Book
Welcome to the goddamn ice cube : chasing fear and finding home in the great white north / Blair Braverman.
Blair Braverman faces down physical exhaustion - being buried alive in an ice cave, and driving a dogsled across the tundra through a white-out blizzard in order to avoid corrupt police - and grapples with both love and violence as she negotiates the complex demands of being a young woman in a man's land. Brilliantly original and bracingly honest, this book captures the triumphs and the perils of the journey to self-discovery and independence in a landscape that is as beautiful as it is unforgiving. Print
Record details
- ISBN: 0062311565
- ISBN: 9780062311566
- Physical Description: 274 pages ; 24 cm
- Edition: First edition.
- Publisher: New York : Ecco, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, 2016.
- Copyright: ©2016.
Search for related items by subject
| Subject: | Braverman, Blair > Travel. Mushers > Alaska > Biography. Women adventurers > Biography. Norway > Description and travel. Alaska > Description and travel. Cold regions > Biography. |
| Genre: | Autobiographies. |
Show Only Available Copies
| Location | Call Number / Copy Notes | Barcode | Shelving Location | Holdable? | Status | Due Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gibsons Public Library | 910 BRAV (Text) | 30886001022082 | Adult Nonfiction | Volume hold | Available | - |
- Booklist Reviews : Booklist Reviews 2016 June #1
Braverman grew up in California, until her father took a sabbatical when she was 10, and she discovered a geography she could not forget. She returned there in high school and, before and after two stints running tourists on dog sleds in Alaska, explored the remote reaches of northern Norway. This is not the place of "minimalist furniture and the Nobel Peace Prize," she asserts, but rather "the Norway of witchcraft, storytelling and incest." In languorous prose, she describes the people who cannot leave these northern places and delves into memories of uncomfortable sexual situations with Norwegians and, at the hands of her Alaskan boyfriend, the bewilderment of acquiescing to repeated date rape. Is this a memoir of the north or of being a woman who had both good and bad experiences in Arctic places? Readers will likely find that "ice cubes" are not the point, but rather the risky choices made while growing up and the struggles faced along the way. Copyright 2014 Booklist Reviews. - Kirkus Reviews : Kirkus Reviews 2016 May #2
A memoir of arctic adventure that goes deeper into self-discovery and finding a home."I've spent more than half my life pointed northward, trying to answer private questions about violence and belonging and cold," writes Braverman, a dog sledder and journalist whose frequent, extended visits to Norway and Alaska began from personal circumstances but soon assumed the significance of a quest to find a place where she belonged. Her journey from innocence to experience followed the map from south to north: "While southern Norwegians took pride in their restraintâ¦northerners were loose and vulgar. They cursed, slurred their words, joked often about sex and death, and gauged time loosely." As a teenage foreign exchange student in Norway who later led dog sled teams for tourists in Alaska, Braverman was frequently tested by the male-dominated culture, wondering when jokes crossed the line into something more, whether she was experiencing harassment or it was just in her head. Though the narrative jumps back and forth, chronologically and geographically, the voice throughout remains as insightful and engaging as it is uncertain, from a young woman who is never quite certain if she is safe, not only from the climate, but from so-called civilization, and where danger might lie. "The thing was, nothing that had happened to meâ¦was beyond the normal scope of what happened to women all the time. Some harassment by an authority figure, a few sexual remarks, pressure from an insistent boyfriend?" Yet her experience allowed her to recognize what had been wrong all along, as she found pleasure in sex where she didn't feel that pressure and fell in love of her own volition. Her external experiences are extraordinary in the frigid north that so few have experienced, but it's what happens internally that both sets this memoir apart and gives it universal resonance. Indelible characters, adventurous spirit, and acute psychological insight combine in this m ultilayered debut. Copyright Kirkus 2016 Kirkus/BPI Communications. All rights reserved. - LJ Express Reviews : LJ Express Reviews
The most dangerous predators in the wild aren't the animals, warns Braverman (contributor, Best Women's Travel Writing). A self-described "tough girl," the author reveals how she delayed college to enroll in a traditional Norwegian folk school, where she learned dog sledding and wilderness techniques, along with 40 other teenagers. Obsessed with the North since childhood, Braverman worked as a tour guide in Alaska, where the male-dominated camp culture forced her into frightening sexual situations. She also spent time in Mortenhals, a small Norwegian village, helping an aging shopkeeper set up a local museum. Viewed with skepticism and amusement by the townsfolk, she eventually won their acceptance. The physical perils she facedâWould she be attacked by a polar bear? Lose control of the dogs? Get lost on the glacier?âwere nowhere near as terrifying as the psychological challenges. An unforgettable journey through the heart and mind of an incredibly courageous woman. Verdict A real-life thriller combined with a remarkable coming-of-age tale, Braverman's memoir breathes life into the brutally harsh landscapes and her search for identity. An appealing read for fans of Jon Krakauer or Cheryl Strayed.âSusan Belsky, Oshkosh P.L., WI (c) Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. - Publishers Weekly Reviews : PW Reviews 2016 May #2
Braverman's search for personal fulfillment in some of the most unforgiving places on Earth, often behind a team of sled dogs, makes for a compelling if at times scattered debut memoir. Raised in California with childhood dreams of being a polar explorer, Braverman first visited Norway at age 10, cementing her desire to spend long periods in Scandinavia. A yearlong exchange program during her junior year in high school sends her not to the icyâand ruralânorth but to Norway's more cosmopolitan south, to stay with a host family in Lillehammer. After high school, she returns to Norway to study dog-sledding, immersing herself in dog care and learning how to survive the endless night. This experience leads to a summer in an Alaskan dog tour company, Dog World. It's still Norway that draws her in, and she finds herself most content working in the small northern village of Mortenhals, where she helps aging shopkeeper Arild with his general store and cobbled-together museum. Braverman often cuts too abruptly between her strands of memory, so it's difficult to give each piece equal weight, but her easy, lyrical prose makes this search for identity and self a worthwhile read. (July)
[Page ]. Copyright 2016 PWxyz LLC
