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Louisa Meets Bear
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When Louisa and Bear meet at Princeton in 1975, sparks fly. Louisa is the sexually adventurous daughter of a geneticist, Bear the volatile son of a plumber. They dive headfirst into a passionate affair that will alter the course of their lives, changing how they define themselves in the years and relationships that follow.
Reading "Louisa Meets Bear "is like assembling a ...more
Reading "Louisa Meets Bear "is like assembling a ...more
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I'm such a sucker for novels-told-as-interrelated-short-stories (loved Jennifer Egan's "Visit from the Goon Squad," and Elizabeth Strout's "Olive Kitteridge" is one of my all-time favorite books) that I downloaded this without even finishing the Kindle sample. While it was fun trying to figure out where each protag fit into the overall tapestry, something about the stories themselves and the work as a whole left me underwhelmed. I'm definitely not a reader who needs the main characters to be
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Lisa Gornick has a great deal of insight into the human heart, no surprise since she’s a psychoanalyst by trade. Take this: “Your mother,” one character says, “lived like an egg sliding over a Teflon pan.” In just a few aptly chosen words, we get a blazing insight into the character.
The book could be described as a hybrid: not really an integrated novel, but also not a short story collection. Each of the stories is linked to the others, not unlike, say, Tom Rachman’s The Imperfectionists.
In the ...more
The book could be described as a hybrid: not really an integrated novel, but also not a short story collection. Each of the stories is linked to the others, not unlike, say, Tom Rachman’s The Imperfectionists.
In the ...more
Written by a psychoanalyst, this collection of interconnected short stories all feature characters connected to the couple featured in the title story -- family members, friends, lovers, etc. We see how the consequences of one relationship affect others in a ripple effect. Moving sequentially (although sometimes the next story skips back to before the previous story ended), these stories are more conventional and easier to follow than, say, A Visit from the Goon Squad, but appeal to a similar
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At the very beginning, it seemed promising, with some lovely writing. Before long, I found the sentence structures annoyingly convoluted and lengthy. I was tolerating that because I was interested in the characters. Until I realized I wasn't. At some point, I faced the fact that I just didn't connect with them. At least, not enough of them. And man, were there a lot of them. The book was comprised of stories that were interwoven, with minor characters from one story rising to prominence in
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Interconnected stories that didn't connect very well for me.
This is a book of interconnected short stories that could all stand on their own. There is no consistent narrative movement, but the stories are chronological spanning over 40 years. They revolve around Louisa and Bill, nicknamed Bear, and their assorted relatives, friends and acquaintances. The stories are all somewhat sparse and very reality based. They are about real humans going through their lives looking for meaning in their relationships with their spouses, children, parents and friends.
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Jun 24, 2019
Paola Piliado
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review of another edition
Shelves:
books-i-own,
fiction
For the first half of the book, I found the stories very compelling and beautiful. I lost most of the interest when the author started adding more characters and I couldnt see why until well advanced the short story. I couldn't connect with them until the story was almost over. For the most part, the stories involving Louisa and Bear were the most interesting and finding out that the author is a psychoanalyst makes a lot of sense. I still enjoyed it but by the end, the rating went down for me. ...more
A collection of the common, complicated miseries of a default-life (marriage, children, etc.) resigned to fate. So depressing that this moment of active choice sparkled as I read it: there was a faint but already beating awareness that the moment had arrived when I could choose happiness and, amazingly, because nothing in my past would ever had predicted such a thing, I did.
Loved, loved, loved it. Just finished and want to read it from cover to cover again. Fantastic story full of characters you care about and can't get enough of.
Jun 16, 2015
Carly Thompson
added it
I read about 75 pages before abandoning this. Some of the writing was lovely, but I just didn't care about the characters and couldn't get into it.
Interconnected short stories with some more interesting and central to the loose story line than others.
At first I did not think I was going to like this. Too much sexually adventurous privileged college students. Then as the characters aged it got interesting.
This is a series of short stories with inter-connecting characters that take place over a 40 year period. It's kind of hard to keep all the connections straight. Many times I went back and read previous passages to remind myself who the characters were. At one point I even tried to make a chart. There was one story I am still not sure how ...more
This is a series of short stories with inter-connecting characters that take place over a 40 year period. It's kind of hard to keep all the connections straight. Many times I went back and read previous passages to remind myself who the characters were. At one point I even tried to make a chart. There was one story I am still not sure how ...more
So, each little individual story could have been it's own story and deserving.
Or maybe the whole book could have been only about Louisa and Bear and what happens to their lives as they intertwine with their future life's. As it was several times I got confused by all the people in the book and a little mad because I wanted to keep reading about Lousia and Bear. The other character that totally got me was Bear's wife. I learned along time ago that true love story's don't mean that they are ...more
Or maybe the whole book could have been only about Louisa and Bear and what happens to their lives as they intertwine with their future life's. As it was several times I got confused by all the people in the book and a little mad because I wanted to keep reading about Lousia and Bear. The other character that totally got me was Bear's wife. I learned along time ago that true love story's don't mean that they are ...more
Have you ever read a book and liked half of it but not the rest of it?
I loved the first half of this book but not so much the last half. It became like a big jigsaw puzzle and I couldn’t keep the characters separated in my mind.
It is a quirky book full of interesting characters and I’m glad I read it.
I loved the first half of this book but not so much the last half. It became like a big jigsaw puzzle and I couldn’t keep the characters separated in my mind.
It is a quirky book full of interesting characters and I’m glad I read it.
