Synopses & Reviews
Given a relatively level playing field -- i.e., water deep enough so that a shark could maneuver proficiently but shallow enough so that a bear could stand and operate with its characteristic dexterity -- who would win in a fight between a bear and a shark? In this fiercely funny, razor-sharp satire of our media-saturated culture, the sovereign nation of Las Vegas is host to Bear v. Shark II. After a disappointing loss in the first computer-generated match-up, the bear is out for blood. With an essay entitled "Bear v. Shark: A Reason to Live," young Curtis Norman wins a national contest and four tickets to the sold-out event. As the Normans head cross-country in their SUV, they encounter a dizzying barrage of voices weighing in on the upcoming spectacle -- everyone from the Freudians, theologians, pundits, and self-published authors on the radio to the bear and shark fanatics, cultists, and resisters at pit stops along the way. Overwhelmed by factoids and ten-second debates, Mr. Norman grows ambivalent about the impending event and the family with whom he can't seem to connect. Still, the Normans push on to Vegas, toward an apocalyptic, surprisingly emotional ending.
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Carmela Ciuraru Newsday Bachelder's mind is...imaginative, playful, and relentlessly agile.
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Mark Rozzo Los Angeles Times Bedazzling and bewildering...as jarring and addictive as cruising through a hundred channels of cable with the remote on autopilot.
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Panio Gianopoulos The Hartford Courant Bear v. Shark is great fun, and heralds the arrival of a gifted satirist, that nearly extinct breed of American writer.
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Jonathan Ames author of The Extra Man Chris Bachelder is a comic Aldous Huxley. His vision of our present, our future, and our American culture is quite frightening, but he has the good sense to make us laugh -- to lessen the blow -- while we look in the mirror at ourselves, a mirror that is shaped like the TV and computer screens we're always staring at and worshiping. So this may be the last book we're able to read before our brains are as fried as the fast food we adore. But at least we'll go out laughing.
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Michael Parker author of Hello Down There and Towns Without Rivers Chris Bachelder's amazing novel fights the best fight there is -- the struggle for meaning and spirit in a world cluttered with the inane and the disposable. I admire this novel for its humor, its formal dexterity, and its sharp sentences, but I applaud most its courage.
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Padgett Powell author of Edisto and Mrs. Hollingsworth's Men Bear v. Shark is dead-serious satire, its target obvious, its effects not -- a very funny and very sad book. Mr. Bachelder wields a wicked wit upon our worst lunacies, and he will prove important.
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The New York Times Book Review A roundhouse swing at pop culture and its slavish devotion to spectacle.
Synopsis
The sovereign nation of Las Vegas is host to Bear v. Shark II, and the entire country is obsessed with the spectacle. Young Curtis Norman wins a national essay contest and four tickets to the event, paving the way for a fiercely funny and intelligent family road trip. The Norman boys argue over who will win; Mr. Norman becomes enveloped in postmodern ennui; and media coverage of the event reaches a fever pitch. On the road, the Normans encounter fanatics, cultists, and resisters, but they eventually make it to Vegas for an apocalyptic and surprisingly emotional ending.
The story of Bear v. Shark unfolds in small, easily digestible, commercial-like segments that mirror the medium it satirizes, as dialogue and the author's own flawed commentary stream in at a frantic pace. With razor-sharp wit and agile wordplay, Bear v. Shark examines the barriers to truth and human connection in a society that values entertainment above all else.
About the Author
Chris Bachelder received his MFA from the University of Florida in 2002 and is currently a visiting writer at New Mexico State University. Bear v. Shark is his first novel.