Status
Available
Call number
Series
Publication
NYRB Classics (2011), Edition: Reprint, Paperback, 704 pages
Description
Fiction. Science Fiction. HTML:A New York Review Books Original In 1908, deep in Siberia, it fell to earth. THEIR ICE. A young man on a scientific expedition found it. It spoke to his heart, and his heart named him Bro. Bro felt the Ice. Bro knew its purpose. To bring together the 23,000 blond, blue-eyed Brothers and Sisters of the Light who were scattered on earth. To wake their sleeping hearts. To return to the Light. To destroy this world. And secretly, throughout the twentieth century and up to our own day, the Children of the Light have pursued their beloved goal. Pulp fiction, science fiction, New Ageism, pornography, video-game mayhem, old-time Communist propaganda, and rampant commercial hype all collide, splinter, and splatter in Vladimir Sorokin�??s virtuosic Ice Trilogy, a crazed joyride through modern times with the promise of a truly spectacular crash at the end. And the reader, as eager for the redemptive fix of a good story as the Children are for the Primordial Light, has no choice except to go along, caught up in a brilliant illusion from which only illusion escapes inta… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member arubabookwoman
This book consists of three novels. The first begins with the birth of Sasha, on the day the Tunguska meteor struck in remote Siberia in 1908. His idyllic childhood is shattered by the Russian revolution, and he loses most of his family. He is raised by relatives, and is able to attend university,
As the expedition approaches the meteor's location, Sasha begins to feel and act strangely. He is drawn to, and ultimately he alone locates, the meteor, which turns out to be an unfathomly immense chunk of ice, much of which is deeply imbedded in the waters of the swamp. When he comes upon the ice chunk, Sasha falls violently onto the ice, and opens his heart to the knowledge that he is different. From the ice, Sasha learns that there are 23,000 people like him on Earth (the Brotherhood of the Ice). When the 23,000 are united, the Earth will be saved from its mistaken path. Sasha begins his quest to find the others of the Brotherhood.
The second novel relates the continuing quest. One of the unfortunate consequences of the quest is that location of the others in the Brotherhood requires violence. All members of the Brotherhood are blue-eyed and blonde, but they cannot otherwise be recognized until their hearts "speak." This requires that their chests be pummelled by an ice hammer (made with ice from the Siberian ice chunk). If the person is a true member of the Brotherhood, his/her heart will speak. If not, these victims frequently die from the trauma.
As time passes, some of the members become high-ranking officials in Stalin's government and in Hitler's government. They are able to use their positions to gather potential candidates for the Brotherhood.
In the final novel, the Brotherhood is approaching 23,000 members. However, an internet group of victims who survived the ice hammer have joined together to try to find the mysterious criminals who attacked them and to bring them to justice.
This may all sound rather silly, but it's actually quite engrossing, internally cohesive, and for the most part (with a smidgen of suspension of belief) feels quite real. Sorkin is known as an oblique (and sometimes quite direct) critic of life in the Soviet Union (he is the author of The Queue and The Day of the Oprichinik). These novels also fall within the category of political commentary. While the Brotherhood believe themselves as working for a higher ideal, their means include extreme violence, about which they are cold and unemotional (people are mere "meat-machines"). Ironically some of the people they were able to place in high government positions are themselves subjected to the Stalinist purges.
I hope that the usual categorization of this book as science fiction doesn't scare some readers off. (It is a NYRB publication). While it could be argued that you have to be a science fiction fan to appreciate these novels, I don't think that to be the case. I think the book transcends the genre, and is sui generis.
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where he becomes interested in astronomy. He obtains a place on a scientific expedition to locate and study the Siberian meteor. As the expedition approaches the meteor's location, Sasha begins to feel and act strangely. He is drawn to, and ultimately he alone locates, the meteor, which turns out to be an unfathomly immense chunk of ice, much of which is deeply imbedded in the waters of the swamp. When he comes upon the ice chunk, Sasha falls violently onto the ice, and opens his heart to the knowledge that he is different. From the ice, Sasha learns that there are 23,000 people like him on Earth (the Brotherhood of the Ice). When the 23,000 are united, the Earth will be saved from its mistaken path. Sasha begins his quest to find the others of the Brotherhood.
The second novel relates the continuing quest. One of the unfortunate consequences of the quest is that location of the others in the Brotherhood requires violence. All members of the Brotherhood are blue-eyed and blonde, but they cannot otherwise be recognized until their hearts "speak." This requires that their chests be pummelled by an ice hammer (made with ice from the Siberian ice chunk). If the person is a true member of the Brotherhood, his/her heart will speak. If not, these victims frequently die from the trauma.
As time passes, some of the members become high-ranking officials in Stalin's government and in Hitler's government. They are able to use their positions to gather potential candidates for the Brotherhood.
In the final novel, the Brotherhood is approaching 23,000 members. However, an internet group of victims who survived the ice hammer have joined together to try to find the mysterious criminals who attacked them and to bring them to justice.
