Girl vs Bear

Synopsis:
These provocative short stories follow a series of teenage heroines coming of age in the 1980's—a decade full of big hair, make-out parties, material girls, and radical surfers. The young women here grapple with the mysteries of young love, sex, death, and parents. With humor and generosity, Kerr investigates what it means to be an adolescent girl as her protagonists face down bad reputations, drunken perverts, fistfights and, of course, killer bears.


Review:
I am not one for reading books like this but for some odd reason I caught onto this one; I was very excited when I got it in the post, and even more when iI finally got to read it. Each story within the covers is unique, yet, at the same time, gives a different perspective on a teenagers life. What caught my mind most was that the stories were based in the '80's. I may have been born in '88 but I sure don't remember anything from the 80's, let alone the 90's.

At first I was confused by the title, but, then I finished the book and I understood; at least, I think I do. The girl is the teenager and the bear is the life and the many obstacles the person must overcome. Each story had a different plot to it, but they all had one common thing....each teenager had met some sort of obstacle and they had to work through it. Sometime the outcome was good for all parties involved and sometimes not. My favorite story was the mother daughter one titled, 'How to Recover Lost Luggage from Mexico'. I connected with that story the most, as it reminds me of my relationship with my mum.

Ii would highly suggest reading this collect of short stories. They will capture your mind the way a short story should. I can guarantee you these are nothing like the ones you had to read for classes....or because you were told to. At the turn of the final page you will be flipping back through re-reading your favorite one and wanting to pass this along.