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Ice Brothers
A novel, based on historical fact, about the Greenland patrol, which operated 1942-1945, during World War II.
502 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1979
76 people are currently reading
433 people want to read
About the author
Sloan Wilson
34 books29 followersSloan Wilson (May 8, 1920 – May 25, 2003) was an American writer.
Born in Norwalk, Connecticut, Wilson graduated from Harvard University in 1942. He served in World War II as an officer of the United States Coast Guard, commanding a naval trawler for the Greenland Patrol and an army supply ship in the Pacific Ocean.
After the war, Wilson worked as a reporter for Time-Life. His first book, Voyage to Somewhere, was published in 1947 and was based on his wartime experiences. He also published stories in The New Yorker and worked as a professor at the State University of New York's University of Buffalo.
Wilson published 15 books, including the bestsellers The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit (1955) and A Summer Place (1958), both of which were adapted into feature movies. A later novel, A Sense of Values, in which protagonist Nathan Bond is a disenchanted cartoonist involved with adultery and alcoholism, was not well received. In Georgie Winthrop, a 45-year-old college vice president begins a relationship with the 17-year-old daughter of his childhood love. The novel The Ice Brothers is loosely based on Wilson's experiences in Greenland while serving with the US Coast Guard. The memoir What Shall We Wear to This Party? recalls his experiences in the Coast Guard during World War II and the changes to his life after the bestseller Gray Flannel was published.
Wilson was an advocate for integrating, funding and improving public schools. He became Assistant Director of the National Citizens Commission for Public Schools as well as Assistant Director of the 1955-56 White House Conference on Education.
Source: Wikipedia
Born in Norwalk, Connecticut, Wilson graduated from Harvard University in 1942. He served in World War II as an officer of the United States Coast Guard, commanding a naval trawler for the Greenland Patrol and an army supply ship in the Pacific Ocean.
After the war, Wilson worked as a reporter for Time-Life. His first book, Voyage to Somewhere, was published in 1947 and was based on his wartime experiences. He also published stories in The New Yorker and worked as a professor at the State University of New York's University of Buffalo.
Wilson published 15 books, including the bestsellers The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit (1955) and A Summer Place (1958), both of which were adapted into feature movies. A later novel, A Sense of Values, in which protagonist Nathan Bond is a disenchanted cartoonist involved with adultery and alcoholism, was not well received. In Georgie Winthrop, a 45-year-old college vice president begins a relationship with the 17-year-old daughter of his childhood love. The novel The Ice Brothers is loosely based on Wilson's experiences in Greenland while serving with the US Coast Guard. The memoir What Shall We Wear to This Party? recalls his experiences in the Coast Guard during World War II and the changes to his life after the bestseller Gray Flannel was published.
Wilson was an advocate for integrating, funding and improving public schools. He became Assistant Director of the National Citizens Commission for Public Schools as well as Assistant Director of the 1955-56 White House Conference on Education.
Source: Wikipedia
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews
August 14, 2020
The author, who served in the US Coast Guard on the Greenland Patrol during World War 2 uses his experiences there to craft this great historical novel. Even though there are way more action in this book than actually happened in Greenland during the war, this is a book of inexperienced boys growing up to be hard men and who learn how to depend on each other when fighting an abusive commander, the elements and the enemy. Highly recommended!!
November 15, 2017
A very interesting novel about a little known part of WW II, that of the Greenland Ice Patrol. Comprised mostly of trawlers, they were commanded by either old-time ice fishermen or wet-nosed and inexperienced peacetime yachtsmen. The novel is based on Wilson's experience around Greenland. The fictional Wilson (Paul) was appointed as executive officer to a very experienced Mowrey, an old-timer with a terrible drinking problem, but one who could read ice conditions like no one else. The radio officer had no sea-experience at all but he had a loathing for Germans after his Jewish wife and child had disappeared somewhere in Germany. He happened to be an electronics genius, however, a skill that was to be more than valuable later on.
A sister trawler has disappeared off the east-coast of Greenland with only a lifeboat filled with machine-gunned sailors remaining. His commanding officer having been taken off the boat for alcoholism problems, Paul and Nathan, his now executive officer, are sent east to fight the Germans and dismantle whatever weather station equipment they had established. Knowing weather conditions over Greenland was crucial for air operations in Europe so both sides wanted the advantage. Greenland, part of Denmark, which had quickly surrendered to the Germans, declared a sort of independence from Denmark and was claimed by both the Axis and Allies. It was an icy wasteland inhabited (barely) by Eskimos. Wilson spends a lot of time describing the Eskimo culture and their total lack of understanding for the animosity between the two sides. His descriptions of the ice and their culture I found quite interesting, especially their attitude toward sex, totally uninhibited and devoid of any monogamous impulses, the children considered children of everyone and cared for by everyone, their emphasis being on survival and laughter -- not a bad way to get through life except for the frigging cold.
