Black Ice [Paperback]

Lorene Cary (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf; First Printing edition (1991)
• ASIN: B001JZ3A8Y
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,248,117 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 33 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.