Shiver

by Nikki Gemmell

In her first novel Nikki Gemmell delves into the emotional depth of love and loss set in the wilderness of Antarctica. Faced with the opportunity of a lifetime, Fin learns the rules and taboos of community life in Antarctica. Amid the land of mythical tragedies, of long journeys into darkness and death, of soles falling from feet and being strapped back on, of teeth freezing and splitting, fingers dying, toenails coming away - Fin breaks the strictest taboo of all - she falls in love. Fin gets caught in a chain of events that lead to a shattering conclusion.

Genres: Fiction, Travel, Romance, Australia, Contemporary, Adventure, Chick Lit

273 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

Nikki Gemmell has written four novels, Shiver, Cleave, Lovesong, The Bride Stripped Bare and The Book Of Rapture, and one non-fiction book, Pleasure: An Almanac for the Heart. Her work has been internationally critically acclaimed and translated into many languages.

In France she's been described as a female Jack Kerouac, in Australia as one of the most original and engaging authors of her generation and in the US as one of the few truly original voices to emerge in a long time.

The French literary review "Lire" has included her in a list of what it calls the fifty most important writers in the world - the ones it believes will have a significant influence on the literature of the 21st century. The criteria for selection included a very individual voice and unmistakeable style, as well as an original choice of subject. Nikki Gemmell was selected along with such novelists as Rick Moody, Zadie Smith, Jonathan Safran Froer, Rohinton Mistry, Tim Winton, Colum McCann, Michel Faber and Hari Kunzru among others.

Born in Wollongong, Australia, she now lives in London.

Reviews

[Suz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another book read in a day for me, and one of my favourites of this year too. Snuck in nicely!

This author writes of this theme often, a woman’s needs, her searching and wanting to be fulfilled. Nikki Gemmell's writing style is captivating and lyrical, and I was carried away with it.

A young journalist embarks on an Antarctic voyage, and we see how she falls in love and with the haunting beauty of the ice. She loves and hates this as her romance blossoms, as it ebs and flows.

I think this is a sensational book, the author’s debut. I’m impressed. I did not love the last page or two, but this is small change, it doesn’t sway my 5 star assessment.

“..of a snowflake, of a dead man, of doctor’s fingers on my inner thigh, of a tongue on my eye.”

I loved being swept away on this journey today, I highly recommend it. It's made me want to re-visit The Bride Stripped Bare, which was crazy interesting.

Update 13 August 2016. I met Nikki Gemmell today, at a speaking event discussing the issue of proposed changes to copyright, specifically dodgy Australian parallel importing issues, not good for Aussie authors. I missed a lot of the discussion due to my catch up with Aussie Readers here on GR, but this is worth following up. Watch this space. This lady is as quirky as expected, and I enjoyed a nice chat. She is a lady that knows what she's doing in this industry. We talked about my studies and the busy role of 'mum'. What a lady. I'd like to know where my copy of Shiver went, couldn't get it signed..

[Annalie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has been gathering dust on my bookshelf for years and now that I've finally read it, it has been a wonderful surprise. Nikki Gemmell writes beautifully; her description of the voyage to Antarctica and the continent itself transports the reader and it is the next best thing to having made the trip yourself. That alone would have been enough for me to enjoy reading it, but there was more: An array of interesting, true-to-life characters and an engaging, heartbreaking story.

[Juma · Rating 2 out of 5]

I sorta enjoyed it, but the story was simple and unappealing. She is a journalist who goes to Antarctica, gets harassed by most of the men while on the voyage, falls in love with one of them, tragedy strikes and she rediscovers her dream, and she may be pregnant and that's basically it.
But at least it was really easy and quick to read :).

[Ellie Baleine · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read this book for a 'books from every country' challenge. As there was no author from Antarctica, they choose this piece of work.

I was ready to read a story about Antarctica but all I got was a horrible experience ( I can't even call this romance novel).
If I'm being generous, this book sums up to about one chapter about Antarctica.