Lots of ruminations on war, hatred, why people fight and love. I enjoyed the book very much.
A sister trawler has disappeared off the east-coast of Greenland with only a lifeboat filled with machine-gunned sailors remaining. His commanding officer having been taken off the boat for alcoholism problems, Paul and Nathan, his now executive officer, are sent east to fight the Germans and dismantle whatever weather station equipment they had established. Knowing weather conditions over Greenland was crucial for air operations in Europe so both sides wanted the advantage. Greenland, part of Denmark, which had quickly surrendered to the Germans, declared a sort of independence from Denmark and was claimed by both the Axis and Allies. It was an icy wasteland inhabited (barely) by Eskimos. Wilson spends a lot of time describing the Eskimo culture and their total lack of understanding for the animosity between the two sides. His descriptions of the ice and their culture I found quite interesting, especially their attitude toward sex, totally uninhibited and devoid of any monogamous impulses, the children considered children of everyone and cared for by everyone, their emphasis being on survival and laughter -- not a bad way to get through life except for the frigging cold.
Lots of ruminations on war, hatred, why people fight and love. I enjoyed the book very much.
April 16, 2023
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Another aspect of WWII, the battles near the Arctic Circle, more specifically, in and around Greenland. There was something about this story, and I suspect it was authenticity. The author himself commandeered a naval trawler in the Greenland Patrol during WWII.
In this novel the two main characters are Paul and Nathan, both green, both young, early twenties, who end up as the captain and executive officer of a fishing trawler that was re-outfitted for use in the army. Their mission was to intercept the Germans and find and destroy their weather stations. Needless to say, it was damn cold up there.
The author succeeded in making me care very much about what happened to those two young men and the crew they captained as well as describing the terrain, the icebergs and the bitter weather that was endured. Highly recommend.
The 52 Book Club Reading Challenge - 2023
Prompt #5 - title starting with the letter “I”
Another aspect of WWII, the battles near the Arctic Circle, more specifically, in and around Greenland. There was something about this story, and I suspect it was authenticity. The author himself commandeered a naval trawler in the Greenland Patrol during WWII.
In this novel the two main characters are Paul and Nathan, both green, both young, early twenties, who end up as the captain and executive officer of a fishing trawler that was re-outfitted for use in the army. Their mission was to intercept the Germans and find and destroy their weather stations. Needless to say, it was damn cold up there.
The author succeeded in making me care very much about what happened to those two young men and the crew they captained as well as describing the terrain, the icebergs and the bitter weather that was endured. Highly recommend.
The 52 Book Club Reading Challenge - 2023
Prompt #5 - title starting with the letter “I”
October 28, 2023
This was another going back in time for me to investigate early books by authors who had made the grade. Sloan Wilson based this historical fiction on his own experience in the U. S. Coast Guard during WWII. During time of war the Coast Guard is assigned to the U. S. Navy. This tale chronicles the role of the Coast Guard in patrolling the Greenland coast for German bases to resupply submarines and weather stations, which forecast weather conditions over Europe for German naval and air sorties. The common enemies for both sides of the conflict is the weather and the ice. The crew of the US trawler converted to war time are the very young and inexperienced and the sour men released from the brig (jail) to serve. Eventually, the crew come together and the youth age forty years almost overnight. Such is war at sea under cruel conditions.
The tale sagged a bit in places as Wilson filled in character backgrounds. But again, an early book by this author.
The tale sagged a bit in places as Wilson filled in character backgrounds. But again, an early book by this author.
August 6, 2015
Sloan Wilson was a veteran of the second world war, and he served in the Greenland Patrol. Here he uses his knowledge of the place to create an entirely unique setting. In fact, Greenland itself is very nearly a character in Ice Brothers. This book deserves 3.5 stars , and as usual I have rounded it upward, as I generally do when I am unable to denote a half-star. Thank you to Net Galley and Open Road Media for the ARC.
At the start, I was torn. Although I enjoy both historical fiction and military history a great deal, I deliberately avoid World War II stories that take place in the Pacific theater. My reason is that I don't like to see Japanese people referred to with racist slurs, even though I know that at the time it was commonplace among many Caucasian members of Allied nations. The"J" word is every bit as offensive to me as the "N" word is. I understand that there was a time when Euro-Americans freely bandied both terms about. However, most editors have the sense to remove it and substitute a less heinous term these days, unless the use of the term serves an important purpose in the story. (For example, check the use of anti-Semitic language by the villainous skipper, Lowery, against whom we develop the bright and personal Nathan Green, who hears his name misused one time too many and vows to change it back to "Greenburg" once he is back in the US.)
