BEAR WITH ME

An unnamed narrator describes the experience of an unwanted visitor that arrives in the form of a large black bear.

A bear enters a home and wreaks havoc. Politely asking him to leave; attempting to run away (even to another planet); and surrendering and offering to become his lunch: Nothing works. Sleeping, commonplace activities, and spending time with friends are disrupted and become challenging, since the bear “never leaves me alone.” The grayscale line drawings feature heavily saturated black paint for the bear, who dominates most spreads, and an exaggerated scale: Most of the time, the bear looms massively over everything but, in one illustration, is small enough to fit in a sink. The text also leans on hyperbole to make its point, describing the bear with “his super stupid fur” as “the very worst bear on the whole entire planet” and, in the next sentence, the most odious presence by using a series of 19 adjectives in a row (fat, naughty, party-pooping, and so forth). The book, an Italian import, presents the bear as a metaphor for troubling feelings; despair or grief are likely, though it’s never explicitly named. The story’s only resolution is a spread showing that many people have an unwanted bear to bear. All humans are depicted as White.

More concept piece than story, this book will likely resonate with readers living with their own bears.