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A review by ardieth
Ice by Anna Kavan
dark
3.0
So this book is definitely original. It is an apocalyptic sci-fi in a world dying from eternal frost, ice and winter. Civilisation and mankind is dying but our focus is on three characters: the narrator who is a man and whose POV we follow, a woman who is called "the Girl" who the narrator is obsessed with and her husband/guardian (I don't really know) called "the Warden" who acts like a rival to the narrator. The whole plot is about the narrator searching for the girl while also having hallucinations. It is unclear what is real and what is not and left to the reader's interpretation.
Early on in the book the narrator mentions that "the drugs prescribed for me produced horrible dreams, in which [the girl] always appears as a helpless victim [...] These dreams were not confined to sleep only" (p. 6) so this book raises questions of what is real and what is merely a hallucination? He does hallucinate a lot in this book however (or so I interpret it). The hallucinations are about the girl and the narrator's relation to the girl, which is pure sadistic: "I felt no pity for her. On the contrary, I derive an indescribable pleasure from seeing her suffer." (p.5) And that is what exactly what we see a lot of in this book; this thin, pale and helpless girl being assaulted, both physically and sexually while the narrator is aroused by it. We don't know if it is real or not, all we know is that the narrator is incredibly sadistic! Most of the times when we read a book the reader feels sympathy towards the main character, even if the character has flaws or is forced to villainous acts, but in this book I HATE THIS GUY! He is a sick, sick sicko: "Her face wore its victim's look, which was of course psychological, the result of injuries she had received in childhood; I saw it as the faintest possible hint of bruising on the extremely delicate, fine, white skin in the region of eyes and mouth. It was madly attractive to me..." (p. 13). ... "I could imagine how it would feel to take hold of her wrists and to snap the fragile bones with my hands [...] She was pale and almost transparent, the victim I used for my own enjoyment in dreams." (p. 61)
He is obsessed with her, wanting her hurt and when he finds her and they speak she clearly expresses repugnance and hatred towards him and tells him to leave her alone. This leads to a tragic ending which left me really upset. It is an interesting read that moved me emotionally (no happy emotions at all, only comtempt, mind you) with brilliant writing techniques, but get ready to absolutely loathe the main character. And also, I don't recommend this book if toxic relationships is a difficult theme for you. Perhaps there is symbolism in the book that I missed, maybe the girl is actually a metaphor for our world being subdued to global warming? Maybe she is the ice in the world since she has white hair and skin, childlike body indicating innocence? Maybe ice is actually a metaphor for cocaine? Or maybe there is no symbolism at all and the girl is just another victim to the everyday violence so many women and children face from men around the world today.
Early on in the book the narrator mentions that "the drugs prescribed for me produced horrible dreams, in which [the girl] always appears as a helpless victim [...] These dreams were not confined to sleep only" (p. 6) so this book raises questions of what is real and what is merely a hallucination? He does hallucinate a lot in this book however (or so I interpret it). The hallucinations are about the girl and the narrator's relation to the girl, which is pure sadistic: "I felt no pity for her. On the contrary, I derive an indescribable pleasure from seeing her suffer." (p.5) And that is what exactly what we see a lot of in this book; this thin, pale and helpless girl being assaulted, both physically and sexually while the narrator is aroused by it. We don't know if it is real or not, all we know is that the narrator is incredibly sadistic! Most of the times when we read a book the reader feels sympathy towards the main character, even if the character has flaws or is forced to villainous acts, but in this book I HATE THIS GUY! He is a sick, sick sicko: "Her face wore its victim's look, which was of course psychological, the result of injuries she had received in childhood; I saw it as the faintest possible hint of bruising on the extremely delicate, fine, white skin in the region of eyes and mouth. It was madly attractive to me..." (p. 13). ... "I could imagine how it would feel to take hold of her wrists and to snap the fragile bones with my hands [...] She was pale and almost transparent, the victim I used for my own enjoyment in dreams." (p. 61)
He is obsessed with her, wanting her hurt and when he finds her and they speak she clearly expresses repugnance and hatred towards him and tells him to leave her alone. This leads to a tragic ending which left me really upset. It is an interesting read that moved me emotionally (no happy emotions at all, only comtempt, mind you) with brilliant writing techniques, but get ready to absolutely loathe the main character. And also, I don't recommend this book if toxic relationships is a difficult theme for you. Perhaps there is symbolism in the book that I missed, maybe the girl is actually a metaphor for our world being subdued to global warming? Maybe she is the ice in the world since she has white hair and skin, childlike body indicating innocence? Maybe ice is actually a metaphor for cocaine? Or maybe there is no symbolism at all and the girl is just another victim to the everyday violence so many women and children face from men around the world today.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Sexual violence, and Violence
Moderate: Misogyny and Schizophrenia/Psychosis