So I wanted to read this book, about which little description was available, for two reasons: one was the setting, which will serve as the hook for a lot of readers. What did I know about Greenland? I didn't even know it was Danish territory! A trip down my upstairs hallway to the large world map hanging on the wall there confirmed the story's assertion: sure enough, right there underneath the word "Greenland", writ large albeit in parenthesis, it says "Denmark". How typically North American of me to have assumed it was Canadian! I surely needed to learn more, and good historical fiction is the most enjoyable way to learn many things.
The second reason for my interest was that it was described as a story in which the protagonist hunts for a Nazi ship. GOOD. So, Japan is unlikely to surface, and I can comfortably read without the story exploding in my face.
So when I hit the "J" word, which was not at all important to the story, but thrown in perhaps as set dressing or to set the tone of the story, I was shocked. The further extraneous reference by a character in the story who asserted that "...those little yellow bastards can't fight" made it worse. (Of course, there was no reference to the internment of Americans of Japanese descent; extraneous material here is limited to that which is ugly and prejudicial.) I told myself I would take a break and read it a little bit later.
Every time I remembered my obligation to Open Road and Net Galley, I picked up my e-reader, but I had other galleys and other obligations, and each time I thought I would give Sloan's work another try, I found myself reading a different ARC instead. This persisted for over a month; I can usually finish and review a book faster than that, unless asked to hold my review for publication.
Finally, I had to make a choice. I went back and reread the introduction. I steeled myself and forged onward. It's a good thing that the plot, setting, and character development were so well done, because that word was used about ten times, and it never contributed a single thing to the story itself.
All right; let's look at the story, then.
I know very little about watercraft, and was delighted with the accessible, instructive manner Sloan used to clarify the various types of ships and boats and the nautical terms that are most commonly used. I was also surprised and bemused by the stratification of resources apportioned to the Coast Guard as opposed to the Navy, with the Coast Guard serving as the poor cousin that receives whatever the Navy doesn't need. The ingenious ways in which our fictional Coast Guard officers and crew work around the lack of resources, often not at all legally, must have had at least some basis in fact. I found it really interesting, and it drew me closer to the story as I sympathized with the men on the trawler (The Arluk).
Sloan's approachable way of describing Greenland's weather and geography were also really useful.
Greenland is a dangerous place to sail. Today it is different than it was during that time period. I did a web crawl and was horrified to see how much of it has melted now. Back then, at least, it was possible for a sturdy ship to weave its way into a fjord (which is like a peninsula made of water that pokes into the ice mountains), and then have everything freeze, and the ice might crush the ship and its crew against the mountains. The ever-present tension of a possible encounter with Nazis created a sense of suspense that made the book hard to put down after a certain point was reached, even with the racist terminology, which continued to grate and became worse when Paul and Nathan discussed the loyalties of the "Eskies" or "Eskimos" with the Danish inhabitants. The Inuit people were treated as cartoon characters, and the static, repeated description of their faces as round and copper-colored and their mentality as "child-like" made me wonder where this capable writer's otherwise outstanding skill with varied language had gone. Yet the story still tugged at my interest, and so I made a note in my e-reader and forged on.
Another facet of the story that kept me reading late into the night was the ambiguity of the Danish residents of Greenland, and in particular, the character of Brit. Were these folks really held by force by the Nazis that we could not even see, or were they complicit? Whose side were they on? Would Brit betray Paul to them? When he acceded to her request to see the ship, and she curiously nosed into every odd corner, asking technical questions about the engine and radar, I wanted to pick her up bodily and toss her off the ship!
Sloan was a strong writer for a very different time. His work could still be really compelling, but I doubt I am the only reader who will take exception to the racial slurs that do nothing to drive the plot or develop the characters. I hope either his heirs or his editors will go in and update this work. It can only improve the story to do so.
Recommended, with the qualifications mentioned.
At the start, I was torn. Although I enjoy both historical fiction and military history a great deal, I deliberately avoid World War II stories that take place in the Pacific theater. My reason is that I don't like to see Japanese people referred to with racist slurs, even though I know that at the time it was commonplace among many Caucasian members of Allied nations. The"J" word is every bit as offensive to me as the "N" word is. I understand that there was a time when Euro-Americans freely bandied both terms about. However, most editors have the sense to remove it and substitute a less heinous term these days, unless the use of the term serves an important purpose in the story. (For example, check the use of anti-Semitic language by the villainous skipper, Lowery, against whom we develop the bright and personal Nathan Green, who hears his name misused one time too many and vows to change it back to "Greenburg" once he is back in the US.)
