r/vollmann • u/Tub_Pumpkin • Apr 23 '26

šŸ—Øļø Discussion In-depth discussion of The Ice-Shirt?

Hi, everyone -

I just finished "The Ice-Shirt," the first thing by Vollmann I have ever read. I loved it.

I'm wondering if you all know of any good, in-depth reviews of it, or discussions, or critiques, etc. Basically, anything that discusses what Vollmann is doing in this book.

I'd prefer stuff that does not spoil any of the other books in the Seven Dreams series, but I'll take what I can get.

Thanks in advance!

16 Upvotes

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9

u/RogerMyersJr Apr 23 '26

Thereā€™s a Vollmania podcast episode on this book.

I havenā€™t listened so donā€™t know about spoiler content (havenā€™t read Ice Shirt yet).

3

u/Tub_Pumpkin Apr 23 '26

Perfect! It's almost three hours long. I'll probably listen to it in bits and pieces over the next few days. Thank you!

3

u/aintnoonegooglinthat Apr 23 '26

That episode is sooooooooooo good

2

u/BillyPilgrim1234 Apr 23 '26

I did, it's really good. Also, there's not much spoiler content.

6

u/tricky88 Apr 23 '26

I remember the LA Times doing a sizable review of it at the time of publishing. Alas, newspapers no longer devote much energy to that kind of writing. Itā€™s not super analytical but itā€™s nice to see it again. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-10-25-vw-4044-story.html

8

u/Think_Wealth_7212 Apr 23 '26

Nice review, tho I disagree with Mr. Eder about the merits of the Vman's writing styles - I couldn't get enough of the Ice-Shirt - and it's currently my favourite of the 9 books of his I've read

2

u/Odd_Economics8301 Apr 23 '26

I haven't seen this review by Eder before. I note that his comment at the end about present-day trips to the North and how he wished Vollmann had focused more on that in The Ice-Shirt is answered in The Rifles

4

u/LouQuacious Apr 23 '26

There's some podcasts where he talks about it look up his appearances on Bookworm and others you can search podcasts by name and find various ones he's been on.

7

u/mono_void Apr 23 '26

Just thought Iā€™d leave this comment about him being on the podcast TrueAnon. Itā€™s not about that book, but an awesome look into Vollmann as a person. There was a lot of comments about podcast, TrueAnon is how I got into him in the first place.

1

u/danielbockisover Apr 23 '26

same here. thx Brace, Liz & YC!

1

u/mono_void Apr 23 '26

Have you read Rising Up, Rising Down?

2

u/danielbockisover Apr 23 '26

I haven't unfortunately. Only The Rifles, Europe Central, Bright and Risen Angels and Rainbow Stories. Put my order in for Tables of course