My Review of Do Not Feed The Bear by Rachel Elliott
It's about loss, grief, death, blame, love, life and taking those leaps of faith that ultimately allow us to be fully realised human beings.
You know this is going to be a different read from the lack of speech marks but you know what, I liked it and quickly got used to it. It made the story seem more real, more natural somehow. I also loved it the that characters that you meet and think are going to be central become peripheral and vice versa, it keeps you on your toes, and delightfully even Stuart the dog gets to express his opinions.
It really gave me pause for thought about the other self which we all have hidden away in the deepest recesses of our mind to a greater or lesser extent, too scared to meet others and so terrified of rejection that we reject others first. This is the other self that is capable of more than we allow ourselves to think we are, and its one that is free of the pain that we can cling too which keeps some of us stagnating in our own misery. Do Not Feed The Bear reminds us all that we need to open up our life to all possibilities and that we cannot live in the past as it will consume us rather than just haunt us. This is a life affirming read because we all have losses, it's part of loving another, but there was heart in this novel too which means even in the misery the characters encounter there is love and hope too.
Do Not Feed The Bear is a reminder to us all that not everything in life, particularly relationships, can be fixed but that doesn't mean you shouldn't try.
Bravo Rachel Elliott on a superb read.
Thank you to Anne Cater for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.
Huge thanks for the blog tour support x
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