So I wanted to read this book, about which little description was available, for two reasons: one was the setting, which will serve as the hook for a lot of readers. What did I know about Greenland? I didn't even know it was Danish territory! A trip down my upstairs hallway to the large world map hanging on the wall there confirmed the story's assertion: sure enough, right there underneath the word "Greenland", writ large albeit in parenthesis, it says "Denmark". How typically North American of me to have assumed it was Canadian! I surely needed to learn more, and good historical fiction is the most enjoyable way to learn many things.
The second reason for my interest was that it was described as a story in which the protagonist hunts for a Nazi ship. GOOD. So, Japan is unlikely to surface, and I can comfortably read without the story exploding in my face.
So when I hit the "J" word, which was not at all important to the story, but thrown in perhaps as set dressing or to set the tone of the story, I was shocked. The further extraneous reference by a character in the story who asserted that "...those little yellow bastards can't fight" made it worse. (Of course, there was no reference to the internment of Americans of Japanese descent; extraneous material here is limited to that which is ugly and prejudicial.) I told myself I would take a break and read it a little bit later.
Every time I remembered my obligation to Open Road and Net Galley, I picked up my e-reader, but I had other galleys and other obligations, and each time I thought I would give Sloan's work another try, I found myself reading a different ARC instead. This persisted for over a month; I can usually finish and review a book faster than that, unless asked to hold my review for publication.
Finally, I had to make a choice. I went back and reread the introduction. I steeled myself and forged onward. It's a good thing that the plot, setting, and character development were so well done, because that word was used about ten times, and it never contributed a single thing to the story itself.
All right; let's look at the story, then.
I know very little about watercraft, and was delighted with the accessible, instructive manner Sloan used to clarify the various types of ships and boats and the nautical terms that are most commonly used. I was also surprised and bemused by the stratification of resources apportioned to the Coast Guard as opposed to the Navy, with the Coast Guard serving as the poor cousin that receives whatever the Navy doesn't need. The ingenious ways in which our fictional Coast Guard officers and crew work around the lack of resources, often not at all legally, must have had at least some basis in fact. I found it really interesting, and it drew me closer to the story as I sympathized with the men on the trawler (The Arluk).
Sloan's approachable way of describing Greenland's weather and geography were also really useful.
Greenland is a dangerous place to sail. Today it is different than it was during that time period. I did a web crawl and was horrified to see how much of it has melted now. Back then, at least, it was possible for a sturdy ship to weave its way into a fjord (which is like a peninsula made of water that pokes into the ice mountains), and then have everything freeze, and the ice might crush the ship and its crew against the mountains. The ever-present tension of a possible encounter with Nazis created a sense of suspense that made the book hard to put down after a certain point was reached, even with the racist terminology, which continued to grate and became worse when Paul and Nathan discussed the loyalties of the "Eskies" or "Eskimos" with the Danish inhabitants. The Inuit people were treated as cartoon characters, and the static, repeated description of their faces as round and copper-colored and their mentality as "child-like" made me wonder where this capable writer's otherwise outstanding skill with varied language had gone. Yet the story still tugged at my interest, and so I made a note in my e-reader and forged on.
Another facet of the story that kept me reading late into the night was the ambiguity of the Danish residents of Greenland, and in particular, the character of Brit. Were these folks really held by force by the Nazis that we could not even see, or were they complicit? Whose side were they on? Would Brit betray Paul to them? When he acceded to her request to see the ship, and she curiously nosed into every odd corner, asking technical questions about the engine and radar, I wanted to pick her up bodily and toss her off the ship!
Sloan was a strong writer for a very different time. His work could still be really compelling, but I doubt I am the only reader who will take exception to the racial slurs that do nothing to drive the plot or develop the characters. I hope either his heirs or his editors will go in and update this work. It can only improve the story to do so.
Recommended, with the qualifications mentioned.
December 22, 2015
How much can you say about WWII in the Greenland theater? 537 pages worth?
Much of this book is a copy cat of *The Caine Mutiny* with its over-the-top abusive alcoholic captain and shipboard scandal--in this case, Who stole the booze?
Hermans Melville and Wouk have nothing to worry about.
All talk/no action; and no Nazis in the vicinity until page 324. A squandered opportunity since Greenland history and Eskimo culture should be interesting.
*The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit is a favorite;* but this one has little of it's wit, cynicism, economy with words, or style.
Much of this book is a copy cat of *The Caine Mutiny* with its over-the-top abusive alcoholic captain and shipboard scandal--in this case, Who stole the booze?
