Adeline
• mini review • Ice by Anna Kavan
4 stars Speculative literary fiction where the world is being destroyed by ice it follows an unnamed character who tries to find a woman fleeing from another man, the mysterious warden.
My last read of 2025 and this was such a strange little book written in a gorgeous, lush and surrealistic prose. There was the tense, obsessed and hypnotic tone of the unreliable and psychotic narrator, the psychedelic fever dream narration, the icy and eerie atmosphere of a film noir set in a cold and desolate apocalyptic world. So all of these elements made for a haunting, surreal, oppressive read, yet still fascinating and I liked the themes touched upon by the author. Despite being written in the 60s there was an universal and timeless , even modern feel to it, with a lack of distinct cultural references, so this could have been written 100 years ago or 10 years for now by any author from any country. Despite being first narrated in first point of view by our main protagonist, there were moments where the POV seemed to shift to other characters which increased the chaotic and dizzying feel of the story, as events seemed constructed randomly together, with a plot that was non existent.
I’m not sure how I felt about the characters and their flip flopping emotions, the plotless story. So ultimately it was the atmosphere and writing that really struck me. Overall an interestingly bizarre short story but one that didn’t fulfil me emotionally.
• mini review • Ice by Anna Kavan
4 stars Speculative literary fiction where the world is being destroyed by ice it follows an unnamed character who tries to find a woman fleeing from another man, the mysterious warden.
My last read of 2025 and this was such a strange little book written in a gorgeous, lush and surrealistic prose. There was the tense, obsessed and hypnotic tone of the unreliable and psychotic narrator, the psychedelic fever dream narration, the icy and eerie atmosphere of a film noir set in a cold and desolate apocalyptic world. So all of these elements made for a haunting, surreal, oppressive read, yet still fascinating and I liked the themes touched upon by the author. Despite being written in the 60s there was an universal and timeless , even modern feel to it, with a lack of distinct cultural references, so this could have been written 100 years ago or 10 years for now by any author from any country. Despite being first narrated in first point of view by our main protagonist, there were moments where the POV seemed to shift to other characters which increased the chaotic and dizzying feel of the story, as events seemed constructed randomly together, with a plot that was non existent.
I’m not sure how I felt about the characters and their flip flopping emotions, the plotless story. So ultimately it was the atmosphere and writing that really struck me. Overall an interestingly bizarre short story but one that didn’t fulfil me emotionally.