The rest is a desperate, unappealing woman that sees going to Antarctica as a nice chance to get laid.
I hated the main character with every fiber of my being and just kept on reading to see if she changes or if I get any input on Antarctica (spoiler: no). She is judgmental (yellow, crooked teeth? that guy must be British. a man who takes care of his looks and sticks around with a best friend? must be gay), easily offended and is very rarely shown to care for anyone else but herself (she once hugged a woman for comfort, but that's it).
There is more description of men than nature. Most men had names I couldn't even remember since the author choose one-syllable every day names (it's realistic, I get it, but from a reader's point of view I always forgot who is who).

I wanted to read about Antarctica and read how her toes got sucked or her eyeball got licked. If I want to read these things, I would pick up another book. No thanks.

But of course it somehow was a life-changing experience for the main character. This revelation falls completely flat and is completely undeserving for her.

[G Batts · Rating 4 out of 5]

People talk a lot of sh*t about Nikki Gemmell. This is my second book by her and I’ve enjoyed them both. This book is vividly written without being purple and tightly plotted. Maybe a bit too tightly plotted as the story was predictable. In other places cliches were nicely subverted which brought a freshness.

I found the romance part of the story overwritten. The love interest’s name pretty much didn’t appear without ‘wet’ being in the same paragraph. On the other hand, I miss ‘90s horniness in fiction. Bring back the sex!

The Antarctica setting felt very realistic (not that I’ve been) and I totally believed the contiki-for-scientists vibe. Gemmell writes about toxic masculinity in the workplace and captures that feeling of restlessness when you’re a few years into your dream career and reality has set in.

It’s not a cool book - It’s very much about privileged people doing privileged things - but I enjoyed it. Now if you excuse me, I’ll be eating some mayo on white bread and penning complaints to my local member.

[Dana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fairly interesting book- some of the language bothered me, but I enjoyed the narrators descriptions of Antarctica and the emotional changes she described as a part of the expedition.

[Lian Tanner · Rating 3 out of 5]

A talented author with a gift for creating the highly charged atmosphere that I remember living in when I was in my twenties.

[Emma Oldroyd · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fuck this bitch. I have been sobbing for an hour. Why would she do this to me 😭😭

[Stef Rozitis · Rating 2 out of 5]

The setting of the book was so believable and detailed that I googled to see if it was a true story. Some details are changed but it is in fact based on something that happened to the author. This explains the vivid sense of place (Antartica) and hundreds of details I wouldn't even have thought to ask about which was to me the best part of the book.

I also respect the author's experience of grief and that she probably had an emotional need to write this book. For this reason I am reluctant to be too critical, however as a reader I didn't enjoy the main plot of the book. Fin seems sort of man-crazy and desperate from the start. One of the things she is looking forward to from her Antartica trip is the chance to be sexually harassed (p12), which initially I thought was going to be significant mainly for character development.

On the ship Fin's thoughts and conversations with other women frequently centre on whether men are "fuckable" or available. She seems determined to analyse every man in terms of whether she would or wouldn't want to fuck him, this is probably supposed to be "sex positive", "raw" and "honest" but I couldn't relate to it, nor the way the book constantly reinforced heterosexuality as natural and almost inevitable despite occasional cases of lip-service to the idea that some people might be gay/lesbian. By page 202 this has gone so far that Fin and the cook Chill have a conversation about the huge hardship of doing without sex for months at a time, and how it might make you "crazy". Really? There are many other less overt references to this sort of thinking too.

The romance between Max and Fin seems contextualised by this, mostly when something happens between them it seems to be "fucking" more than anything else, at least in the early days of the relationship. There does seem to be an emotional connection but this is downplayed until much later, when suddenly, instantly, Fin (who always claimed to Max that she doesn't do casual sex for some reason, despite thinking about it all the time) realises that this "means something" which of course is expressed as wanting to have his babies.

Nevertheless when he is absent she flirts with another man, and lies to him that she is not involved with anyone. It seems from the readers perspective that she is gearing up to sleep with him when luckily for Max, he joins her just in time.

I am not judging any of this, it is just hard to reconcile with the more romantic tone of the book subsequent to Max arriving at the base. I do wonder how much of this writing needed to be the way it is for personal reasons, but as a reader I really didn't enjoy it or find it relatable, inspiring or even challenging- just tedious. The stuff about Fin-tu was for me the most tender and relatable part of the book, I suffered at the abrupt and brutal ending of it (as I suspect the reader is meant to). Even then it was just a "oh and this happened" not something that integrated into the plot in some satisfying way.

