- Paperback: 224 pages
- Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd; New edition edition (7 Jun 2001)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0140286365
- ISBN-13: 978-0140286366
- Product Dimensions: 19.4 x 12.8 x 1.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 451,620 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Helen Dunmore has been described as one of England's "most accomplished literary talents", a writer of extraordinary skill and scope (her third novel, A Spell of Winter, was awarded the Orange Prize for fiction in 1996). The 18 stories included in Ice Cream, Dunmore's second collection of short stories, represent a genuine diversity of viewpoint, period and theme. The opening story, "My Polish Teacher's Tie", is one of the strongest: "I wear a uniform, blue overall and white cap with the school logo on it. Part-time catering staff, that's me, £3.49 per hour." "Me" is Carla Carter, the dinner lady who, to the surprise of the "teachers"--the division between teachers and those who wait on them is keenly observed here--is going to strike up a friendship with a visiting Polish poet. It's a recurring theme: love, or friendship, that comes as a surprise to someone. In "Lilac", a young girl watches her cousin, Tommy, kissing his best friend, Henrik; in "Choosing", the unexpected kiss between two women transports two friends to a new, yet familiar, place: "How did they get here?" There are other surprises--some funny, some anxious--in these explorations of women's lives and experiences. "Leonardo, Michelangelo, SuperStork" is an unsettling vision of pregnancy in a world governed by the ruthless imposition of the ante-natal clinics and the "Genetic Code"; "TheKiwi-Fruit Arbour" explores the language of pregnancy--"Pregnant. Not pregnant. Mother-to-be. Young girl with her life in front of her"--through the eyes of a working-class teenage girl whose young lover comes from a "good" family.
Living up to Dunmore's reputation for originality, accessibility and flair, Ice Cream is a welcome addition to her fiction. --Vicky Lebeau
Review
"* 'A talent to rival Chekhov... a few of the stories are enough to make you laugh out loud; even more are enough to make you weep (for the right reasons)' Sunday Express * 'Cool, elegant and beautifully controlled, the stories in Ice Cream display Dunmore's virtuosity and command of language... this is storytelling stripped to essentials: a series of images that flicker in the mind's eye long after the page has been turned' Independent on Sunday * 'She is a writer who can wrap up artifice in plain, straightforward speech, and evoke summers in the midst of winters of discontent. In these and other particulars, she has proved herself a strong contender for future prizes' Anita Brookner, Spectator"
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
I wear a uniform, blue overall and white cap with the school logo on it. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
I wear a uniform, blue overall and white cap with the school logo on it. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Dunmore's second collection of short stories shows just how much her writing has matured since her first, Love of Fat Men. Not only does she write like a dream, with a practised poet's skill in always lighting upon the arresting image, she also has the poet's gift of observation. These stories are minatures of love, loss and unregarded affection. I especially loved the title story. A book to be read slowly, and savoured.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This book is a collection of short stories about a range of subjects from love to babies. The stories are all fresh and inspirational. I can't even pick a favourite as they are all good. This may be your first Helen Dunmore book, but it will not be your last.
Format:Paperback
A wonderful collection of short stories. Whether she's describing the death of a Jewish family in the Holocaust, a divorced woman deciding to buy herself a luxury breakfast, a time-travelling Charlotte Bronte, a model's craving for ice-cream, a sick woman being cared for by the friend who once slept with her father or a young woman in Finland meeting a mysterious Russian icon collector, Dunmore is a mistress of language and structure. Her characters are wonderful, very believable creations, her descriptions of landscape, food and clothes among the best in literature today. The only story that I didn't quite 'get' in the collection was 'Coosing' - though beautifully written, it confused me as I wasn't sure what period it as meant to be in, and felt the men in the story weren't all that convincing. And though 'Leonardo, Michelangelo, Super-Stork' was a good read I think Dunmore's made the right decision in not exploring science-fiction in her novels. But I adored the rest of the stories, particularly the opening one about the dinner lady's Polish penfriend, 'Icecream', 'You Stayed Awake With Me' about the sick woman and her friend, the three very different stories about Ulli the Finnish girl who featured in 'Love of Fat Men', the hilarious 'Mason's Weekend Break', the delicate 'Swimming into the Millenium' and the haunting Holocaust story 'Lisette'. Dunmore at her best - I look forward to another short story collection at some point.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
ice cream
A slightly disappointing collection that I recently ended up giving away to a charity shop. Apart from the story about a young girl discovering her young cousin is gay on a trip... Read more
Published on 5 Sep 2009 by Bart Tremain
Intense, haunting stories
This collection showcases Helen Dunmore's ability to capture characters and worlds with her intense and lyrical words. Read more
Published on 10 July 2006 by Star_Sea
Hitting the nail on the head
This is a very special book. It is quite heavy. But I got hooked on it from the first story on, although I am more the type for the funny type of books. Read more
Published on 24 Aug 2003 by Monika Huelse
A collection of frustrating, very tedious little stories.
They seemed to be a collection of ramblings. Not one of these stories captured my interest in fact, not one of the stories had any substance to it. Read more
Published on 8 May 2000
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