. Reminded me of Vonnegut, too - he's quoted in the preface.
"Savage, bone-crushing fun for all the family". Very tightly written - "The Museum Of Las Vegas Secession", a quick read but definitely one to re-read. Reminded me of Vonnegut, too - he's quoted in the preface.
