The Ice Storm (1994) by Rick Moody

 1001 Novels: A Library of America

The Ice Storm (1994)

by Rick Moody

New Canaan, Connecticut

Connecticut: 5/9

    I think most people, to the extent they remember Ice Storm, remember the movie version by Ang Lee which was a flop but generally well received by critics because of the combination of cast and director.  Upon finally reading the book, the clear missing ingredient in the translation from page to screen was humor.  Ang Lee has never been a dude who makes funny feature films.   The book, on the other hand, is very funny- this is actually the first book by Rick Moody I've read.

   The portions written from the perspective of Elena- the bored housewife of one of the two families that comprise the core of the plot- are virtuoso discussions of the arcane field of 70's self-help movements, and finely observed details all around elevate the bored, cheating suburbanites of the Ice Storm in roughly the same way Patrick Bateman elevated homicidal trust fund stock 1980's stock traders- it's roughly the same kind of situation.  There is a glossy, writerly sheen on absolutely everything.  It makes Ice Storm highly enjoyable, but twenty years later the chapters written from the perspective of creepy Wendy Hood borderline cringe inducing.  IDK, certainly in 1994 there was no issue.

  Man, Connecticut though, not a particularly exciting state to be in.  Five of the nine books are concentrated in the suburban square closest to New York City, one is set around Yale and the other three are in and around Hartford. Not the most exciting venues for literature and fiction.