{"product_id":"the-last-human-bear","title":"The Last Human Bear","description":"\n\u003ctable align=\"center\" border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"2\" cellspacing=\"0\" width=\"100%\"\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd class=\"productDetailSmallElements\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eBiographical Note\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eGreg Sarris\u003c\/b\u003e is an enrolled member of the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria and is currently serving his seventeenth consecutive elected term as chairman of the tribe. He is the author of several books, including the novel \u003ci\u003eGrand Avenue\u003c\/i\u003e, which he adapted for an HBO miniseries and co-executive produced with Robert Redford; the novel \u003ci\u003eWatermelon Nights\u003c\/i\u003e; \u003ci\u003eWeaving the Dream\u003c\/i\u003e, a biography of Mabel McKay; \u003ci\u003eBecoming Story\u003c\/i\u003e, a memoir; and the story collections \u003ci\u003eHow a Mountain Was Made\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe Forgetters.\u003c\/i\u003e Formerly a full professor of English at UCLA, Sarris serves on the University of California Board of Regents and the Sundance Institute Board, and he holds the Distinguished Emeritus Graton Endowed Chair in Native American Studies at Sonoma State University. He lives in Sonoma County, California.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReview Quotes\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eJune 2026 Indie Next Pick\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003ePraise for \u003ci\u003eThe Last Human Bear\u003c\/i\u003e: \u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Fans of Margaret Atwood's \u003ci\u003eAlias Grace\u003c\/i\u003e and Jean Craighead George's\u003ci\u003e Julie of the Wolves\u003c\/i\u003e will enjoy this well-written novel about an unstoppable heroine who defies multiple cultures to build a life of her own.\" --\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eLibrary Journal\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Cussed, choleric and often consumed by remorse, Mary is fascinating without being sympathetic. Mr. Sarris has fashioned for her a rough-hewn, splintery narrative voice, her English 'a mess of high and low and everything in between.' Digressive and uncensored, she reminds me of the colorful Lucy Marsden in Allan Gurganus's \u003ci\u003eOldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All\u003c\/i\u003e. Mary's anecdotes intelligently probe questions of fate: She rejects her culture because she hates her reputation as a deadly tolik, but her desire for revenge against those who wronged her and her mother makes the curse self-fulfilling. \u003ci\u003eThe Last Human Bear\u003c\/i\u003e is about the inescapability of inheritance, and it is only in delivering her sprawling confessions that Mary begins to accept the powers passed down to her.\" --Sam Sacks, \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Wall Street Journal\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"In Greg Sarris's sweeping new novel, uncertainty is the primary theme of our protagonist's life. This anxiety, and her often bemusing behavior, give Mary's character a unique richness, but they also highlight the loneliness that lives alongside a slow genocide, as ranchers and settlers displace and kill the remaining Indigenous Californians that Mary grew up around. Shelve next to: Sherman Alexie, Deborah A. Miranda. Unscientifically calculated reading time: One and a half sleepless nights.\" --Apoorva Tadepalli, \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Believer\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"The novel follows Mary Hatcher, a Pomo Indian in Sonoma County, from Prohibition through the 21st century. It's told in the first person through Hatcher's compelling voice as she narrates the horror and heartbreak of her lifetime over the course of a century, echoing William Faulkner's literary style, which influenced Sarris.\" --\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eLos Angeles Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"A sprawling bildungsroman, complex and intricate. Its fierce protagonist, a Pomo girl called Mary Hatcher, begins her life's narrative in a strikingly Dickensian voice. [...] Mary's mother's death, by apparent suicide, is the linchpin of this saga, which commences in 1930s Santa Rosa--then a small town surrounded by pristine countryside, farms, and orchards. [...] Alongside Mary, a vivid ensemble of men and women live (and die) during the inevitable: accelerating modernization; raw land developed; old cultures lost. Tried and thwarted in sometimes shocking ways--vilified, shunned, at one point accused of murder and fearing for her life--Mary survives by anticipating change.\" --Joan Frank, \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eAlta Journal\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"In I, Sarris brings an intimate knowledge of his tribe's territory with stories by--and about--elder women who inspired his work of historical fiction.\" --\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eIndian Country Today\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"This powerful novel by Greg Sarris is about one character, one place, one time, one curse, but it's also about all the stormy impulses in any human heart that undermine love, joy, connection, all the ways that loss and privation lead to loss and privation. But it is itself lush and gripping as it follows one Native Californian from early girlhood to late old age, walking her own path through a changing world.\" --\u003cb\u003eRebecca Solnit\u003c\/b\u003e, author of \u003ci\u003eMen Explain Things to Me\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"\u003ci\u003eThe Last Human Bear\u003c\/i\u003e is a very complex, very moving meditation on personal origins and family lore, illuminating a part of California's history that's rarely seen in literature. It's revelatory on every page.