Preview
  • Welcome to the Goddamn Ice Cube

  • Chasing Fear and Finding Home in the Great White North
  • By: Blair Braverman
  • Narrated by: Blair Braverman
  • Length: 9 hrs and 8 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (382 ratings)

Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Welcome to the Goddamn Ice Cube

By: Blair Braverman
Narrated by: Blair Braverman
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $22.49

Buy for $22.49

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

Publisher's summary

A rich and revelatory memoir of a young woman confronting her fears and finding home in the North.

Blair Braverman fell in love with the North at an early age: By the time she was 19, she had left her home in California, moved to Norway to learn how to drive sled dogs, and worked as a tour guide on a glacier in Alaska.

By turns funny and sobering, bold and tender, Welcome to the Goddamn Ice Cube charts Blair's endeavor to become a "tough girl" - someone who courts danger in an attempt to become fearless. As she ventures into a ruthless arctic landscape, Blair faces down physical exhaustion - while being buried alive in an ice cave and driving a dogsled across the tundra through a whiteout blizzard in order to avoid corrupt police - and grapples with both love and violence as she negotiates the complex demands of being a young woman in a man's land.

Brilliantly original and bracingly honest, Welcome to the Goddamn Ice Cube captures the triumphs and the perils of the journey to self-discovery and independence in a landscape that is as beautiful as it is unforgiving.

©2016 Blair Braverman (P)2016 HarperCollins Publishers
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

What listeners say about Welcome to the Goddamn Ice Cube

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    243
  • 4 Stars
    79
  • 3 Stars
    38
  • 2 Stars
    14
  • 1 Stars
    8
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    223
  • 4 Stars
    76
  • 3 Stars
    31
  • 2 Stars
    12
  • 1 Stars
    7
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    225
  • 4 Stars
    72
  • 3 Stars
    33
  • 2 Stars
    13
  • 1 Stars
    6

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Beautiful tale of finding oneself

For those who love the north, this memoir off fi ding one's strength, home and purpose is powerful.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A beautiful look into the life of a female musher

Blair put into words what many female mushers experience. An excellent story of pure grit.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Unique and compelling…

I really enjoyed listening to this book. It’s a deeper story than just the title infers. Blaire’s call to the north and to dog mushing is only half of the tale. Her experiences as a young woman thrown into a world of predatory men, as well as her life in the far north country, and the healing time amongst a small, complex Norwegian community that became extended family kept me intrigued and riveted. I especially liked hearing it in Blaire’s voice. I recommend this book whole heartedly!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Okay Read

This memoir was good for what it was; my problem with it was that it was marketed as an adventure narrative, and it turned out to be more about coming-of-age and sexuality. I wanted more about the dogs and dogsledding and living on the ice and the people of Norway (those parts were great) and less about the men in Blair's life and their sexual tensions.

Blair Braverman read the account herself, and I do enjoy that. She is a somewhat flat reader, but still, I like the story in the writer's own voice.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

13 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

wonderful story, and narration

Incredible story of a brave young woman, and her life in the Artic. I cannot wait to download another. I feel her love for her dogs. She writes with such honesty about her doubts, her relationships, and conviction. Thank you, Blair, for taking readers on a great adventure.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Wonderfully Raw, Wild, and Unapologetic

Absolutely loved this. Blair told an artistically woven coming of age story that wows you. It is raw, wild, and unapologetic, like the North itself. She has a true gift for storytelling, and she leaves you excited for her next adventure in life.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Beautiful story

Blair is a wonderful storyteller and brought me into her cold world. I felt so connected to this story and the people, through her bravery and relatable themes of fear, struggle, and finding yourself. So grateful to have listened to this beautiful story.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Follow Bler on twitter

Compelling story, and I loved to hear it in the authors own voice. Gorgeous storytelling.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Beautiful harrowing inspiring

Blair’s memoir interlaces timeframes and juxtaposes her different selves in a way that feels like memory itself, how the past wells up in the present sometimes, triggered by a smell, or something seen. Her story is of becomings: Becoming a Norwegian speaker, a Northlander, an expert lover of dogs, a better lover of people and most of all a Braver Woman.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Nice story but little too long

I think if edited to more coherent story may be good read. I found this a little rambling about things that didn’t add much to the story. I learned some about life and people in Norway

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!