ICE by Anna Kavan | Book Review

A book review of Anna Kavan's "Ice" (1967).

Softcover, 170 pages
Published 2021 by Penguin Books (originally published 1967)
ISBN: 0143131990

Check out the @spinecrackers1497 podcast episode on Ice:

Articles cited:

Authors mentioned:
Kafka
Isaac Asimov
Vladimir Nabokov
Arthur C. Clarke
László Krasznahorkai
Tarjei Vesaas
James Joyce

If you are planning on buying this book, consider buying from your local independent bookstore, however, if you are going to use Amazon, consider using my affiliate link to support me!
Note that I have the UK edition as the US Penguin edition has a pretty atrocious cover, which is only slightly alleviated by Kate Zambreno's wonderful afterword.

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#annakavan #ice #bookreview

[authorleetee]

Found "Ice" - the first edition - in a $1 library sale bin, pre-internet days and not knowing anything about it, having never heard of Kavan. Great review of a book, and a reading discovery experience, that has stayed with me like few others.

[spinecrackers]

Fantastic discussion as always. Really glad you decided to check this one out. And thank you so much for the much too kind words!

[yvonnekoopman]

"Dread personafied" is a very apt description of the atmosphere of this novel.

[scottiape]

Ice reminded me of a short story from the 1930s called Silent Snow, Secret Snow. It’s about a (presumably) schizophrenic young boy who is seeing imaginary snow, which makes him feel detached from the real world. The two works have a lot of similar imagery so it’s interesting to compare them.

[kinczyta]

love that book and your review gives it justice

[peanut]

I just picked up American First edition. I’ll have to buy a less expensive version to read.

[patrickellsworth]

Thanks for this. I've been very curious about this book. I will certainly pick it up now.

[omaressam]

Read The Shell: Memoir Of a Hidden Observer by Mostafa Khalifa.

This book has been banned in Syria by the Government, not by the citizens whom loved and respected the book, those who got a hold of it illegally.
The government didn't want people inside or outside the country to know about the book. This book is not politic based, it is rather a compelling story of the author who had been put in prison and blamed guilty of acts he had not committed. The story has graceful high ups and gruesome down lows, and so many different scenarios happening through out the book, making the book an absolute page turner.
I read the book in Arabic, but the book is translated to English and people are giving the translator a lot of credit for his accurate translation on Amazon reviews.
So check the book out I promise you will be surprised.

[Jiji_watching]

Oh dear how I love that
‘More Nabokov than Asimov, much mich more Kafka than Clark’
Especially when I can see the old copy of Ada

[Paromita_M]

Fascinating review. On my to-read list.
Indirectly related - I have your reviews to thank for my reading of Solenoid and Septology, both of which were deeply meaningful reading experiences for me (especially Solenoid).
I meant to ask how you found some of the books you posted on Twitter a while back- like Antagony, Lady Joker and Our Share of Night? The only ones i have read on that list are Cartarescu's Solenoid and Pamuk's Nights of Plague. Am working through Lady Joker now but finding it painfully slow, hoping it picks up. Really interested in Antagony!
Any interest in the book The Garden of Seven Twilights to be published by Deep Vellum? As a childhood fan of the Arabian Nights, the nested structure is intriguing to me.

Sorry for rambling. Thank you once again whole-heartedly for Solenoid and Septology.

[bobcabot]

...fun fact: Kafka is the author still world-wide with the most doctoral-dissertations written about...

[kevindorsey]

Thanks for the recommendation! I just wanted to ask if you have checked out the novel Magnus by George Mackay Brown? It is a fairly short Orkney novel about life and execution of Magnus Erlendsson, which it parrells to the death of theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer in the Flossenberg concentration camp.

It reminds me of a lot of the books you reviewed here.

[SpringboardThought]

Sound great. Very intense though lol the ultimate bad vibes book. The comparisons to Lolita pique my interest. I think the only things doing something similar have been really inept commercial fiction offerings.