rossgrady rated Welcome to the goddamn ice cube: 5 stars
Welcome to the goddamn ice cube by Blair Braverman
"A revelatory memoir of the author's efforts to develop the strength and resilience to survive in the demanding landscapes of …
I live in Durham, NC. I got 2 years into an MA in English with a creative thesis before abruptly dropping out. I then spent 10+ years reading only nonfiction. Now that I have reclaimed fiction for myself, I pretty unabashedly read a lot of genre fiction.
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"A revelatory memoir of the author's efforts to develop the strength and resilience to survive in the demanding landscapes of …
Content warning Meta-discussion about the ending; no details
I absolutely loved Braverman's debut, Welcome to the Goddamn Ice Cube, and while I don't consider myself one of her die-hard online #uglydogs fans, I've followed her on Twitter for years & admire her work & life.
A few years ago, she & her husband Quince Mountain both [separately] participated in the reality survival series Naked and Afraid, and it's those experiences which fuel the best parts of her debut novel, Small Game, which is set in a survival reality show somewhere Up North.
I loved the character development, the pacing, the closely observed detail . . . pretty much all of it, right up to the last few pages. As though she ran out of steam, she kinda TL;DRs what I would have hoped to have been a final couple of chapters down into a page or two.
Nevertheless, it was great fun, and for me, at least, the abrupt ending didn't undercut my enjoyment much.