I can see that other reviewers saw the book a lot more positively than I did, so my criticism is not necessarily a sign that someone else might not enjoy the book. But I was really disappointed with it and didn't even feel it delivered what the blurb promised.

[Christie (The Ludic Reader) · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first book I read by Australian author Nikki Gemmell was The Bride Stripped Bare. I fell in love with the way she wrote and so I found myself looking for other novels by her. Shiver is her first novel and it’s worthy of praise.

"I can catalogue Antarctica by touch.

The touch of air sucked dry on my cheek, the fur of a day-old seal pup, the touch of an iceberg, a blizzard, a lover, the touch of sweat at minus twenty-three, of a camera stuck to the skin on my face, of cold like glass cutting into my skin, of a snowflake, of a dead man, of a doctor’s fingers on my inner thigh, of a tongue on my eye."

Fin is a twenty-six year old Sydney-based radio journalist who gets the opportunity to travel to Antarctica to “capture noises.” The trip down and her subsequent stay at the Australian station would be a compelling enough read all on its own because of how alien the landscape is and the weird subculture of scientists and others who make the journey. But Fin does something she isn’t supposed to do - she falls in love.

Her relationship with 38-year-old biologist, Max, is – of course- intense because of where they are, their lack of privacy, the rules surrounding fraternization. Fin is buoyed by her feelings - not the first relationship of her adult life, but certainly the most important. She and Max share an unquenchable thirst for each other physically and are, in other ways, perfectly suited.

Of course, something tragic happens and even though you know it’s coming, it’s still horrible.

Gemmell herself spent time in Antarctica and says that this is her most autobiographical novel. Knowing the circumstances of her inspiration adds an extra layer of meaning to the book - but I suggest you wait to read about her real-life experiences until after you’ve finished the novel.

[PattyMacDotComma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Young female journo goes to Antarctica (they call them JAFOs there - just another f*ing journalist) to interview various staff and file reports. She gets more involved than she expected and the story flows easily and well. I greatly enjoyed it, in spite of the realistic descriptions of the howling cold.

[Libby · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was ok. I enjoyed the descriptions of nature and the perspective of a woman surrounded by men. It was an easy and quick read

[Vio Rlln · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un récit qui donne envie de tout quitter pour aller explorer les coins perdus et magiques de la planète!

[Patrik Klages · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting, well told and easy read.
I enjoyed it.

[Billy Oakley · Rating 3 out of 5]

26 year old Fin goes to Antarctica and falls in love with a man and getting her toes sucked

[Meg · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked up this book as a chance to return to Antarctica. I was curious to see how an author would write about this indescribable place, as my fellow travelers and I came back speechless. It's difficult to explain the draw of the White Continent or how it affects you while you're there.

The truth is that Gemmell doesn't really describe what it's like in Antarctica. She does a fantastic job of explaining the excitement of setting off on the adventure and the long days spent in the close confines of the ship. She paints wonderfully the archetypal characters who make the journey. However, I was not surprised to find that more than half the book involves the protagonist's trip to the continent, and comparatively few pages are spent once she arrives.

At this point, the book strays from its careful and evocative descriptions and becomes more plot-driven. The place itself is described simply by weaving in anecdotes and adventure stories, presumably gleaned from various Antarctic residents, and it misses the sense and feeling of the earlier chapters.

The plot itself is certainly not this book's strong suit, but I commend it for one thing: the emotion of the final chapters of the book are astonishingly similar to those I and my fellow travelers experienced on our return from Antarctica. I can't explain exactly why we all felt this way, and it certainly wouldn't make sense to anyone else. I would like to believe that Gemmell experienced that same and used this emotional response as the basis of the book, wrapping it in a simple plot that evokes similar feelings but in a more accessible way.

[Leslea · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was my choice for our Book Club. I knew that Nikki's style of writing would stir the pot and it did. I thought her writing was fantastic - very economical with words and the words chosen pack a punch. A journey by ship to the Antartica by a young journalist - her experiences on the ship, on the ice and falling in love with the landscape and Max. Half the Bookclub loved it, the other half not so sure. 5 stars from me - fantastic!

