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421 reviews for:
Welcome to the Goddamn Ice Cube: Chasing Fear and Finding Home in the Great White North
Blair Braverman
3.89 AVERAGE
421 reviews for:
Welcome to the Goddamn Ice Cube: Chasing Fear and Finding Home in the Great White North
Blair Braverman
3.89 AVERAGE
adventurous
hopeful
inspiring
adventurous
medium-paced
adventurous
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
I read this more quickly than most things. Literally couldn't stop reading. Adventure, travel, dogs, quirky people. Perfection. It was also like the TV show Life Below Zero about life in the Arctic, but with the added and necessary critique of the toxic masculinity often associated with the people that are attracted to going north with an air of superiority and living in the cold away from city comforts.
Most compelling is the idea presented that the danger of arctic survival is preferable (one consents to the activity/risk and nature has no agenda, doesn't desire power) to living in the violence that comes from the patriarchal racist capitalist systems (rather than a system that values all people equally).
I'm going to bring up #jiujitsu here, if i may. I'll put a quarter in the jar. I wonder if that's why some of us women are drawn to #bjj. I have heard that women who have endured trauma are likely to turn to #selfdefense classes or jiu-jitsu. This is simulated violence in a controlled setting. There are risks there and we are fully accepting/consenting - unlike the risks in daily life like walking at night, saying no to a man, flirting, not flirting, etc. There are tons of other reasons for practicing jiu-jitsu, but i felt a familiar thread in this book.
Most compelling is the idea presented that the danger of arctic survival is preferable (one consents to the activity/risk and nature has no agenda, doesn't desire power) to living in the violence that comes from the patriarchal racist capitalist systems (rather than a system that values all people equally).
I'm going to bring up #jiujitsu here, if i may. I'll put a quarter in the jar. I wonder if that's why some of us women are drawn to #bjj. I have heard that women who have endured trauma are likely to turn to #selfdefense classes or jiu-jitsu. This is simulated violence in a controlled setting. There are risks there and we are fully accepting/consenting - unlike the risks in daily life like walking at night, saying no to a man, flirting, not flirting, etc. There are tons of other reasons for practicing jiu-jitsu, but i felt a familiar thread in this book.
emotional
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
adventurous
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
adventurous
challenging
inspiring
medium-paced
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual harassment
Minor: Animal death
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
I prefer memoirs that reveal the author's inner thoughts and feelings far more than those memoirs that recount the activities someone has done--such as autobiographies of famous people. So Ms. Braverman's book scores big points there. She is open and honest, almost to a fault at times, but reveals much about the "growing pains" she experienced transitioning into adulthood in a unique way, by going almost as far north as humanly possible to experience some of the harshest climates known to man. Talk about doing some serious soul searching.
The highlights of the book were her accounts of dealing with the sled dogs, mushing with them in races and on tours with tourists, and describing winter. As a Minnesotan, I understand cold better than most people, and Ms. Braverman captured its essence--brutal, ruthless, capable of killing fools in minutes, but incredibly beautiful at the same time. Some of her writing about the sled dogs made me think of Jack London's writing.
Overall the book is quirky and hops around in time and place, but richly interesting characters fill her narrative and give it continuity. If you want to understand the people, culture, and climate of the North a little better, I recommend this book.
The highlights of the book were her accounts of dealing with the sled dogs, mushing with them in races and on tours with tourists, and describing winter. As a Minnesotan, I understand cold better than most people, and Ms. Braverman captured its essence--brutal, ruthless, capable of killing fools in minutes, but incredibly beautiful at the same time. Some of her writing about the sled dogs made me think of Jack London's writing.
Overall the book is quirky and hops around in time and place, but richly interesting characters fill her narrative and give it continuity. If you want to understand the people, culture, and climate of the North a little better, I recommend this book.