Reviews

Against the Ice: The Classic Arctic Survival Story by Ejnar Mikkelsen, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau

kathrinpassig's review against another edition

4.0

Bücher über Polarforschungsdinge sind leider oft von Ernsten Männern geschrieben worden, die ihr Hobby in einem möglichst seriösen Licht zu schildern versuchen. Das hier ist eins von ganz wenigen, in denen es auch um Freundschaft geht, um landschaftliche Schönheit, um Träume, um Schlittenhunde als Personen und nicht nur als Ziehgeräte. Gelitten und gehungert wird wie in jedem anderen Polarbuch auch, und die Geschichte der Hunde, das nur als Warnung, geht nicht gut aus.

Ich wollte es lesen, weil ich die Verfilmung ganz okay fand. Das Buch hat mit dem Film eher wenig zu tun, das macht aber nichts, es sind beides gute Geschichten. (Update: Es ergab sich so, dass ich den Film noch mal sah, und im Vergleich zum Buch ist er dann leider doch ziemlich großer Mist. Die gute, friedliche Geschichte aus dem Buch wird mit schlecht ausgedachten Konflikten ausgeschmückt. Aber halt ein paar schöne Szenen mit Schlittenhunden.)

bluesleepy's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative inspiring tense medium-paced

5.0

jodij's review

adventurous emotional hopeful informative inspiring tense medium-paced

5.0

Such a good book! Very tense at times. What an adventure. I watched the Netflix movie first and then was interested in reading the book. Was not disappointed.  The treatment of the sled dogs was really difficult to read about. The friendship of the 2 men through all of this was inspiring. After finishing the book, I rewatched the movie... The Book was so much better. Amazing what humans can accomplish when they are determined.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty

chantalsbookstuff's review

4.0

An epic survival story of determination, sheer will and loyalties. The characters really brought this book to life. I look forward to watching the movie on Netflix.

nelli_lakatos's review

DNF'd at 51%
I'm sorry for the spoilers but I need to say them to explain why I can't finished the book.
This is a true story "The Classic Artic Survival Story" as they say on the book. For starters I enjoyed the book in the beginning but then they were a lot of animals cruelty in this. Maybe because it's a true story that's why it was so much harder to read it (of course it's really hard in fiction too but to know this happened in real life it's tough) There was a part were they killed and then ate the dog...
It was just really hard to read this emotionally.
I wouldn't recommend this to animal lovers.

bryanfox's review

adventurous dark informative reflective fast-paced

3.5

yvo_about_books's review against another edition

3.5

Finished reading: August 30th 2022

"All of us who had gone up there were silly, both men and dogs."

I actually watched the Netflix adaptation of Against The Ice a while back, and it inspired me to look up this memoir. I do love a good survival story set in an unforgiving environment, and it doesn't get much more hostile than Greenland... And even more so when it takes place in the 1910s with even less comfort and technology on offer. Against The Ice turned out to be a very interesting survival memoir and I liked the way Mikkelsen wrote down his account of what happened during that taxing time. It's quite a harrowing read with lots of difficulties to overcome, and a warning is in place for animals suffering as well as animal death. The humans are not doing all that well either of course, but I could appreciate the moments of hope that were woven into the account. The final part set in the hut was probably the most intriguing part of it all; the same was the case with the movie adaptation for me. I liked the casting for that adaptation, and I think it does the memoir justice. If you like this type of stories, I can definitely recommend both!

elizabethpero's review

adventurous emotional inspiring medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death