[Stef O'connor · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm surprised at how many people gave this book 4 or 5 stars - first book I have read by Nikki Gemmell and can't say that I'm a fan.

To me, the book was all about nothing.......nothing plot, nothing characters, nothing, nothing, nothing.......thankfully it was a very short book so filled in time reading it

[Lesley Moseley · Rating 4 out of 5]

UPDATED to 4 stars.

3 1/2 as I remember this as a stunning read.
After spending an hour with her and Jane Caro, in Feb 2023, at the Cairns Tropical Writers Festival, I had my memory refreshed, and remembered just how much I had enjoyed this book, years ago.. What a wonderful, inspiring session. Spurring me on to start a series of booklets, re my LUPUS journey.

[sisterimapoet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Further reinforcing the fact that I enjoy books with a cold setting - this was a great read.

Intense throughout, the reflections between the central character and the landscape bounced back and forth in a dazzling display.

At times it was almost painful to read.

[Katy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really didn't want this book to end. I did something I never do - read it painstakingly slowly so I wouldn't miss a single thing. Gemmell writes this novel very lyrically and very sparsely. She doesn't need to be effusive - she manages to be so precise about every feeling and every visual she transmits. Her preciseness is astounding, as clear cut as the bare white wilderness she describes. I was amazed at how she managed to capture such a vast space and create a clear visual of the dynamics on board the ship. I loved how she articulated the way that Antarctica made her feel: clean and stripped and open and alive. It made me see coldness in a way I'd never seen it before.

It was really interesting to read that Nikki Gemmell felt like she 'cannibalised' her own life in the writing of this novel and that she felt she would never write another novel that scraped her raw like this one did as she recounted many of her own experiences.

I read a lot of reviews slating Fin's romantic entanglements on the mission, but I did not mind them. I liked the intensity of her relationship with Max - I believed it. I believed it even more because it was never given a chance to thrive outside that white bubble of ice where it would probably have ended up the way most relationships do once they are forced to withstand the real world. But it remained frozen in its beginnings, perfect and untouchable. It's easy to idolise and revere a relationship like that. It's perfect and clean and uncomplicated in a way that things never are in reality.

And - SPOILER - I felt that Max's death was true and humble. Watching the sunset; enraptured in the beauty of that wild white world. He didn't see anything coming. As he says himself when he talks about his shipmates who stay below deck and play video games: 'They're people without curiosity. They can't be bothered to go out on deck to look at whales and auroras. Why are they here?'. He was different and he died because of that. It's very beautiful and very sad and I believe that Fin/Nikki's love for him will be endless because he died while he was still perfect and new and unknown to her.

I think the sign of any good book is total immersion. I was completely covered by the blizzards Gemmell conjured in this novel. I felt the coldness. I saw the sunsets and the auroras and the seals. I felt her loss, and her strange haunting that drove her to the Australian desert. I was gone from my own life for a little while.

[Laetitia]

Fin se lance dans une grande aventure pour �chapper un peu � son quotidien. Journaliste radio, sa vie est rythm�e par les ondes radios de la police et les fais divers. Lorsqu'on lui propose de partir en reportage pour l�Antarctique, elle y voit une belle opportunit� � la fois professionnelle et personnelle. C�est en effet l�occasion de d�couvrir des univers totalement nouveaux. La travers�e en bateau, huis clos o� l�intimit� prend un tout autre sens , puis l�arriv�e dans ce paysage lunaire et sans �ge� La promiscuit�, la solitude, les railleries des compagnons (qui n�aiment pas particuli�res les journalistes fouineurs) mais aussi l�intensit� du voyage, la chaleur de se sentir au sein d�une communaut�, la sensation de vivre une exp�rience totalement in�dite, aideront Fin � mieux se conna�tre. D'autant que la travers�e lui r�serve bien des surprises� Tout comme son retour � la � vie r�elle �. Le d�but du roman est un peu � plat � mais bien rythm� par des allers-retours temporels. Ce sont les pr�paratifs, nous ne sommes pas encore entr�s dans le vif du sujet, mais cela nous permet d�appr�hender tranquillement le personnage de Fin. On s�attache rapidement � ce personnage � Madame tout le monde � qui s�appr�te � vivre un exp�rience hors du commun. Et une fois l�histoire lanc�e, on va de surprises en surprises� de fa�on tr�s lente et tr�s pos�e, �trangement. Comme si l�auteur avait voulu nous transporter au m�me rythme que le bateau et ses passagers�J�ai retrouv� avec plaisir le piquant et l�humour que j�avais tant aim� dans "La mari�e mise � nue." Dans "Travers�e", le style de Nikki Gemmell varie en fonction de l��tat moral de son h�ro�ne. Tout est fait pour le lecteur s�impr�gne facilement mais profond�ment de l�univers dans lequel l�auteur veut l�entra�ner. Seul l�ger b�mol : certains personnages sont abord�s tr�s vite et lorsqu'on les croise � nouveau au cours du r�cit, on ne sait plus tr�s bien qui ils sont. Mais l�impression qui domine en refermant les pages est tout � fait � la hauteur de mes esp�rances : � la fois surprise et charm�e !

