The Ice Road (Hardcover)

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Review
In 1933 Leningrad is in the grip of a fierce winter. The Artic exploration ship Chelyuskin is stuck fast in the frozen Barents sea, its crew of one hundred and five Leningraders waiting for a rescue they fear will never come. In the city there are the usual fuel and food shortages, the usual queues and the usual grumblings about Stalin and the revolution. But when Kirov, Leningrad's beloved and much-lauded leader, is assassinated, no one is above suspicion, and the already vicious workings of a corrupt government spin completely out of control. Gillian Slovo's finely-honed account of these dramatic events is truly wonderful. Sticking strictly to the historical facts, she nonetheless manages to construct an authentic and heart-rending fiction of ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances. Seamlessly blending the minutiae of private lives into the larger momentum of this bloody period in Russia's history, Slovo gives us both an accurate history of events leading up to the siege of Leningrad and a poignant, beautifully crafted fiction of the interweaving lives of that city's inhabitants. An amazing piece of fictionalised history, reminiscent of Helen Dunmore's The Siege and every bit as authentic. (Kirkus UK)

The adventures of Boris and Natasha. No, not that Boris and Natasha, but a pair equally in thrall to a shadowy leader, and without the laughter. In this epic tale, sprawling in scope and ambition but with a smallish dramatis personae-a cleaning lady, a few Party functionaries and bureaucrats, an American fellow traveler, a young woman who resembles Pasternak's sad Lara-Slovo (Red Dust, 2001, etc.) imagines life at the height of Stalin's terror. Boris Ivanov lives in a time of signs and rumors, and he watches carefully as the promise of the Revolution is betrayed. Other figures here are less inclined to silence-one remarks to Boris, "Remember how we used to boast that ours would be the generation to change history? I always assumed we were talking about the historical future"-and less loyal to the boss, at least outwardly, but Boris falls under suspicion all the same, as everyone in Leningrad eventually does. Irina Davydovna has been out in the cold, a hand on an Arctic vessel that was useless for cutting through ice; just so, her protector, high-ranking official Sergei Kirov, is powerless to stop the death machine. He knows that his own time is coming: "Glorious Stalin," he tells Irina, "magnanimous Stalin, is going to fit me with a new suit." The years wheel by, and Boris's daughter Natasha is caught in the crossfire of betrayal, denunciation and suspicion; by 1938, she is a ghost in the political machine, "not dead exactly-more like indifferent." Matters should not improve for anyone when the Nazis attack Leningrad, laying the city to terrible siege, but Natasha, having endured so much, finds herself invested with a new will to live, with "such an alien feeling that she has to grope to find the word to describe it . . . Happy." Slovo risks melodrama, but on the whole her tale is smart and poignant, exploring some of the same moral territory as Nikita Mikhalkov's film Burnt by the Sun. A big idea well handled. (Kirkus Reviews)

The Times
'Ice Road brilliantly depicts, from the emotional inside, the most politically disastrous assassination in Russian history . . . Enthralling'

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First Sentence
Out here on deck my breath is turned to ice but I won't go in, at least not yet. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
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5 Reviews 5 star:  (2) 4 star:  (2) 3 star:  (1) 2 star:    (0) 1 star:    (0)           Average Customer Review 4.2 out of 5 stars (5 customer reviews)		Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Most Helpful Customer Reviews   22 of 24 people found the following review helpful: 5.0 out of 5 stars Ice Road, 23 May 2004 By  Vanessa Depré (Brussels, Belgium) - See all my reviews This was a book that I could just not put down, and when I finished I wanted to start all over again... but I had to go to work. Gillian Slovo's book is a realistic novel about true events in Russia's history and whoever you are, it will make you shed tears. I didn't want to read it at first because I thought it was going to be a cliché romantic drama with shooting and death. Thankfully my friend convinced me to go ahead and after page two I saw just how wrong I really was. I won't go into the story line as I wouldn't want to spoil it for anyone. However trust me when I say this is a book you just have to read. Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)   7 of 7 people found the following review helpful: 5.0 out of 5 stars An inspiring book, 7 Jul 2006 By  Sian Mason "Sian`Mason" (Bray, Ireland) - See all my reviews This review is from: Ice Road (Paperback) I have just finished reading Ice Road, and it still fills my head and heart. Slovo writes with compassion of a period in Russian history which brought about so much human suffering. THis is a book that reveals humanity at its worst and at its best, yet Slovo never judges. She lets her characters speak for themselves. Wonderful. Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)   21 of 25 people found the following review helpful: 4.0 out of 5 stars Why Ice Road should win the Orange Prize, 23 May 2004 By  V. ROWLAND "Valerie Rowland" (Guernsey, Channel Islands) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)    ICE ROAD by Gillian Slovo A review by Valerie Rowland Slovo brings scholarship and accomplished writing to this powerful tale of revolution, political idealism and disillusionment. Slovo's ice, snow and blizzards whirl through the pages, carrying the drama along; a counterpoint to the suffering of ordinary people caught up in the tragedy of war, betrayal and privation. There is an obvious connection between Slovo's upbringing in South Africa, the daughter of anti-apartheid campaigners and her bold first attempt at a historical novel set in Stalinist Russia, a comparable period in history in which ordinary people struggled to survive repression and revolution. The child Gillian's observation of life around her informs the narrative of Ice Road. Left alone to be «the responsible one» of her siblings Gillian knew the African servants as individuals and personalities. She understood what anyone who has worked as a domestic knows; that the detritus of the household is the key to its characters. To clean a bedroom is to know the intimate secrets of its occupants. Irina, the central character of Ice Road is a cleaner, who observes people and events with a dispassionate eye. The «I» of Irina and the «I» echoed in the title are the «eyes» of an observant child and the key to the warmth of humanity in this book. Irina comes to learn that there are terrible consequences when people are sacrificed on the altar of idealism. Ice Road is a celebration of the female spirit finding a path through the blizzards of history. It deserves the Orange Prize. Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this) Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review › See all 5 customer reviews...		Most Recent Customer Reviews 3.0 out of 5 stars A little dissapointed I was really looking forward to this book, also based on the positive reviews, but found it quite tough going. Read more Published 23 months ago by A. Radeck 4.0 out of 5 stars Compelling Writing Gillian Slovo is consitently compelling - her autobiographical work Every Secret Thing remains one of my all-time favourite books. Read more Published on 27 Jul 2004 by A. Weston Search Customer Reviews Only search this product's reviews › See all 5 customer reviews...

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