''Ice'' is a story about all those who in times of economic astray, undefined revolutions, horrible political mistakes with even worse consequences, escaped trying to continue their life elsewhere, hoping to find some sort of normality and even happiness�. �Ice� is a dramatic confession of a forty five year old architect called Justin Arsenic who, in the mid nineties left Serbia for Chicago in search of a change�
In the novel Ice, Ivana Mihic employs a powerful style to throw light on the phenomenon of alienation, emphasized by the traumatic effect of the global financial crisis. We follow the experiences of Justin, an architect of Serbian origin who migrated to Chicago during the 1990s, where, after losing a rewarding job and rejecting the American conception of happiness, he finds himself alone, confronted with a series of failed relationships, in a sea of second-hand friendships and pointless quarrels. Eventually we arrive at the moment where this narcissistic and basically false conception of the world reaches bursting point; in the shadow of expensive skyscrapers, from the other side of dazzling shop windows, in dark clubs, with the piquant taste of erotic adventures and aromatic smoke from Gauloises cigarettes, the sound of jazz and E.K.V. verses, which seem as though they have been momentarily removed from a time capsule, we are treated to the final act of this drama dealing with Justin�s confrontation with his inner being.
Through her description of the hero�s descent into a whirlpool of passions which alternate almost like film sequences, like some sort of dream within a dream, the author reveals that beneath the cloak of icy emotions there still beats a living human heart.''
