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391st out of 540 books
—
634 voters
The Third Bear
by
Jeff VanderMeer (Goodreads Author)
The award-winning short fictions in this collection highlight the voice of an inventive contemporary fantasist who has been compared by critics to Borges, Nabokov, and Kafka. In addition to highlights such as �The Situation,” in which a beleaguered office worker creates a child-swallowing manta ray to be used for educational purposes and �Errata,” which follows an oddly fa...more
Paperback, 273 pages
Published
July 15th 2010
by Tachyon Publications
(first published July 1st 2010)
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Jan 21, 2011
logankstewart
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Shelves:
2011-read,
fantasy,
contemporary,
library,
post-apocalyptic,
short-stories,
spec-fic,
best-of-the-best
Jeff VanderMeer's The Third Bear has been on my TBR pile for quite a while now. I've never read anything by the author, though his highly acclaimed novel Finch has garnered a load of attention. Likewise, his collection of bizarre short stories contained in The Third Bear has collected lauds and nods from nearly every review I've read. The book has a strange type of magic that charms the reader and takes him on a journey like never before.
So I made preparations to read this book, curiosity pique...more
So I made preparations to read this book, curiosity pique...more
I tried. This was my second attempt at Vandermeer, and I just can't do it. Nothing about him inspires me. His stories read like fables or parables; nothing has a point, none of the characters have any depth. It is reminiscent to studying early short stories. He tells stories with a purpose, and the purpose drives the story, not anything else.
In "Third Bear", I was pretty sure I knew the end at the beginning, and I was right, but that isn't necessarily bad, what is bad is that there was no point....more
In "Third Bear", I was pretty sure I knew the end at the beginning, and I was right, but that isn't necessarily bad, what is bad is that there was no point....more
I set out to give this collection four stars. I was arguing to myself that because it didn't make me clasp it to my chest and sigh romantically, it didn't deserve it, but I couldn't get some of the stories out of my head. For a short story to stick with me, for me to remember it past when I start the next one, it has to be really something. And several of these had that kind of niggling memory.
I still feel disturbed that The Situation reminds me of my work place, although we don't have genetica...more
I still feel disturbed that The Situation reminds me of my work place, although we don't have genetica...more
If I had read the synopsis on this website before buying the book, I may very well never have. So do yourself a favor – if that turns you off, ignore it. Buy the book. Read it. Let it twist you around, lead you down roads that have only a few streetlights still standing. Then reread it, and relish the little connections between stories, of which "Appogiatura" is the most obvious example. Hint: there's one really cool one between "The Situation" and "The Third Bear." I relish this collection. I t...more
Una cosa è sicura, Jeff VanderMeer sa scrivere
Di questa raccolta avevo già letto The Situation , disponibile anche in una deliziosa versione illustrata, e l'inquietante Errata.
Sono tutto ottimi racconti che trascendono i generi passando dalla fantascienza alla fantasy e toccando anche la favola come nel racconto The Third Bear, nel quale una creatura affamata e sanguinaria terrorizza un piccolo villaggio, e Shark God Vs Octupus God divertente scalata al potere del Dio Squalo per diventare il Dio...more
Di questa raccolta avevo già letto The Situation , disponibile anche in una deliziosa versione illustrata, e l'inquietante Errata.
Sono tutto ottimi racconti che trascendono i generi passando dalla fantascienza alla fantasy e toccando anche la favola come nel racconto The Third Bear, nel quale una creatura affamata e sanguinaria terrorizza un piccolo villaggio, e Shark God Vs Octupus God divertente scalata al potere del Dio Squalo per diventare il Dio...more
The Third Bear is an excellent collection of Jeff Vandermeer’s category-defying short fiction, filled with stories that are unique, mostly excellent, and often incredibly hard to describe. Asking someone who has read this book (say, a reviewer) what one of the stories is about could well get you a blank stare as a response, or a few mumbled words, or simply “you’ll have to read it for yourself”. Pinning these stories down in a few words is very hard, not to mention a bit unfair to both the stori...more
Nice collection from Jeff Vandermeer. Like a lot of story collections it's a mixed bag with some that are pretty forgettable, a few that are a lot of fun, and one ('The Quickening'- the only story in the collection that was written just for the collection) that's phenomenal. One thing that can be said for Vandermeer's fiction is that he doesn't settle and none of these stories cop out with simple answers or convenient conclusions, even the more genre-y ones.
A collection of some of the best stories by one of my favorite authors. The comparisons to Borges are spot on. Weird, subtle, and engrossing each short story left me wishing it was part of a novel (Although I guess he did that with "Cities of Saints and Madmen"). The last page left me feeling like one of his characters, with an urge to spend my days trying to ferret out some deeper meaning and truth from his work.