Hermans Melville and Wouk have nothing to worry about.
All talk/no action; and no Nazis in the vicinity until page 324. A squandered opportunity since Greenland history and Eskimo culture should be interesting.
*The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit is a favorite;* but this one has little of it's wit, cynicism, economy with words, or style.
Read
April 4, 20223.5 raised to 4. Although fiction, many of Wilson's own experiences as a Coast Guard during World War II are incorporated in this story of a young man stationed in the Greenland Patrol. Although ringing true in most of the war and shipboard scenes, the length was prohibitive--500+ pp. which the author could have pared down. I'm thinking the gourmet chef, Cookie, was wishful thinking on the author's part.
The novel WAS easy to read. Interesting to read of a little-known location in that war with its icebergs and Eskimos, besides the Germans.
The novel WAS easy to read. Interesting to read of a little-known location in that war with its icebergs and Eskimos, besides the Germans.
February 5, 2015
Wilson was the author of “Man in the Grey Flannel Suit” and “A Summer Place” which were huge books and movies during the 1950s. During World War Two his was a member of the US Coast Guard and commanded ships in both the North Atlantic and in the Pacific. This book is based on his time on a converted fishing trawler that was stationed in Greenland.
Paul Schuman grew up in Wellesley, Ma and went on to Harvard. He had spent most of his summers working on ‘summer’ pleasure boats. Just before the war began he had married his high school sweetheart, but against her wishes he enlisted in the Coast Guard after Pearl Harbor. He was given a commission and sent off to be a XO (Executive Officer) on a converted fishing trawler that was to patrol the north Atlantic around Greenland.
Except for a list provided by the Coast Guard as to what clothing he was to Arluk (hunter in Inuit) is skippered by an experienced ice pilot Lt. Commander Mowry. He is known in the Guard as “Mad” Mowry, the ‘meanest’ drunk in the pre-war Guard. Schuman has a lot to learn and learn fast since Mowry makes no secret of his dislike for the un-trained ‘college boy’.
But that’s nothing compared to the way he treats the other “new guy”. Nathan Green was studying engineering at Brooklyn College when he enlisted (or was called up with his ROTC group). He is to be the communications officer, but doesn’t know the stern from the bow. Being Jewish, Mowry insists on calling him Greenberg, and denigrating him as a “sheeny” whenever he can.
The crew is the dregs of the Coast Guard, most having been released from the brig and brought straight onto the Arluk. (If it hadn’t been written in the fifties you would think it was a rip-off of the “Dirty Dozen”.)
Their mission is to look for secret weather stations the Germans had set-up on the eastern coast of Greenland. Schuman and Green will have to learn about icebergs, blizzards and handling a ship in very short time.
Mowry’s drinking will as some point make him unfit for duty, leaving Shuman as Captain. What proceeds from there is the making of an Officer. Good story and well written.
Zeb Kantrowitz zworstblog.blogspot.com
Paul Schuman grew up in Wellesley, Ma and went on to Harvard. He had spent most of his summers working on ‘summer’ pleasure boats. Just before the war began he had married his high school sweetheart, but against her wishes he enlisted in the Coast Guard after Pearl Harbor. He was given a commission and sent off to be a XO (Executive Officer) on a converted fishing trawler that was to patrol the north Atlantic around Greenland.
Except for a list provided by the Coast Guard as to what clothing he was to Arluk (hunter in Inuit) is skippered by an experienced ice pilot Lt. Commander Mowry. He is known in the Guard as “Mad” Mowry, the ‘meanest’ drunk in the pre-war Guard. Schuman has a lot to learn and learn fast since Mowry makes no secret of his dislike for the un-trained ‘college boy’.
But that’s nothing compared to the way he treats the other “new guy”. Nathan Green was studying engineering at Brooklyn College when he enlisted (or was called up with his ROTC group). He is to be the communications officer, but doesn’t know the stern from the bow. Being Jewish, Mowry insists on calling him Greenberg, and denigrating him as a “sheeny” whenever he can.
The crew is the dregs of the Coast Guard, most having been released from the brig and brought straight onto the Arluk. (If it hadn’t been written in the fifties you would think it was a rip-off of the “Dirty Dozen”.)
Their mission is to look for secret weather stations the Germans had set-up on the eastern coast of Greenland. Schuman and Green will have to learn about icebergs, blizzards and handling a ship in very short time.
Mowry’s drinking will as some point make him unfit for duty, leaving Shuman as Captain. What proceeds from there is the making of an Officer. Good story and well written.
