Black Ice [Turtleback]

Lorene Cary (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 2002 | ISBN-10: 0606241809 | ISBN-13: 978-0606241809

In a strong, often funny, and revealing narrative, Lorene Cary recounts how she found herself suddenly catapulted into a world of privilege, when she left a black section of Philadelphia to attend a New Hampshire boarding school in 1971. Cary also describes returning to St. Paul's to teach in this fresh, compelling American story.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In 1971, a 15-year-old black girl from suburban Philadelphia won a scholarship to an elite prep school, St. Paul's in Concord, N.H. Cary here recounts--with cautious affection and ironic humor--the catapulting experience, having returned years later to St. Paul's as a teacher. Drawing a warm portrait of supportive family members, she also establishes the strong qualifications and gifts she brought to the school, at the time newly co-educational. We glimpse the personal resources that sustained her through a demanding curriculum and in the face of latent, lingering racial prejudice. Written with flair, her attractive memoir provides a unique viewpoint, that of student and teacher, mediating a world of educational privilege and providing inspiration for other black students.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From School Library Journal

YA-- A streetwise kid from West Philly, Cary was the first African-American female to attend St. Paul's, a prestigious New England prep school. With tremendous drive, she set out to achieve self-imposed academic, athletic, and social goals. Although she believed she owed it to the school that accepted her on scholarship, to her family who encouraged and sacrificed, and to those who will come after, she found that the price was great. The emotional distance from her family widened with the geographic separation, and their deep love and pride could not make up for their blindness to her discomfort. While Cary achieved most of her aims, thus justifying the experience to herself, perceptive readers will be pained at her need to do so. Broader in scope than most coming-of-age memoirs, this candid account is sure to strike a sympathetic chord.
-Jackie Gropman, Richard Byrd Library, Springfield, VA
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Turtleback
• Publisher: Demco Media (April 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0606241809
• ISBN-13: 978-0606241809
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,718,659 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of those books that you want to read over and over again, July 30, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Black Ice (Paperback)

I've read Black Ice atleast 7 times in the past 2 years because with each reading I continue to understand how my experiences at a predominantly white high school have shaped the person I have become. I can not remember the exact phrasing, but there is one passage in Black Ice that sums up how I feel about my high school experience. It goes something like this: If I had left St. Paul's School the same person who went there, there would have been no use in going. In other words, accept that you will be changed when you live through the alienation and self-inflicted loneliness of integrating schools in the Post-Jim Crow, Post Civil Rights Movement era. I wish that I would have read this book while I was still in high school. I would be able to better articulate to my friends and family what I was experiencing.

I've been wondering if the title has anything to do with the lake that Lorene visited in the story when she took the time to think about her life one night. Or maybe it is a visual reference to her heart, dark and cold because she, in her own words, had not loved enough during her teen-age years. Perhaps, it is a reference to the black ice on the roads that you have to watch out for in the winter...

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good story, November 21, 2002

By 

Chris (Washington state, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Black Ice (Paperback)

This is a memoir by one of the first black female students at an elite prep school in New Hampshire, in the early 70's. The biggest psychological issue that come clearest through in this book, is the author's feelings of severe insecurity about operating in this rich white academic environment. She was ambitious to outshine everybody, of whatever race at the school and she ended up a neurotic mess, full of deep dissapointment that she did not. The author makes her deep confusion clear as she struggled with guilt about wheather she was betraying her working class black background to partake in the immense luxuries provided by the school. All the while so many hardworking working class people, like those she knew growing up, were deprived of that which the rich white snobs at the school took for granted. She seems to feel longer guilty about all this; she's proud of who she is and what she's gone through. Also of interest is her apparent deep fear of her white classmates, even though she developed many friendships.

One gets the impression that the author may not, when she published this book, have completely resolved her feelings.

For the most part, this is a well-told story (except towards the end). I particularly liked the contrast between her artistocratic life at St. Paul and her life when she came back to her working class home for the summer before senior year and worked at the Dinner. There she met Booker, the pot-smoking, tough-guy head cook and reveals him to be a tragic figure.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Honest narration of growing up in a changing, diverse world, May 31, 1996

By A Customer

This review is from: Black Ice (Hardcover)

Black Ice by Lorene Carey is a beautifully written autobiographical narrative that speaks to the many problems of growing up in a complex world. It is the story of a young Philadelphian who attends a private boarding school in New Hampshire. She was accepted into St. Paul's shortly after it was opened to women and at a time when the school was interested in broadening its cultural base. Even with the uniqueness of the school experience, this story is about the trials and unpredictability of growing up. This is an excellent reading for high school students because of its accurate and authentic portrayal of the volatile years of high school. It is a true coming of age story with all of its uncertainties and complications. Students can identify with her journey toward knowledge of herself and the world; they can relate to her struggles in learning who she could trust, making strong decisions, and assuming responsibility for her actions. Her narration often includes her fears which can be liberating for high school students who may feel they are the only ones who have felt this fear. While it can be an affirming experience for students to read about familiar problems, an additional benefit of this coming of age story is the oppurtunity for witnessing the subtleties of racism in the modern world. Lorene Carey's frank narration about the confusion and fear she felt in the traditional world of St. Paul's challenges the reader to question the power of social institutions. Finally, Black Ice inspires meaningful discussions on the issues and complications facing students hoping to find their place in a demanding, changing world.