Welcome To The Goddamn Ice Cube: Chasing Fear and Finding Home In The Great White North by Blair Braverman (5 out if 5)
This book just came out on Tuesday. My former colleague Liz sent me a Facebook message a few months ago that her friend had written her memoir and she was going to send me an ARC. I read the synopsis online and was intrigued. I got the ARC and foolishly set it aside until life calmed down a bit and I was able to devote some quality time to it. Bear in mind that the same time I was vowing this, I was also reading trashy books that were not piquing my interest and complaining the whole time that I hadn’t read anything quality in awhile. Well, I could have been- should have been- reading this! Don’t waste time when you buy it. Read it immediately! Some customers I have sold it to ask me what her writing reminds me of. There is a bit of Krakauer to Blair’s experiences outlined in her memoir, a bit of Bryson with her plucky sense of humor, and a whole lot of her own style. Readable, funny, and unfailingly honest in parts, she’s got her own way.
Blair leaves her Californian home and heads to Norway late in her teens to learn to drive sled dogs. How many teens do you know who could claim that? Not many! Blair is trying to find her way in life. And Norway is the start of what turns out to be quite an adventure. She heads next to Alaska, where she works as a tour guide on a glacier in Alaska. Holy shit! Can you even imagine that, sitting in your cushy, warm homes? As much as I cherish anything with Alaska and the open wilderness, I have the balls to admit I could NOT own this gig. Blair faces feats of strengths, tests of endurance,and character self-doubts that I could not even begin to imagine putting myself through. And she conquers it. There are no holds barred here. Straight talk, honest emotion, and yes, some crazy shit that this young woman had to go through to get into a committed relationship with the Great North. And Blair has a refreshingly honest way of admitting where she was scared shirtless in parts of the book. I love that! I have read some other memoirs where they pussyfoot around their experiences and I was left feeling like the real experience was glossed over and planned up for the value of increasing readership. Definitely NOT the case here. Life lessons, wilderness training, survival of the fittest, triumph of the spirit..it’s here! Go get a copy at your local bookstore and get to know Blair. You won’t regret a single minute.
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