Staff Pick
A shadow text for the hypermasculine exploration epic, Brother in Ice constructs a narrative from collected data and journal entries, traipsing across the elasticity of metaphor and the deadening implications of negative space in the process. Kopf shifts the paradigms around reputed men of noble ambitions and refocuses on undertakings of a different sort — digging inward, staying put, and creating in isolation. Both an antidote and a quiet rebellion, this is a novel that challenges our notions of heroic conquest and what it means to achieve the impossible. Recommended By Justin W., Powells.com
Synopses & Reviews
"She thought that it was precisely when things get uncomfortable or can't be shown that something interesting comes to light. That is the point of no return, the point that must be reached, the point you reach after crossing the border of what has already been said, what has already been seen. It's cold out there."
This hybrid novel — part research notes, part fictionalised diary, and part travelogue — uses the stories of polar exploration to make sense of the protagonist's own concerns as she comes of age as an artist, a daughter, and a sister to an autistic brother. Conceptual and emotionally compelling, it advances fearlessly into the frozen emotional lacunae of difficult family relationships. Deserved winner of multiple awards upon its Catalan and Spanish publication, Brother in Ice is a richly rewarding journey into the unknown.
Review
"In Brother in Ice...a composite of capsule history, essays and fictionalized memoir...something tangible and significant is forged from nothingness." Sam Sacks, Wall Street Journal
Review
"This is fast, fluid, exciting narrative; random, philosophical, alive, questioning, full of precise set pieces, sensations, regret, emotion, self-doubt, defiance, curiosity and a feel for history, fact and human behaviour...Brother in Ice is a living book and one to give your most discerning friends." Eileen Battersby,
Irish Times
Review
"A writer, Kopf shows us, is a kind of polar explorer...From the outset the narrative establishes its twin points of reference: the north and south poles...But Kopf gradually collapses every binary she sets up; the poles are not fixed, but drift with the ice." Lauren Elkin, The Guardian
Synopsis
Longlisted for the 2020 International Dublin Literary Award
Longlisted for the 2019 Warwick Prize for Women in Translation
She thought that it was precisely when things get uncomfortable or can't be shown that something interesting comes to light. That is the point of no return, the point that must be reached, the point you reach after crossing the border of what has already been said, what has already been seen. It's cold out there.'This hybrid novel-part research notes, part fictionalised diary, and part travelogue-uses the stories of polar exploration to make sense of the protagonist's own concerns as she comes of age as an artist, a daughter, and a sister to an autistic brother. Conceptual and emotionally compelling, it advances fearlessly into the frozen emotional lacunae of difficult family relationships. Deserving winner of multiple awards upon its Catalan and Spanish publication, Brother in Ice is a richly rewarding journey into the unknown.
About the Author
Alicia Kopf, born Girona, 1982, holds degrees in Fine Arts and Comparative Literature. Brother in Ice is the culmination of an artistic cycle of several exhibitions entitled Àrticantàrtic, including a 2013 solo show in Barcelona, Seal Sounds Under The Floor. She has participated in many prestigious exhibitions. Her awards include the GAC-DKV Prize for best young artist gallery exhibition, the Premi Documenta literary prize, and the Premi Llibreter awarded by booksellers.
Based between Barcelona and Brooklyn, Mara Faye Lethem translates from Catalan and Spanish. She has translated many contemporary novelists and is a reviewer for The New York Times.