Bear, Otter, and the Kid

So it went something like this:

I started reading this book at 10 or 11 last night after not eating since lunch, thinking I would read a just few pages to get the setting, then make food.

Forgot to have dinner until past 1AM, 'cause I was immediately transported to a different world where my bodily needs don't exist.

Read while eating, then laid down on my bed to read some more.

The room started getting blurry, so I looked at the clock and it's 5:34AM, and I'm confused 'cause it was just 2AM a few seconds ago.

I fall asleep while reading without showering or brushing my teeth.

I wake at noon, take a bath, read while in the bath, eat breakfast, read while eating breakfast, go up to my room, put my noise-canceling headphone on, and barely get show more up for bathroom breaks until I've laughed, cried, and struggled with Bear, Otter, the Kid, Creed, and Anna to the end. It's now 8:32PM.

That's what I call a Friday and Saturday well spent.

This book blew me away. There was laughing in the middle of scenes that made my stomach hurt (best way to diet: become immersed in a book and hurt along with the characters--you won't feel up to eating food until you've passed through to a happy part again); there were scenes that went back and forth in time, rolling me around in the emotions and beauty; there was a masterfully created and crafted story that is now at the tip top of my all time favorites list and will be hard (impossible?) to beat; there were characters that squiggled and squirmed their way into my being; and I had the most epic experience from all of that.

Here is my heart, book, please take it. show less

I borrowed this digitally from my library (thank you, everyone involved, for making this an option!) and, whooh. As usual for this author, this is an intense, funny, snarled tale, of how confusing abandonment, duty, sexuality, and family can be. The Dark Moment is really, really dark. You have to trust in the genre and Klune to guide you back out again - and even then, it's not easy. But this story is so good, take it from me. You won't regret following Bear into hell and back.

On to book 2: Who We Are.

I read some of the reviews and comments that gave this book a bad rating because they said it was a rip-off of the movie Shelter. I have watch Shelter, three times in fact, and I have read this book. Yes I will agree that the premises of the book is very similar to Shelter, but I do not agree that this book is a rip-off of it. Despite watching Shelter three times, when I read this book never once did I thought, "Oh this is a lot like that movie Shelter." It was only after the fact that it was pointed out to me did I realize yes there were similarities.

There are those that criticize the book for not being original. Just because it borrows a mold for its storyline does not make unoriginal. This is an original story. it is written by T.J. show more Klune and it's his original work. If you read the book you can tell all the emotions, thoughts, feelings, and great writing that he has put into the book to make it such a great read.

The review I read nitpick at all the similarities between this book and Shelter but they left out all the differences. I can make a long list of how this book differs from the movie but they'll just be spoilers and you won't have the fun of finding them out if you don't read the book for itself.

Do not read this book to compare and contrast between this and Shelter or you'll simply won't enjoy the book. Take Bear, Otter, and the Kid for what it is. If you do then you will see that it is a great original piece of work.

The dialogue flows great and that illicit raw emotions when you read them. The characters are deeply developed and portrayed realistically giving you a sense that you can relate to. The story draws me in so much that despite being 300 pages I read it all in one sitting.

I encourage everyone to give this book a chance before labeling it as a rip-off, copycat, ect. The writings will open your eyes and let you see that despite being so similar to Shelter, it is also so very different. show less

If it was possible i would try and steal myself some otter

Just finished my first TJ Klune book. And i have to say... I loved it. I'm new to the m/m romance genre but In the last few weeks I've been reading more than I've ever read in my life. I've been tearing through these books and don't see myself stopping anytime soon. This is the first one actually written by a queer man that I've actually finished. I tried to read another highly recommended book, "hot heads" but just never really felt attached to the characters. That was not a problem with this book.

I loved these characters. I'm in love with otter. Many of the books I've really loved have been high angst and while i couldn't put them down, it felt like they were literally hurting show more me to read. This book is angsty, and i could feel my patience wearing thin with all the "but I'm not gay" stuff ( not to say it wasn't a realistic reaction). The book did give me the feels, but it was just the right amount in my opinion. i think I'm going to start on the second book right now. show less

I loved this book. I don't remember when was the last time that I cried and laughed so much. My emotions were all over the place. I didn't just have a couple of stray tears, I cried in HD. And my laughing, I'm sure I resembled a looney bin escapee.

The dynamics of this group of friends is just amazing. Life-long best friends, family, a neighbor, they form the most rag-tag and lovable gang from ages 8-80.