\" --\u003cb\u003eDave Eggers\u003c\/b\u003e, author of \u003ci\u003eA Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"A page into \u003ci\u003eThe Last Human Bear\u003c\/i\u003e, Greg Sarris writes, 'The heart has no limits.' Thus begins an exploration of the heart--its longings, aches, grievances, regrets, hates, and loves. Sarris has given us a love letter to the western landscape and the people who call it home.\" --\u003cb\u003eLisa See\u003c\/b\u003e, author of \u003ci\u003eDaughters of the Sun and Moon\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eLady Tan's Circle of Women\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"\u003ci\u003eThe Last Human Bear\u003c\/i\u003e is a love story, a tale of place and of a bold-voiced woman whose life has been misunderstood, and a vaulting American yarn that carries you along like a leaf on the wind.\" --\u003cb\u003eJohn Freeman\u003c\/b\u003e, author of \u003ci\u003eCalifornia Rewritten\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Sarris has a master touch that is both delicate and vivid. \u003ci\u003eThe Last Human Bear\u003c\/i\u003e is filled with this grace. This novel is so much more rich and complicated than a few words can express and it is so very worth it to discover that in the reading.\" --\u003cb\u003eSheryl Cotleur, Copperfield's Books\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"The grand return of a master storyteller, \u003ci\u003eThe Last Human Bear \u003c\/i\u003eis a riveting journey into the intricacies of passion and how the legacies of the past can haunt us. Greg Sarris courageously explores the ethical struggles that emerge from genuine self exploration and offers a timely meditation on the possibilities for healing and reconciling with one's nature.\" --\u003cb\u003ePeter Maravelis, City Lights Booksellers\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"A very compelling tale of being caught between worlds. Dealing with biases without the support of her tribe, Mary has only her irascible stepmother, a Human Bear. Mary scoffs at this belief but learns a great deal from her elder. Mary can pass as Mexican or white and has many choices to make in life: in her 90s she looks back and sees herself as stubborn and selfish, but with strong legs. She begins to suspect that she, too, is a Bear.\" --\u003cb\u003eHannah Jennings, Beagle and Wolf Books \u0026amp; Bindery\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"The novel traces the very long life of one Pomo woman, from the 1930s to the present, and the breathtaking changes of that span: to nature, the built environment, social ties, and traditional ways. It asks and answers critical questions and implicates the reader in that conversation, telling a remarkable twisting story along the way. This novel is literally unforgettable: it will embed itself in your mind and stay there.\" --\u003cb\u003eChristie Olson Day, Gallery Bookshop\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Mary Hatcher cannot die, that is, until she passes on what her stepmother passed on to her: how to be a tolik (a Human Bear, shape-shifter, 'poisoner', medicine carrier). Rich in story-telling texture, Mary's story takes you from her childhood to old age. Extending the story over an entire lifetime leaves time for discoveries, love, hate, bad decisions, good decisions and encounters with people that leave their mark even to the end. The writing is excellent. Highly recommend.\" --\u003cb\u003eKathleen Johnson, Roundabout Books\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublisher Marketing\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"Lush and gripping.\" --Rebecca Solnit\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"It's revelatory on every page.\" --Dave Eggers\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"The grand return of a master storyteller.\" --Peter Maravelis, City Lights Booksellers\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAn epic story of curses, love, hard-won independence, and healing--and the first novel in 28 years by a widely acclaimed Native writer.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMary Hatcher lives with a curse--or is it a power that could make her life whole? A Native Pomo woman who comes of age in 1930s California, Mary keeps trying to make sense of her enigmatic family. Strange rumors spread about her. Her stepmother may have taught her how to become a Human Bear, a shapeshifter who can menace and poison enemies. Two men may love her--or love who they think she is. A mystery even to herself, Mary learns to pass between Native and white societies, tenaciously carving her own path as an independent woman. But as she explores love and desire, family inherited and chosen, and the secrets of the natural world, one question gnaws at her: Is she fated to do harm?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWry and richly lyrical, \u003ci\u003eThe Last Human Bear\u003c\/i\u003e follows Mary from the Great Depression to the twenty-first century, when she commits a haunting final act. Inspired by the Native women elders who shaped Greg Sarris in his youth, it is the triumphant and revelatory return of an eminent novelist. With illustrations by Obi Kaufmann.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReview Citations:\u003c\/strong\u003e\n\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"italic\"\u003eLibrary Journal\u003c\/span\u003e 04\/01\/2026 pg. 66 (EAN 9781597147071, Hardcover)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003c\/table\u003e\n","brand":"Heyday Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51496209056022,"sku":"9781597147071","price":36.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0857\/9910\/8886\/files\/9781597147071.jpg?v=1783057592","url":"https:\/\/lusper.myshopify.com\/products\/the-last-human-bear","provider":"Lusperbooks","version":"1.0","type":"link"}