Blair Braverman has always felt drawn to the north and the cold and the snow. As a teenager she lived in Norway and had some bad experiences but she went back, even further north, and made the life that she was looking for.

Content warning for abuse and sexual assault.
I enjoyed Blair’s outlook on life. She sees bad things that happen to her (cold weather survival, getting buried in snow, abuse from an authority figure, sexual assault) as just, things that happened, rather than signs that she is or is not on the right path. They’re not holding her back but they’re not particularly driving her either. I also really enjoy winter/cold, though not as much as she does, and in a world where I feel it’s always expected to love summer and heat Blair is, pun intended, a breath of fresh air. ( )

Braverman's coming-of-age memoir is as raw, wild, and visceral as the Arctic. Great read. ( )

a great read, an exciting memoir in Arctic Norway, sled-dogging on an Alaskan glacier, and coming of age and succeeding in a male dominated world. ( )

stark, realistic about being a woman in the North. Also poignant about finding your place in a placeless nation. ( )

Welcome to the Goddamn Ice Cube was an interesting memoir but I felt it needed more sled dogs and far less men are terrible (thus leading to Braverman's intense insecurity to which the reader is subjected at very close quarters). ( )