The Country of Ice Cream Star, Sandra Newman
The Country of Ice Cream Star, Sandra Newman
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The Country of Ice Cream Star

Author: Sandra Newman

Narrator: Lisa Reneé Pitts

Unabridged: 26 hr 34 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 06/16/2015

Synopsis

In the aftermath of a devastating plague, a fearless young heroine embarks on a dangerous and surprising journey to save her world in this brilliantly inventive thriller.In the ruins of a future America, fifteen-year-old Ice Cream Star and her nomadic tribe live off the detritus of a crumbled civilization. Theirs is a world of children; before reaching the age of twenty, they all die of a strange disease they call Posies—a plague that has killed for generations. There is no medicine, no treatment; only the mysterious rumor of a cure.When her brother begins showing signs of the disease, Ice Cream Star sets off on a bold journey to find this cure. Led by a stranger, a captured prisoner named Pasha who becomes her devoted protector and friend, Ice Cream Star plunges into the unknown, risking her freedom and ultimately her life. Traveling hundreds of miles across treacherous, unfamiliar territory, she will experience love, heartbreak, cruelty, terror, and betrayal, fighting to protect the only world she has ever known.A postapocalyptic literary epic as imaginative as The Passage and as linguistically ambitious as Cloud Atlas, The Country of Ice Cream Star is a breathtaking work from a writer of rare and unconventional talent.

About Sandra Newman

Sandra Newman is the author of several novels, including The Heavens, named a New York Times Notable Book of the Year, and The Country of Ice Cream Star, longlisted for the Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction and named one of the best books of the year by the Washington Post and NPR. Her writing has appeared in Harper’s and Granta, among other publications.

About Lisa Reneé Pitts

Lisa Renee Pitts is an award-winning actress in theater, television, and film, as well as an accomplished audiobook narrator. She has been seen Off-Broadway, in Europe, and in regional theaters across the United States, performing leading roles in such prominent plays as A Raisin in the Sun, Doubt, Waiting for Lefty, Valley Song, and Our Town. Her television appearances include The Shield and Law and Order, and she played the recurring role of Allison Sawyer on the hit family drama Lincoln Heights for the ABC Family Channel. Lisa's audiobook titles include biographies, fiction, nonfiction and children's novels, including Pushkin and the Queen of Spades by Alice Randall, for which she won an AudioFile Earphones Award for excellence in narration. Other notable titles are Left to Tell by Immaculee Ilibagiza, Better Than I Know Myself by Virginia DeBerry and Donna Grant, and My Name Is Not Angelica by Scott O'Dell. Lisa is a graduate of Rutgers University, where she received her B.F.A. in Theater Arts. She lives in Burbank, California.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Megz

I have been trying to review this book and I am struggling. So I’m going to say first-off: I LOVED IT. Maybe I need to find a better word than “love”. Because it’s not pretty. There’s very little “pretty” here. The Country of Ice Cream Star by Sandra Newman is one of those books that dumps you in a w......more

Goodreads review by Lori

Read 2/03/15 - 2/12/15 4 Stars - Strongly Recommended to fans of post-pandy fiction. This one's unlike any you've read before. Pages: 592 Publisher: Ecco Books Releases: March 2015 It's a great time to be a reader if you're into post-pandemic dystopian literature, isn't it? Lately, it seems as though eve......more

Goodreads review by Elaina

This book be wolfen. Kept me up late into the night wondering just how or even IF Ice Cream Star was going to succeed in her quest to save her Sengle people. Also, Pasha Roo! Was I the only one a little in love with him? This story is fantastic - so many twists and turns. The author's commentary on......more

Goodreads review by Nannah

I looked through the reviews to try to find a black woman's (or any black person's) opinion of this book. I can't believe there are only white women reading & reviewing this (not that I'm helping by adding to them)? It would have been really, really nice to have a diverse opinion and perspective - e......more

Goodreads review by Justine

This was such an interesting book for me. When I first started it, honestly, I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to read it the way it was written using the language as spoken by Ice Cream Star and her people. In fact, it ended up giving the book a wonderful texture that I think would have been......more

Quotes

“Haunting and heartbreaking…an epic about love and hope that will inspire.” Vanity Fair

“Makes The Hunger Games seem wimpy.” Wall Street Journal

“Probably the next Divergent…An engrossing, thrilling read.” Self

“The Country of Ice Cream Star is in many ways a classic story, craftily retold and made contemporary…It’s possible that this intrepid girl is the Frodo Baggins our times deserve.” New York Times Book Review

“Full of supple metaphors and rhythmic lyricism.” Daily Telegraph (London)

“What makes the novel so fascinating—and, yes, so challenging—is the language Newman has created.” Washington Post

“A brave new/old world that delivers on multiple levels, especially Ice Cream Star’s alluring language.” Observer (London)

“What sets The Country of Ice Cream Star apart from its rivals is the extraordinary, blistering insistence of its language…By the last page I was emotionally battered but euphoric.” Guardian (London)

“Newman manages to imbue her heroine with a hope and resiliency that will surpass the ravages of a woebegone time.” Shelf Awareness

“What sets the work apart is its unapologetic narrator, whose fantastically unbridled, wholly teenage point of view renders each page a pleasure to read.” Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Awards

  • Baileys’ Women’s Prize for Fiction
  • NPR’s Great Reads
  • PopSugar Best Books
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