Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published Mar 2016
256 pages
Genre: Literary Fiction
Publication Information
Veronica Mars meets William Shakespeare in E.K. Johnston's latest brave and unforgettable heroine.
Hermione Winters is captain of her cheerleading team, and in tiny Palermo Heights, this doesn't mean what you think it means. At PHHS, the cheerleaders don't cheer for the sports teams; they are the sports team—the pride and joy of a tiny town. The team's summer training camp is Hermione's last and marks the beginning of the end of… she's not sure what. She does know this season could make her a legend. But during a camp party, someone slips something in her drink. And it all goes black.
In every class, there's a star cheerleader and a pariah pregnant girl. They're never supposed to be the same person. Hermione struggles to regain the control she's always had and faces a wrenching decision about how to move on. The assault wasn't the beginning of Hermione Winter's story and she's not going to let it be the end. She won't be anyone's cautionary tale.
"Starred Review. [Johnston] draws from Shakespeare's 'The Winter's Tale,' and perhaps as much from too-common present-day headlines, in the fearless story of a 17-year-old Ontario cheerleader getting a sense of her new normal after being drugged and raped at cheer camp." - Publishers Weekly
"Starred Review. Johnston's clever—but never precious—update of Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale is unflinching but not at all graphic in its treatment of sexual violence.... Middle and high school readers will pass this powerful, engaging story around and around." - Kirkus Reviews
"Starred Review. Fierce and gorgeously drawn, this is a rape story that doesn't focus on victimhood." - Booklist
"Starred Review. A beautifully written portrait of a young woman facing the unthinkable, this is a must-buy for high school collections." - School Library Journal
"Johnston's newest novel is realistic literary fiction, without the elements of fantasy in her three previous young adult novels . . . Johnston honestly conveys the aftermath of rape and the difficult decisions Hermione makes . . . The Shakespearean title should not deter readers who could draw comfort from this novel." - VOYA
"Starred Review. The reader is kept engaged, and – like Hermione – hopeful, even in the darkest moments ... Exit, Pursued by a Bear is a story of triumph, not just survival." - Quill & Quire
"Exit, Pursued by a Bear is both a tenderly written, heartfelt coming of age and an incisive, sensitive examination of trauma after an assault. Fresh, memorable, and thought-provoking." - Courtney Summers, author of All the Rage
"A unflinching exploration of what it means to be a girl, what it means to be a friend, and what it means to be a survivor. A determined, transformative book that every teen girl should read." - Tess Sharpe, author of Far From You
This information about Exit, Pursued by a Bear was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
E.K. Johnston had several jobs and one vocation before she became a published writer. If she's learned anything, it's that things turn out weird sometimes, and there's not a lot you can do about it. Well, that and how to muscle through awkward fanfic because it's about a pairing she likes.
When she's not on tumblr, she dreams of travel and Tolkien. Or writes books. It really depends on the weather.
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