Zeb Kantrowitz zworstblog.blogspot.com
December 15, 2014
Ice Brothers is a World War II story that begins during the surge of patriotism following the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Paul Schuman, a recent college graduate and a newlywed, signs on as a Coast Guard Officer and gets deployed on the Arluk, a fishing trawler-cum-ice breaker, heading to Greenland. It is primarily his journey we follow as he evolves from a seasick inexperienced officer who knows very little about the Greenland Patrol and even less about leadership to a competent and commanding leader.
This is the story of how Greenland was impacted by WWII and how WWII impacted Greenland. This theater is not well known: it is not the subject of novels and movies like the European Theater or the South Pacific. But there was indeed military action in Greenland; the Germans had key weather stations in Greenland that radioed weather information that allowed the Germans to plan their bombing missions over much of Europe.
This is the story of a group of oddly matched men who are crammed together on a small Coast Guard ship and must learn how to operate under less-than-perfect circumstances. The ship is poorly equipped, the men are not particularly trained for their positions, the weather is frigid beyond anything they have ever experienced, and, although they are part of the Coast Guard, they are left primarily to their own resources and ingenuity to battle the Germans.
Along the way, the reader becomes acquainted with the majesty, the awesomeness, the brutality, and the power of the ice that makes up Greenland and its coastline. Although they were deployed to fight a war, the men of the Arluk often had to do major battle with the ice.
Wilson’s writing is smooth and easy to flow through. The characters are well defined and developed. They are human and fallible. They wrestle with real issues. Many of the battles they fight are personal ones, situational ones, although, of course, there is a big combat scene towards the end of the book with weapons and fire and deaths.
This is a thick book – 500 pages—but every page was worth the read. Although this book was written 3 ½ decades ago, it is not the least bit dated. Highly recommended.
This is the story of how Greenland was impacted by WWII and how WWII impacted Greenland. This theater is not well known: it is not the subject of novels and movies like the European Theater or the South Pacific. But there was indeed military action in Greenland; the Germans had key weather stations in Greenland that radioed weather information that allowed the Germans to plan their bombing missions over much of Europe.
This is the story of a group of oddly matched men who are crammed together on a small Coast Guard ship and must learn how to operate under less-than-perfect circumstances. The ship is poorly equipped, the men are not particularly trained for their positions, the weather is frigid beyond anything they have ever experienced, and, although they are part of the Coast Guard, they are left primarily to their own resources and ingenuity to battle the Germans.
Along the way, the reader becomes acquainted with the majesty, the awesomeness, the brutality, and the power of the ice that makes up Greenland and its coastline. Although they were deployed to fight a war, the men of the Arluk often had to do major battle with the ice.
Wilson’s writing is smooth and easy to flow through. The characters are well defined and developed. They are human and fallible. They wrestle with real issues. Many of the battles they fight are personal ones, situational ones, although, of course, there is a big combat scene towards the end of the book with weapons and fire and deaths.
This is a thick book – 500 pages—but every page was worth the read. Although this book was written 3 ½ decades ago, it is not the least bit dated. Highly recommended.
October 20, 2014
Recently read for third time. Promoting book to 5-star status. One of my favorite WWII tales. Wilson depicts WWII Greenland vividly. Memorable characters and action: Small Boats Battle in Icy Waters.
The only book by Sloan I connected with. Highly recommend for fans of Herman Wouk. Also could appeal Jan de Hartog Atlantic WWII adventures.
Main characters: two young coast guard ensigns, one from a Great Depression impoverished upper class Boston family, a college student who is assisted at sea by a Jewish scholar whose wife has disappeared in Nazi occupied Poland.
The Captain
The only book by Sloan I connected with. Highly recommend for fans of Herman Wouk. Also could appeal Jan de Hartog Atlantic WWII adventures.
Main characters: two young coast guard ensigns, one from a Great Depression impoverished upper class Boston family, a college student who is assisted at sea by a Jewish scholar whose wife has disappeared in Nazi occupied Poland.
The Captain
August 4, 2012
Very well written and a thoroughly enjoyable story. I could feel the cold, hear the ice cracking, and the silence and fear of the (Germans) enemy.
April 26, 2024
I re-read this book. It was powerfully written and analyzes leadership, which is often the focus of sea stories. One of the best war novels that I have read.
March 24, 2023
To borrow the famous Jireček quote: “We, the unwilling, led by the unknowing, are doing the impossible for the ungrateful. We have done so much, for so long, with so little, we are now qualified to do anything with nothing.”
This book is the epitome of that phrase in getting the job done with little or no resources during times of war. War is hell, make no mistake and that point is well made in this novel. Had the Coast Guard crew of a converted trawler not commandeered a radar and weapons (and files to be honed into fighting knives), they likely would have failed miserably when facing the Germans on the East coast of Greenland during World War II.
