True adventure is generally not great literature. As long as the writing doesn’t get in the way of the story, I’m happy—because it’s the story I care about. But once in a while a book comes along and blindsides me with a rare combination of excellent writing and gripping adventure. Ice is one such book. A compilation of excerpts and essays about polar exploration, Ice meets every one of my criteria for superior reading. It’s dominated by excerpts from early polar explorers’ diaries, which paint a stark portrait of the cruel monotony of the arctic landscape and the carnage it inflicts upon human bodies. Needless to say, most of the explorers die. In fact, the book far exceeds my expected ration of gangrenous toes and scurvy-riddled bodies. But that’s not why I like it so much. I love how editor Clint Willis chose to weave these somber pieces through a latticework of essays and articles by great writers such as Barry Lopez and Edward Abbey. Some of this work is shot through with humor, some poetically describes the physical landscape, some exposes the social effects of exploration upon native peoples. And I thank Willis for choosing to include two excerpts and an essay by women writers, because female voices make the whole collection stronger. My only quibble is the emphasis on the doomed Scott expedition to the South Pole. There are several pieces related to that journey, and only one about Sir Ernest Shackleton’s Antarctic expedition (which is my favorite polar tale of all time). Aside from that small disappointment, Ice is an absolute pleasure. Review by Kali
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