Compelling, drew me in, but took me most of the book to truly understand the connection between the stories. Difficult to stop/start, as it makes it harder to follow the fragile interconnected threads. Would love to read more from Gornick, especially a short stories collection. I have a feeling that would be masterful work.
Lovely writing in this collection of linked short stories, although something about the style didn't quite work for me. I had a recurring sense of looking through a dirty/smudged window and getting a taste of someone else's life without ever getting a full picture or complete slice of life. Overall 3 out of 5
Very nice
I don’t know why I picked this up, I don’t usually read short stories but I very much enjoyed these. The interconnection was very interesting and I’m half tempted to reread it to see what I missed the first time. I enjoyed the wonderful fully developed characters and watching for hints as to how they were doing as the years went by.
I don’t know why I picked this up, I don’t usually read short stories but I very much enjoyed these. The interconnection was very interesting and I’m half tempted to reread it to see what I missed the first time. I enjoyed the wonderful fully developed characters and watching for hints as to how they were doing as the years went by.
Although I enjoyed reading this novel, I found some of the story links a bit strained and I was really disappointed in the ending, which made it seem as though positive outcomes for characters were somehow reliant on a 1950's view of family -- hot chocolate, warm cookies, etc.
I liked the writing and the stories and most of the characters, but I really disliked Bear. He was shallow and cruel and borderline abusive. His appeal was more understandable when everyone was young, but once the characters transitioned into full adulthood it stopped making sense.
Some of the stories within the story kept my attention...some did not. I felt like I needed a synopsis of the characters right from the beginning so I could remember who they were further on. I kept hoping I would like it better so I read it right to the end.
I have to accept I don't care for short stories. They were good but I just can't get fully immersed and involved in them. Not her fault.
Very confusing book. Supposed to skip back and forth between generations I think but I just couldn't keep straight.
Won’t be recommending this one.
Waste of time. Terrible characters, awful plot device.
After wowing us with Tinderbox and Private Sorcery, Lisa Gornick had given us Louisa Meets Bear, ten linked stories which can stand alone, each so firmly that they have won awards, such as Distinguished Short Story in Best American Short Story anthology.
Each is a story of passion. Luisa, daughter of a geneticist, meet Bear, a plumbers son, and they plunge (no pun intended) into a stormy affair that affects their choices for years. In other stories a daughter stabs her mother when she finds out ...more
Each is a story of passion. Luisa, daughter of a geneticist, meet Bear, a plumbers son, and they plunge (no pun intended) into a stormy affair that affects their choices for years. In other stories a daughter stabs her mother when she finds out ...more
Brilliant ! A very clever and page-turning book.
Generous, Compassionate, Beautifully-Written Novel of Linked Stories
Lisa Gornick's third published novel, Louisa Meets Bear, is that trickiest of formats: a collection of "short" stories (some novella-length) that are linked through connections between some of the characters. Each episode can stand alone, but when strung together they form a larger whole--a novel. It takes very fine writing to pull this off, to overcome the reader's reluctance to let go at the end of one segment and plunge into ...more
Lisa Gornick's third published novel, Louisa Meets Bear, is that trickiest of formats: a collection of "short" stories (some novella-length) that are linked through connections between some of the characters. Each episode can stand alone, but when strung together they form a larger whole--a novel. It takes very fine writing to pull this off, to overcome the reader's reluctance to let go at the end of one segment and plunge into ...more
Loved this book!! Had to go back to find some of the connections, which was really kind of interesting. I thought this book was so well written, thank you Lisa Gornick!
This is one of my new all-time favorites. I finished it in a day, and as soon as I did, I wanted to go back and read the whole thing again. I did, in fact, go back to reread bits of stories or sometimes entire stories, only partly because I needed to solve the puzzle that is this novel, and partly because I just enjoyed it so damn much. The way that the author was able to connect each story, while having each stand on its own, was just genius.
I usually don't enjoy being left with more questions ...more
I usually don't enjoy being left with more questions ...more
The linked story format was fun, and usually works for me better than this did. Is it a character flaw of mine that I don't like books when I don't like any of the people? That was the case here. Every time I picked up the book I was confused about how they related to each other. The ending pulled it up for me, close to three stars, but the book never called to me to come read it so I stayed with two.
Louisa and Bear and their friends, family, and other assorted relatives in short story chunks. ...more
Louisa and Bear and their friends, family, and other assorted relatives in short story chunks. ...more
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Lisa Gornick has been hailed by NPR as “one of the most perceptive, compassionate writers of fiction in America…immensely talented and brave.” She is the author of 4 novels: TINDERBOX, LOUISA MEETS BEAR, and THE PEACOCK FEAST—all published by Sarah Crichton Books/ Farrar, Straus and Giroux, and Picador; and A PRIVATE SORCERY, published by Algonquin. Her stories and essays have appeared widely,
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“There was an inscription at the end in Latin. It’s translated in one of the guidebooks: What you are, we used to be. What we are, you will be. What do you think they meant?” Janey looked confused, torn, Ilana was sure, between her wish to have her mother explain and not wanting to admit her incomprehension to her sister. “It’s obvious,” Sarah said. “The bones were once people. Someday we’ll be just bones.” “I knew that.” “Liar,”
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“I’ve lost not only my vanity but my feeling of mind-body identity, so that I no longer believe, as you did about me, that elegance of form is elegance of being. I do my best to keep the numbers on the scale where I want them and my skin and hair well tended, but my body is now essentially the vehicle for carting around what I think of as my self. Not”
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