The best friends

I tell Creed the only reason I'm his friend is because he is a big, tan rich kid. He says the only reason he's my friend is because I'm little, white and I live in the ghetto with my baby teeth. We get along great.

The brothers

"I thought the whole point of having a gay brother was that they were supposed to be all cool

show more

and shit. I've got a defective gay."

You want to know what is feels like to be castrated? Try having you nine-year-old brother protect you from your ex-girfriend after you've told her you're in love with a man.

This book is just packed full of quote-worthy lines. I could go on and on. The story is really, really great, and I highly recommend it. I can't wait to start book 2. show less

If it was possible i would try and steal myself some otter

Just finished my first TJ Klune book. And i have to say... I loved it. I'm new to the m/m romance genre but In the last few weeks I've been reading more than I've ever read in my life. I've been tearing through these books and don't see myself stopping anytime soon. This is the first one actually written by a queer man that I've actually finished. I tried to read another highly recommended book, "hot heads" but just never really felt attached to the characters. That was not a problem with this book.

I loved these characters. I'm in love with otter. Many of the books I've really loved have been high angst and while i couldn't put them down, it felt like they were literally hurting show more me to read. This book is angsty, and i could feel my patience wearing thin with all the "but I'm not gay" stuff ( not to say it wasn't a realistic reaction). The book did give me the feels, but it was just the right amount in my opinion. i think I'm going to start on the second book right now. show less

I have to admit that I'm torn about this book. I did something with it that I normally don't ever do. Usually, as soon as a derogatory term against the disabled community I stop reading it, mark where I am, what the term was, and write up a quick note on Goodreads, Amazon, and my blog about it. The worse offenders are YA novels, which is really disturbing. The term in this case was "retarded," one that seems to be on the upswing these days, sadly, as it had been slowing down for a while. The fact that it's appearing in so many YA novels is really disturbing, I think, because it's showing a whole new generation it's ok to say those things. It's being incorporated into their culture.

It's something I think editors need to be aware of, show more possibly more important than a misplaced comma or a maligned semicolon.

It shocked me to see it in a m/m romance book, though. I hadn't seen anything of that nature, that I remember, out of everything I've read so far. I contacted Mr. Klune, but haven't heard back from him. What I think is truly ironic, however, it that it's someone from one marginalized group demeaning another group that's marginalized.

Just to take a quick side-step here, and forgive me, because my memory's not always that great and it's been awhile since I've taken these classes. Brown vs Board of Education was a groundbreaking case for more than just, at least in the eyes of the law, that separate educational facilities were NOT equal, starting the beginning of desegregation. This is important because it had a ripple effect, it was the beginning of civil rights movements for many groups, including gay rights and rights for people with disabilities, among many others. Both groups had to fight, and both groups still face countless challenges. Politicians and religious groups turn sexual orientation into something they have no business in, people with autism are refused heart transplants because the doctors don't know how they will react in a hospital. Illegal restraints are used on children with disabilities who are nonverbal, and they can't tell anyone because they don't have a communication system and people who know are either too afraid to speak up or punished if they do. Gay men are attacked simply because they're gay. WTF? I meant to keep this more positive, but I feel this deeply, because I've advocated for people with disabilities who can't speak, who people don't listen to if they can speak, and who people treat as "retarded" just because they're nonverbal. Just because they're nonverbal doesn't mean they don't understand exactly what you're saying. Just because a man is gay doesn't mean he can't love just as deeply or truly as any other human being. Feel passion any less.

So what do I do? I finished the book--I liked it, other than the fact that "retarded" was used three more times. So now I feel conflicted and upset, the more I think about it.

I advocate for the right to love and marry whoever you want to, to have or adopt children if you want to, and I advocate for people with disabilities to have their rights respected. What do you do when two things you feel so passionately about conflict?

To everyone else this may seem like no big deal. It's just a word. There are no things as "just words." Words influence, they hurt, and they bully, because there are people behind those words who are capable of inflicting pain, whether it's physical or mental, or both.

This isn't intended as an attack on Mr. Klune, and I'm sorry if it's taken or seen that way. It's more built up frustration. For anyone who writes and uses terms that are derogatory. The fact that I feel like people snicker at me--"oh, it's that crazy lady who gets all worked up about people with disabilities." I have a lot of reasons to get worked up, I won't go into them here.

I just wish I could have read the book and enjoyed it without knowing those words were there, because they really ticked me off. And I really would have liked it so much more if they hadn't been. show less