Match Book
The ice storm
Rick Moody
1994 · Literary fiction
How it reads
The ice storm is literary fiction (suburban coming-of-age, specifically), and its dominant mood is melancholy. It's quietly sad, wistful and reflective. The pace is moderate — neither a page-turner nor a slow burn — so it holds up whether you read it in long sittings or short ones.
It's set in a suburban setting, in the recent past, told in the third person across several viewpoints. Its central concerns are coming of age, family and class and society. In weight it's heavy and literary — denser, more serious, and more demanding of you.
It stands alone, so there's nothing else you need to read first or after. The ending is bittersweet: it resolves, but at a price. It's moderately known: read by plenty of people, but not a household name.
Pick it up if…
- you're in the mood for something melancholy
- you want something to chew on
- you want a complete story in one book
Maybe not if…
- you need something funny or hopeful
All 15 dimensions
- Genre
- literary fiction
- Author gender
- male
- Author experience
- established
- Setting: place
- suburban
- Setting: time
- recent past
- Mood / feeling
- melancholy
- Pace
- moderate
- Tone / weight
- heavy and literary
- Length
- medium
- Narrative style
- third person, several viewpoints
- Publication era
- modern classic
- Popularity
- moderately known
- Series vs standalone
- standalone
- Themes
- coming of age, family, class and society
- Ending style
- bittersweet
What these mean: the 15 dimensions of a book.
Books with a similar reading
The closest books in Match Book's catalogue across the same dimensions, and what they share.
Fair and Tender LadiesLee SmithShares: literary fiction, melancholy mood, heavy and literary tone, moderate pace- I Cannot Get You Close Enough: Three NovellasEllen GilchristShares: literary fiction, melancholy mood, heavy and literary tone, moderate pace
White OleanderJanet FitchShares: literary fiction, melancholy mood, heavy and literary tone, moderate pace
We Are All Completely Beside OurselvesKaren Joy FowlerShares: literary fiction, melancholy mood, heavy and literary tone, bittersweet ending
Deep in the Shade of ParadiseJohn DufresneShares: literary fiction, melancholy mood, moderate pace, bittersweet ending
The Lovely BonesAlice SeboldShares: literary fiction, melancholy mood, heavy and literary tone, bittersweet ending
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