These stories have a beautiful hopelessness to them-the world is not as you know it to be, will never be, and you will live life barely cracking the surface of it. Mind-bending intelligence that swirls together a sense of fantastical wonder and thought provoking suspicions on the nature of existing in an unstable place.
14 short stories, afterword, bio. Namesake first story is straight horror, more silent than screaming. Yuckily gross monster graphically gruesomely disembowels and chews live victims, then farming village elder. (Spoiler: Chief sacrifices self so family can escape, but villagers cannabilize each other in more gruesome gore even after summoning vengeful witch dies.) Skimming shows theme of painful supernatural deaths continue, so I did not. I wish I could remember who recommended this to avoid in...more
This was a collection of short stories that all had kernals of great ideas but just werent taken far enough. I kept thinking that is was too bad Stephen King hadn't been his editor, he would have helped him take it up a notch. Just so so.....
If I were to introduce someone to the works of Jeff Vandermeer, I would hand them 'The Third Bear'. I'd love to throw them in the deep end with 'City of Saints and Madmen', but I'd be much too afraid of scaring them off. The stories in here, however, are more accessible and are brilliant without exception. I mean it; every single story is amazing.
I'd like to come back here and write a complete review when I next re-read this collection, but until then I'll point you toward a review by another us...more
I'd like to come back here and write a complete review when I next re-read this collection, but until then I'll point you toward a review by another us...more
I didn't abandon this book because it was bad or anything. I was just too freaked out and nightmare-ridden by the title story to go on. You can't beat the bear! You can't even BEGIN TO TRY TO BEAT THE BEAR
Extraordinary writing, creepy and thoughtful tales. Reminds me of some of china mievilles stories, though the narrative tends to be looser. Well worth a read!
Man, can he write. Fantastic, horrific, hilarious, unsettling, magical fiction. Is it greedy to want much, much more of such a blessedly good thing?
A great day of book buying when you can come home with some new Vandermeer.
Not sure when I'll get around to this though. Soon.
Not sure when I'll get around to this though. Soon.
I'm not much of a short story guy, but there's some very good stuff in here.
"Fixing Hanover": best story in the collection, for my money.
Well-written, emotionally brutal short stories.
A well-written, interesting collection of short stories that I simply wasn't in the mood for at the time. VanderMeer is still a brilliant writer.
A short story collection all about embracing the unknown - amongst other things - the stories are revealed to be somewhat connected at the end. Hallucinogenic and surreal, it doesn't seem right to call this fantasy, science fiction, or horror, although all apply. Well written and strange, it's worth checking out even if you're not a fan of short stories.
little too dark overall for my taste, but very interesting, well written. really liked "The Goat Variations" and "Three Days in a Border Town."
Out there. In a seriously fantastic way. It's true that I haven't read many modern writers of speculative fiction, but I would say that any hype around Vandermeer is at least partially justified. The stories are all surreal and unusual, some more than others, but they're all completely engaging. Brings to mind Bradbury and Leiber.
Jeff VanderMeer blows my mind... again. I am not surprised.
Good collection. Especially liked the one with the (literally) monstrous office politics - very clever. (I was a bit creeped out by the last story, given my own obsession with the color green...)
Some of these stories are phenomenal. Some of them are just odd and completely unengaging.
Where the stories succeed, they excel beyond my expectations of what a short story could be both in literature and use of language.
Where they fail, they may warrant a re-reading.
Where the stories succeed, they excel beyond my expectations of what a short story could be both in literature and use of language.
Where they fail, they may warrant a re-reading.
Interesting collection of strangely intertwined short stories. I feel like I will take more away from it on my second reading, but the eerie tone of the book means I don't necessarily want to dive back into it.
Excelent so far! Shark God Vs Octupus God is especially fun.
May 21, 2013
Nevey Berry
marked it as to-read
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Jeffrey Scott VanderMeer is an American writer, editor and publisher. He was born in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, but spent much of his childhood in the Fiji Islands, where his parents worked for the Peace Corps. This experience, and the resulting trip back to the United States through Asia, Africa, and Europe, deeply influenced him.
In 2003, VanderMeer married Ann Kennedy, then editor for the small B...more
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In 2003, VanderMeer married Ann Kennedy, then editor for the small B...more
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“My Manager forced me to put my beetle in my own ear, a clear waste and an act that gave me nightmares: of a burning city through which giant carnivorous lizards prowled, eating survivors off of balconies. In one particularly vivid moment, I stood on a ledge as the jaws closed in, heat-swept, and tinged with the smell of rotting flesh. Beetles intended for the tough, tight minds of children should not be used by adults. We still remember a kinder, gentler world.”
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