I enjoyed Wilson’s semi-autobiography of life as a Coast Guard crew operating in the ice off the coast of Greenland. It was interesting to see how he the protagonist came to be in the Coast Guard and the responsibility he was immediately handed.
I read this novel in 2023, and when it first came out in the early 1980s. It was great to revisit it some forty years later, with my Coast Guard career behind me. Wilson did wonderful work of putting you on the bridge as crisis after crisis unfolded for his crew.
If you are a fan of historical fiction, I recommend you read Sloan Wilson’s: Ice Brothers.
This book is the epitome of that phrase in getting the job done with little or no resources during times of war. War is hell, make no mistake and that point is well made in this novel. Had the Coast Guard crew of a converted trawler not commandeered a radar and weapons (and files to be honed into fighting knives), they likely would have failed miserably when facing the Germans on the East coast of Greenland during World War II.
I enjoyed Wilson’s semi-autobiography of life as a Coast Guard crew operating in the ice off the coast of Greenland. It was interesting to see how he the protagonist came to be in the Coast Guard and the responsibility he was immediately handed.
I read this novel in 2023, and when it first came out in the early 1980s. It was great to revisit it some forty years later, with my Coast Guard career behind me. Wilson did wonderful work of putting you on the bridge as crisis after crisis unfolded for his crew.
If you are a fan of historical fiction, I recommend you read Sloan Wilson’s: Ice Brothers.
March 9, 2025
This book is best read when it's cold and snowy with the wind blowing. It's a book about men going to war and facing their fears and personal problems. The man character, Paul Schumann, signs up for the Coast Guard so he would be close to home and his new wife. He is assigned to a coast guard ice boat with a captain who is a mix of Wolf Larsen and Capt Queeg which makes Paul's life hell. Highly recommended.
January 21, 2018
I read this book to meet a reader's challenge--a book set on the sea. It was a very pleasant surprise. The story of Coast Guard operations along the coast of Greenland in WWII was a new story for me. I enjoyed the depictions of marine live on a small boat in the treacherous conditions of Greenland. The characters were compelling and the narrative was very interesting. I recommend this book.
October 22, 2021
Exciting and Fun
A marvelous read for anyone who loves being at sea and living aboard a boat. Either fighting a full gale or enjoying a lovely sunset under sail in a sweet ocean breeze, there’s no greater excitement or peace than being at sea. This tale finds both amidst the excitement of growing up, finding oneself and winning a war.
A marvelous read for anyone who loves being at sea and living aboard a boat. Either fighting a full gale or enjoying a lovely sunset under sail in a sweet ocean breeze, there’s no greater excitement or peace than being at sea. This tale finds both amidst the excitement of growing up, finding oneself and winning a war.
August 8, 2024
Classic War Story
Wilson is known mostly for his post war novel about the mad men of advertising but this gem, to my mind, is far superior and it could be an exciting streaming service series. Veterans of any war will recognize the characters aboard the tiny vessel dodging ice bergs. The epilogue made me swallow hard. The past is past; let it be.
Wilson is known mostly for his post war novel about the mad men of advertising but this gem, to my mind, is far superior and it could be an exciting streaming service series. Veterans of any war will recognize the characters aboard the tiny vessel dodging ice bergs. The epilogue made me swallow hard. The past is past; let it be.
April 23, 2021
I love this book. Very interesting reading. A mix of realism, adventure and war history. A captivating story about love during the war. In parallel to a romantic drama in a novel, I learned so much about World War II and the life of hunters on the Arctic North. Highly recommend.
September 29, 2025
Good but lacking greatness
I was very engaged with the first two thirds of the book. It seemed quite realistic, with good character development and a vivid portrayal of life in the frozen Arctic.
The last part of the book is just tedious and disappointing.
I was very engaged with the first two thirds of the book. It seemed quite realistic, with good character development and a vivid portrayal of life in the frozen Arctic.
The last part of the book is just tedious and disappointing.
July 19, 2018
I only got up to chapter five. I was interested in this book because my grandpa served in Greenland, but the story is unfolding too slowly for me.
January 26, 2020
A WWII story set in Greenland. I found this aspect of the war quite interesting.
February 6, 2021
Strong writing skills. Captured the essence of life in the war and in Greenland. And connected me, as a Coast Guard veteran with a piece of our history.
June 25, 2022
Really good war novel about a theater not well known. Good characters & full of surprises
March 2, 2019
I found this book on Early Bird e-books. I read the sample and was hooked.
A young, married summer sailor enlists in the Coast Guard after the attack on Pearl Harbor and is assigned to a trawler fitted out as an ice boat to patrol the coast of Greenland to provide supplies to the various outposts and also look for German military who are setting up weather stations to predict conditions for the bombing of Europe.