This may all sound rather silly, but it's actually quite engrossing, internally cohesive, and for the most part (with a smidgen of suspension of belief) feels quite real. Sorkin is known as an oblique (and sometimes quite direct) critic of life in the Soviet Union (he is the author of The Queue and The Day of the Oprichinik). These novels also fall within the category of political commentary. While the Brotherhood believe themselves as working for a higher ideal, their means include extreme violence, about which they are cold and unemotional (people are mere "meat-machines"). Ironically some of the people they were able to place in high government positions are themselves subjected to the Stalinist purges.
I hope that the usual categorization of this book as science fiction doesn't scare some readers off. (It is a NYRB publication). While it could be argued that you have to be a science fiction fan to appreciate these novels, I don't think that to be the case. I think the book transcends the genre, and is sui generis.
Show Less
LibraryThing member labfs39
I am stymied by how to describe this book. Part science fiction, part social commentary, part history, it's a hodgepodge of styles and ideas. Each book is a continuation of the former, but with a different central character and sometimes a new style of writing. I found the book impossible to put
Book one, [Bro], is about a man named Alexander Dmitrievich Snegirev, who was born in 1908, the night the Tungus meteorite fell to Earth. Here the book and history merge. The Tungus meteorite is the largest to have ever impacted our planet and was about 1000 times more powerful than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima. The shock wave is estimated to have been about 5 on the Richter scale and knocked down trees over an area of 830 square miles. The skies over Europe and Asia glowed due to ice particles in the air. In 1921, Leonid Kulik surveyed the area and in 1927 returned with a scientific expedition. The fictional Snegirev is a member of that party. Here, the story diverges as Snegirev enters one of the peat bogs and communes with a giant piece of ice just under the surface. He learns of his true nature through a near-religious conversion in which his chest strikes the ice and his heart is awoken. He believes his true name to be Bro. Soon after he meets a woman he suspects of being like him, and after awakening her heart, they travel together trying to find others of their kind. This first book is a wonderful description of the life of a wealthy younger son who lives through World War I, The Russian Revolution, and the Civil War. It is a rich blend of social commentary, history, and the beginnings of a religious commentary as well.
The second book, [744695::Ice], is the story of various members of the Brotherhood of Ice as they try to awaken people all over the globe. Without Bro and Fer to guide them with their ability to sense who is one of the chosen, the Brotherhood has to resort to crude methods of enlightenment, and many potentials die in the process. The style of this section is very different from the first book. Gone are the italicized words in almost every paragraph, replaced with bold face, and the writing becomes streetwise, with slang, swearing, and a brutal sound that echoes the rough nature of the people and of society under Stalin. This was a difficult section of the book for me to read due to the prevalence of drug abuse, sexual abuse and prostitution, and general brutality. But then in part two, the author returns to the narrative style employed in the first book, and we follow the story of Khram, from her awakening to her position as head of the organization and into her old age, from World War II through glasnost to Yeltsin. The Brotherhood is nearly complete; nearly all 23,000 have been gathered.
The final book of the trilogy, [23,000], begins with the final stages of preparation for the ultimate gathering of the chosen and the remaking of the world. The Brotherhood of Ice has moved beyond its violent methods of the Stalinist years to a modern multinational conglomerate which sells devices that awaken the chosen and makes billions of dollars to keep the Brotherhood funded and safe. From seeking political power, the Brotherhood now controls entire nations economically. Nothing, it seems, can stop them from achieving their aims. Two new characters are introduced in the third book, Olga and Bjorn, two of a small group of people investigating the Brotherhood. Their fate is inextricably tied up with that of the 23,000, and they are unsure if they should help them achieve their goals or thwart them.
There is so much that could be said about the social commentary in the trilogy: the way the story and even the writing reflects the time period in Russian history, the movement from political to economic power, the concerns of the everyday person at various points in time. But what I found most interesting were the religious connotations. Without giving too much away, the Ice from the meteorite, which Bro first discovered and communed with, is in some ways Messianic. It came to Earth for the 23,000 and helped them be reborn through itself in a painful, yet mystical way. Once awoken, the members of the Brotherhood of Ice feel as though they are on a crusade of enlightenment, a crusade that must resort to violence in order to awaken hearts and save those of the chosen 23,000. There are parallels to be drawn with contemporary born again Christians, and also to Buddhism, because the chosen have lived and died many human lives to get to the point in history where they can all be awakened at once and remake the world. There is an element of nature or science as the ultimate good and of the idea of original sin. There is so much to this book that it is definitely one that would continue to give on further readings. Based on this book alone, I would say Vladimir Sorokin is one of the most interesting and original writers I've read. It’s easy to see why he has been nominated for the 2013 Man Booker International Prize. The winner of the prize will be announced May 22nd.
