Black Ice: A Memoir

I've read Black Ice atleast 7 times in the past 2 years because with each reading I continue to understand how my experiences at a predominantly white high school have shaped the person I have become. I can not remember the exact phrasing, but there is one passage in Black Ice that sums up how I feel about my high school experience. It goes something like this: If I had left St. Paul's School the same person who went there, there would have been no use in going. In other words, accept that you will be changed when you live through the alienation and self-inflicted loneliness of integrating schools in the Post-Jim Crow, Post Civil Rights Movement era. I wish that I would have read this book while I was still in high school. I would be able to better articulate to my friends and family what I was experiencing.I've been wondering if the title has anything to do with the lake that Lorene visited in the story when she took the time to think about her life one night. Or maybe it is a visual reference to her heart, dark and cold because she, in her own words, had not loved enough during her teen-age years. Perhaps, it is a reference to the black ice on the roads that you have to watch out for in the winter...

This book is just spectacular. It was a class requirement, and I must say that my teacher selected a great choice. As a teenage girl, I believe that every teenage girl should be required to read a book like this one. It actually allows you to envision some of the many obstacles that yong girls face in light of growing up.

I really like this book. I hope to read more about her life. My second cousin really knows her. (Karen from the book).

Combining a quick sense of humor with a gentle sensitivity to the tragedies of adolescence, Ms. Cary allows us to accompany her as one of the first young black women admitted to St. Paul's School in the early '70s. She is exploring who she is and who she wants to be and at the same time must cope with the alienation from, and gradual collapse of, her family hundreds of miles away. Ms. Cary writes in an unadorned, compelling style which quietly demands the reader's attention. Black Ice offers a poignant, sometimes frightening, but always exquisite tale of a young woman's determined quest for her place in life

Black Ice by Lorene Carey is a beautifully written autobiographical narrative that speaks to the many problems of growing up in a complex world. It is the story of a young Philadelphian who attends a private boarding school in New Hampshire. She was accepted into St. Paul's shortly after it was opened to women and at a time when the school was interested in broadening its cultural base. Even with the uniqueness of the school experience, this story is about the trials and unpredictability of growing up. This is an excellent reading for high school students because of its accurate and authentic portrayal of the volatile years of high school. It is a true coming of age story with all of its uncertainties and complications. Students can identify with her journey toward knowledge of herself and the world; they can relate to her struggles in learning who she could trust, making strong decisions, and assuming responsibility for her actions. Her narration often includes her fears which can be liberating for high school students who may feel they are the only ones who have felt this fear. While it can be an affirming experience for students to read about familiar problems, an additional benefit of this coming of age story is the oppurtunity for witnessing the subtleties of racism in the modern world. Lorene Carey's frank narration about the confusion and fear she felt in the traditional world of St. Paul's challenges the reader to question the power of social institutions. Finally, Black Ice inspires meaningful discussions on the issues and complications facing students hoping to find their place in a demanding, changing world.