sunn_bleach's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
If the word “surreal” implies dreamlike, then this is nightmarelike. This is like stress dreams turned to print, and with obsession and paranoia seeping in the next morning from being continuously woken up by those dreams.
Graphic: War, Stalking, and Domestic abuse
Moderate: Death
indigojump's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Stalking
Moderate: Rape
leduyhxxng's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
my feelings of this novel are irrelevant for the time being. i need to read a bit more and deeper into literature of this kind, and then give it a reread before im confident ive arrived at something even remotely thoughtful. so far, this book has wrecked my narrow definition of literature and reality and my life goals and probably more that, as a noob, id failed to recognise. i thought im a plot hoe (lol see what i did there), but this plotless showpiece has truly finished me (to think that i finished it would be a wild accusation, who even am i?!). so theres that.
a few notes for further venture into this reality-bending literature genre: slipstream (non-genre)
a few notes for further venture into this reality-bending literature genre: slipstream (non-genre)
Science fiction writers whose work qualified as slipstream include J. G. Ballard, John Sladek, Thomas M. Disch, some of Philip K. Dick. Other writers, who were outside the science fiction genre but whose work could conceivably fit into the wider definition allowed by slipstream include Angela Carter, Paul Auster, Haruki Murakami, Jorge Luis Borges, and William S. Burroughs. Another notable inclusion was, of course, Anna Kavan.
In literature, since slipstream stands above genres of fiction, many examples of magical realism can certainly be recognised as slipstream, one notable mention being Gabriel Garcia Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude. Some television drama would qualify: The Singing Detective by Dennis Potter, and a BBC series called Life on Mars. In cinema, recent slipstream films include Christopher Nolan's Memento, Juan Carlos Fresnadillo's Impacto and Spike Jonze's Being John Malkovich.
— Compiled from Christopher Priest's introduction to Anna Kavan's novel Ice
Graphic: Violence, Toxic relationship, Stalking, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Mental illness, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Forced institutionalization, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Death, Confinement, Bullying, Body horror, and Blood
Moderate: War, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Physical abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, and Murder
Minor: Abandonment, Suicidal thoughts, and Police brutality
fiainkvinna's review
challenging
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
3.0
Graphic: Confinement, Stalking, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Violence
mahela's review
challenging
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
This is a strange book. Doris Lessing said "There is nothing like it" and this might be true, but I'm not sure whether it's a positive or negative thing. It was very difficult for me to read. Until the very end I never really felt myself at home in this book, and perhaps that is the intended effect of the novel. The topic this novel deals with is heavy: an approaching global climate disaster (a new ice age), and a man (the narrator) who is possessed by the thought of an unnamed "girl" - possessed, to be more precise, of the thought of possessing her. The plot seems to go in circles, the man perpetually chasing the girl, sometimes there are experimental episodes, which a page later appear to be fantasies of the narrator (?). Very unhinging, hard to grasp what's what, and as I said, probably that's intended. Overall I had to force myself to read this novel to the end. That's never a good sign. The afterword partly helped understand where this style of Kavan's comes from, but it didn't make up for my reading impression. I guess to appreciate "Ice" you have to prepared for and appreciate its experimental style, and I wasn't and I don't.
Graphic: Stalking, Toxic relationship, and Violence
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