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down despite its size, and it's one that will remain with me for a long time.Book one, [Bro], is about a man named Alexander Dmitrievich Snegirev, who was born in 1908, the night the Tungus meteorite fell to Earth. Here the book and history merge. The Tungus meteorite is the largest to have ever impacted our planet and was about 1000 times more powerful than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima. The shock wave is estimated to have been about 5 on the Richter scale and knocked down trees over an area of 830 square miles. The skies over Europe and Asia glowed due to ice particles in the air. In 1921, Leonid Kulik surveyed the area and in 1927 returned with a scientific expedition. The fictional Snegirev is a member of that party. Here, the story diverges as Snegirev enters one of the peat bogs and communes with a giant piece of ice just under the surface. He learns of his true nature through a near-religious conversion in which his chest strikes the ice and his heart is awoken. He believes his true name to be Bro. Soon after he meets a woman he suspects of being like him, and after awakening her heart, they travel together trying to find others of their kind. This first book is a wonderful description of the life of a wealthy younger son who lives through World War I, The Russian Revolution, and the Civil War. It is a rich blend of social commentary, history, and the beginnings of a religious commentary as well.
The second book, [744695::Ice], is the story of various members of the Brotherhood of Ice as they try to awaken people all over the globe. Without Bro and Fer to guide them with their ability to sense who is one of the chosen, the Brotherhood has to resort to crude methods of enlightenment, and many potentials die in the process. The style of this section is very different from the first book. Gone are the italicized words in almost every paragraph, replaced with bold face, and the writing becomes streetwise, with slang, swearing, and a brutal sound that echoes the rough nature of the people and of society under Stalin. This was a difficult section of the book for me to read due to the prevalence of drug abuse, sexual abuse and prostitution, and general brutality. But then in part two, the author returns to the narrative style employed in the first book, and we follow the story of Khram, from her awakening to her position as head of the organization and into her old age, from World War II through glasnost to Yeltsin. The Brotherhood is nearly complete; nearly all 23,000 have been gathered.
The final book of the trilogy, [23,000], begins with the final stages of preparation for the ultimate gathering of the chosen and the remaking of the world. The Brotherhood of Ice has moved beyond its violent methods of the Stalinist years to a modern multinational conglomerate which sells devices that awaken the chosen and makes billions of dollars to keep the Brotherhood funded and safe. From seeking political power, the Brotherhood now controls entire nations economically. Nothing, it seems, can stop them from achieving their aims. Two new characters are introduced in the third book, Olga and Bjorn, two of a small group of people investigating the Brotherhood. Their fate is inextricably tied up with that of the 23,000, and they are unsure if they should help them achieve their goals or thwart them.
There is so much that could be said about the social commentary in the trilogy: the way the story and even the writing reflects the time period in Russian history, the movement from political to economic power, the concerns of the everyday person at various points in time. But what I found most interesting were the religious connotations. Without giving too much away, the Ice from the meteorite, which Bro first discovered and communed with, is in some ways Messianic. It came to Earth for the 23,000 and helped them be reborn through itself in a painful, yet mystical way. Once awoken, the members of the Brotherhood of Ice feel as though they are on a crusade of enlightenment, a crusade that must resort to violence in order to awaken hearts and save those of the chosen 23,000. There are parallels to be drawn with contemporary born again Christians, and also to Buddhism, because the chosen have lived and died many human lives to get to the point in history where they can all be awakened at once and remake the world. There is an element of nature or science as the ultimate good and of the idea of original sin. There is so much to this book that it is definitely one that would continue to give on further readings. Based on this book alone, I would say Vladimir Sorokin is one of the most interesting and original writers I've read. It’s easy to see why he has been nominated for the 2013 Man Booker International Prize. The winner of the prize will be announced May 22nd.
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LibraryThing member albertgoldfain
A unique and unpredictable work of mysticism. Unfortunately, the many characters are not well individuated in Bro, the first part of the trilogy. The narrative voice is that of a brainwashed cult with a drone replacing individual voices. The repetitiveness of the search and conversion of ice
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brethren becomes stale after a few iterations. The Soviet references and symbolism were sometimes quite opaque. Show Less
LibraryThing member sbloom42
I planned to finish this book, but it didn't happen. The idea is very interesting, a man discovers a shard of ice from the meteor that struck Siberia in the early 20th century and uses it to violently spiritually awaken others around the world. But the author seems very interested in details. So
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much so, that the story seems to take a back seat at times. I'd love to find out how the story plays out, but maybe I'll watch the movie if one's ever made - and if it's not an epic 6-hour trilogy about the amazing properties of ice. Show Less
LibraryThing member jkdavies
it was billed as funny & satirical but I didn't really pick this up. book 1 Bro was almost completely rapturously religious; book 2 improved to include some "contemporary" action; and cynicism; but overall I was disappointed
Language
Original publication date
2007 (English translation)
Physical description
704 p.; 7.95 inches
ISBN
1590173864 / 9781590173862