Well written and engaging.
A young, married summer sailor enlists in the Coast Guard after the attack on Pearl Harbor and is assigned to a trawler fitted out as an ice boat to patrol the coast of Greenland to provide supplies to the various outposts and also look for German military who are setting up weather stations to predict conditions for the bombing of Europe.
Well written and engaging.
January 1, 2024
This is the second Sloan Wilson book I have read for the second time in the past year. I love his writing and his characters come off the page as real. No heroes or villains. Just real world situations. The Ice Brother’s is somewhat autobiographical. Sloan Wilson served in the Coast Guard on Greenland patrol in 1942. He claims the book is fiction except for his descriptions of Greenland.
The main character is 22 year old Paul Schuman who already finds himself in a difficult marriage (a common theme in Wilson’s books). He finds his wife to be a “handful”. He had dropped out of the Naval Reserve to get married. He joins the Coast Guard and is assigned as Executive Officer on a converted fishing trawler. He reports to a seasoned abusive alcoholic Captain.
The book follows Paul and the ship’s crew trying to thwart the Germans at a base from sending weather reports back to Europe. It is a good sea yarn about the impact the war had on people. It’s about leadership, decisions, technology (the importance of radar), infidelity, and working with local Danes and native Eskimos. Paul finds great distress in analyzing hypothetical and the real consequences when faced with decisions. At one point he wonders how he would behave if he were the German Captain of a ship Paul was hunting.
No doubt, this is one of my favorite WWII novels. It was quite enjoyable the second time around. Still 5 stars. I am not sure how widely known it is as Wilson wrote it in 1979 some 25 years after his breakthrough novel THE MAN IN THE GREY FLANNEL SUIT. My other Wilson favorite is A SENSE OF VALUES. It reminds me of the excellent book “The Cruel Sea”.
The main character is 22 year old Paul Schuman who already finds himself in a difficult marriage (a common theme in Wilson’s books). He finds his wife to be a “handful”. He had dropped out of the Naval Reserve to get married. He joins the Coast Guard and is assigned as Executive Officer on a converted fishing trawler. He reports to a seasoned abusive alcoholic Captain.
The book follows Paul and the ship’s crew trying to thwart the Germans at a base from sending weather reports back to Europe. It is a good sea yarn about the impact the war had on people. It’s about leadership, decisions, technology (the importance of radar), infidelity, and working with local Danes and native Eskimos. Paul finds great distress in analyzing hypothetical and the real consequences when faced with decisions. At one point he wonders how he would behave if he were the German Captain of a ship Paul was hunting.
No doubt, this is one of my favorite WWII novels. It was quite enjoyable the second time around. Still 5 stars. I am not sure how widely known it is as Wilson wrote it in 1979 some 25 years after his breakthrough novel THE MAN IN THE GREY FLANNEL SUIT. My other Wilson favorite is A SENSE OF VALUES. It reminds me of the excellent book “The Cruel Sea”.
August 19, 2016
A decent read in the vein of "The Cruel Sea" or something by Douglas Reeman, but longer by far than either. The setting (Greenland) is out of the norm, obviously drawn directly from the author's own experiences in the war, but the setting added to the sense of isolation and relentless struggle against the elements and the enemy. Although some of the plot and character seemed a little borrowed from other tropes of naval fiction, overall it worked well in my opinion taking into account my bias for naval tales.
August 12, 2008
'The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit' spent WW II alternating between the tropics and the coast of Greenland. Ice Brothers recounts his days as skipper of a ship patrolling the treacherous waters around Greenland. It's hard to say which tour of duty he found the most dangerous, but this one seems to be the one that resonated with him most of his life.
August 21, 2016
Awesome story about a forgotten war
Excellent reading for anyone interested in World War II, the Arctic, or seamanship. The only weakness is in the editing. Third-person omniscient is very hard to pull off and there were a few slips.
Excellent reading for anyone interested in World War II, the Arctic, or seamanship. The only weakness is in the editing. Third-person omniscient is very hard to pull off and there were a few slips.
September 3, 2016
A Great Read
Fantastic story. It grabbed me from the start, and held my attention to the end. I'm not a fan of war genre, but this is more about the people, and how they grow and learn and adapt.
Fantastic story. It grabbed me from the start, and held my attention to the end. I'm not a fan of war genre, but this is more about the people, and how they grow and learn and adapt.
September 6, 2016
Interesting story, good storyline, learning about Greenland in World War II was awesome and the characters had authentic depth and grew with the story. Might be worth a read of another of Sloan Wilson's books.
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