Black Ice

Customer Reviews

• 4 out of 5
  
  
  by Cait from The United States | Jul 1, 2009
  

  i loved this book's subtlety. cary does not detail one major event, but rather explores her experience at st. paul's school through the every day happenings of life. that's why i find her writing so genuine and vulnerable. i don't typically read memoir writing from the past 20 years or so---i tend to find books like this terribly hyped up and self-important--but i just loved this book. it is accessible but beautiful and skillfully written. it is a coming-of-age story that resonate with wumyn, and i imagine black wumyn especially. i had the opportunity to meet lorene cary whilst providing administrative assistance for my university's 4th annual black new england conference. she was our keynote speaker this past june, and she was truly moving and engaging on every level. i absolutely recommend this book.

  
  

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• 3 out of 5
  
  
  by Sayo from Burbank, CA | May 9, 2010
  

  Being a boarding school alumni, it was interesting to read Cary's biographical take on her boarding school experience in the 1970's.
  
  While reading, I kept trying to place myself in Cary's shoes; how could she have felt to be one of the first black females at a school that was, at a time, predominantly white and male. Her juxtaposition between her life at school (rural America) and that at home (urban America) was very well done, and really helped to explicate her dilemma of not knowing where to fit in. I totally understood her sense of loosing who she was and digging deeper into what others wanted her to be; trying to maintain her "blackness" while slipping into this unknown world that seemed to be further and further away from just that.
  
  I'm attempting to capture my boarding school experience in a novel and Cary has definitely inspired me to keep the candle burning.

  
  

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• 4 out of 5
  
  
  by Lydia from The United States | Sep 1, 2009
  

  I am always amazed at the personal style of African-Americans that attend elite, predominately white institutions. There are aspects how they view life (I am never really sure that they address the issues of color) and the words of their books sometimes seem disingenuous. This writer and Andrea Lee ("Sarah Phillips" and "Russian Journal") lived on the same street and less than a block from each other. Both writers wrote coming of age books.
  
  Life at St. Paul's had to be really tough. Juggling racial and gender issues, while worrying about the disintegration of things at home had to be hard. I thought the author did a good job at articulating her attempts to "fit" into her new environment, get good grades and yet remain an African-American sister in thought.
  
  I thought that she gave good understanding at why she felt compelled to go elite school. It's all about who you know and what they can do for you. It was understood that she was to attend an Ivy League School as there would be no point in attending if you could not push yourself to academically compete. Lorene's observation of teachers and the fact that many would not give you any credit (because you are black and/or female) is something that is confronted everyday.

  
  

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• 2 out of 5
  
  
  by Mr. Brammer from Bulgaria | Mar 22, 2009
  

  St. Paul's is an elite prep school in New Hampshire. Lorene Cary's _Black Ice_ is a memoir of her time at the school, as an African-American girl from Philadelphia she finds herself in an alien environment. Unfortunately, the memories here are typical coming-of-age encounters with drugs, sex, academic and social competitiveness; the central conflict presented of trying to fit in as a minority in a traditionally white environment is not analyzed. Perhaps Cary's race did not end up mattering that much - we do not see the incidents of racism that we expect.

  
  

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• 4 out of 5
  
  
  by Sarah from Los Angeles, CA | May 7, 2009
  

  I actually meant to read this memoir for a class in college about 10 years ago!
  
  I am ancient.
  
  Anyway, back then I ended up choosing Mary Karr's "Liar's Club" instead, but now I've finally read "Black Ice" as well. It takes place in the early 1970s in a New Hampshire boarding school. The school's only recently decided to accept women and minorities, so the narrator, who lives near Philly, applies and gets in, only to find herself struggling to belong on two fronts as an African-American young woman.
  
  Prose is beautiful and the story is compelling, especially because she has several perspectives to draw from, including as a teacher and board member at the very same school years later, and as an attendee of the 15-year reunion in 1989.

  
  
   1 people found this review helpful
  
  

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