Tail as old as time,
Furry as can be,
Bearly even friends…
Disney has a lot to answer for. Like their monopolising of the entertainment market? Their meddling of the copyright laws to ensure Mickey Mouse never becomes public domain? Nah. I think it’s seriously screwed up an entire generation who grew up watching talking animals and that’s partly why we’ve now got this anti-meat/vegan thing going on, the plain bizarre furry scene and this book!
My Boyfriend is a Bear is not about a hairy gay guy, it’s not a metaphor for some slob this chick’s dating - it’s about an honest-to-goodness bear and his girlfriend. Nevertheless this is a fantasy bear in that it understands the subtleties of human behaviour and culture, knows to wear clothes and stand upright, behave in society, does DIY around the house, and even gets a fucking job where it wears a suit and consults for companies AND NO ONE BATS AN EYE ARE YOU KIDDING ME!>?
And this girl Nora is dating him because… I can only imagine that she’s mentally ill. Or, as I believe, movies like Brother Bear twisted this woman’s brain when she was a nipper!
Oh yeah - so what did I think? I liked it! Haha… oh god I’m one of them aren’t I…
It’s a very unusual love story to say the least which is part of what kept me reading as I was wondering “Where is this thing going?” but also, fair’s fair to Pamela Ribon, it’s well-written too. Nora’s a call-centre worker who hates her job and has only dated a string of losers who treated her poorly. I’m not sure that this book has any underlying message to it except maybe we should take that rarest of things - happiness - where we can find it, regardless of what other people think?
I liked that Nora was clearly longing to make a living off of her tailoring but it never became this overt goal that was artlessly mentioned throughout but something we saw in wordless panels here and there. Cat Farris’ cartoony art style suits the daffy tone well too.
I don’t know why the Bear has to hibernate in the winter given that he doesn’t behave like a normal bear so why would he need to do this specific normal bear thing (besides giving the story a contrived final act)? And the cat subplot was kinda manipulative and irrelevant.
My Boyfriend is a Bear is a very silly story but surprisingly touching and sweet too. Grah - what can I say, it won me over! Listen you, I do has a heart! It’s in a jar on one of these shelves…
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