The hero of this sensational first novel is an alto-sax virtuoso of John Coltrane/Sonny Rollins proportions. He also happens to be walking, talking, Shakespeare-quoting bear. The scion of a long line of European circus bears (and the product of an amazing roll of the genetic dice), the Bear, when we first meet him, is eking out a living doing a street dancing-bear act with his friend and keeper Jones. But what the Bear is really best at-besides making himself cosmically miserable - is blowing the sax. One day he makes a ...
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The hero of this sensational first novel is an alto-sax virtuoso of John Coltrane/Sonny Rollins proportions. He also happens to be walking, talking, Shakespeare-quoting bear. The scion of a long line of European circus bears (and the product of an amazing roll of the genetic dice), the Bear, when we first meet him, is eking out a living doing a street dancing-bear act with his friend and keeper Jones. But what the Bear is really best at-besides making himself cosmically miserable - is blowing the sax. One day he makes a bold foray out to jam with Arthur Blythe and Lester Bowie at a New York club, thus beginning a musical (and romantic) odyssey: a semi-clandestine gig and a live album; a nightclub bust and a spell in the city's dankest jail; freedom, a recording contract, a road tour; a vexed, physically passionate, inter-species love affair with a beautiful woman named Iris. And finally, a triumphant return to a jazz club inside the Brooklyn Bridge, where the Bear plays a solo that blasts him out of the space/time continuum - and all the way back home.
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Add this copy of The Bear Comes Home to cart. $24.23, very good condition, Sold by Big River Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Powder Springs, GA, UNITED STATES, published 1998 by W. W. Norton & Company.
Describing a book as 'quirky' is usally a horrible thing to do, but it's apropos in this case. Rafi Zabor has created a central character - a nobly-descended bear who plays the sax, quotes Shakespeare and doesn't mind the odd drink - who's also deeply human. There's the usual furry-fish-out-of-water tales you'd expect from a book of this type... (possibly similar to Bakis' Lives Of The Monster Dogs) but also an unexpectedly touching love story. Look for the appearance of jazz legends within.
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