[Patra · Rating 3 out of 5]

A thinly veiled autobiography about a Kings Cross based journalist who gets the opportunity to go to Antarctica. The first few chapters felt a bit bogged down with the mundane minutiae of life - we even get detailed descriptions of the narrator’s bodily waste (“I can see bits of my dinner from last night in it.”). Now I’m not averse to a bit of viscerality or the less savoury aspects of life but the writing just didn’t really do it for me personally. Plus the characters were a bit on the blah side and the plot was not exactly a mile a minute thriller to make up for these shortcomings. Nonetheless I persisted.
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On the ship she falls in love with a fellow expeditioner (from memory because he had attractive wrists) and many clandestine moments of passion ensue. At this point a hint of emotion or at least sensuality starts to emerge in the writing. But I still struggled to feel for the characters. Couldn’t really see what they saw in each other - besides something to break up the tedium of six weeks trapped on board a ship. Maybe that was the point?
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The book wasn’t all bad though. I loved the actual bits about Antarctica itself. The snow petrels and the day old baby seals and the penguins. The sound of the ship breaking through ice and the cold that slices like glass and kicks their faces. The nights that barely last two hours and survival strategies like the penguin huddle and the immersion suit and how to build a snow cave. It’s probably as close as I’ll get to Antarctica for a while so it was worth it for that if nothing else.

[Darjeelingdo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jeune journaliste radio abonnée au service faits divers de sa rédaction, Fin saisit l’opportunité qui lui est offerte de couvrir une expédition scientifique en Antarctique : six semaines de voyage et de découverte du grand continent blanc, ça ne se refuse pas !
Les préparatifs du voyage, la longue traversée à bord du bateau à la coque orange éclatant sur le gris de la mer, la promiscuité avec des passagers essentiellement masculins (équipage et scientifiques embarqués) et elle, seule journaliste de l’expédition et nouvel OVNE, « Observateur Venu Nous Enquiquiner », venue « capter des bruits. Les gens, les manchots, les machines, la glace et les sons que je ne connais pas encore. »

Banquise, icebergs, phoques, manchots, pétrels des neiges , une intensité lumineuse qui vous brûle les yeux, le blizzard qui vous coupe du reste du monde…mais aussi «  de subîtes et frappantes amitiés ou inimitiés et de brusques au revoir » et même un amour naissant et l’impression de «  revenir propre », neuve et débarrassée de couches superflues.
C’est tout cela que raconte Nikki Gemmell, journaliste et auteure australienne qui s’est inspirée de sa propre expérience pour décrire dans une langue simple et sans fioriture ce monde à part et la quête de l’essentiel qui anime ses personnages.

J’ai retrouvé dans ce livre des descriptions et des situations déjà lus dans d’autres romans explorant l’Antarctique qui semblent bien confirmer que l’aventure, est, comme le dit l’éditeur «  à la fois dure et enthousiasmante, âpre et enrichissante »

[astried]

One of those book that I knew I wanted to read from reading the first paragraph. It's the language as well as the subject, antarctic.

Yet in the end I think the first part was the best part of the book. Ironically there isn't enough about antarctic in it for me. I couldn't understand how she could be craving for desert and wide spaces after the journey considering she was basically station bound. Then again I'm a constant romantic of desert even before being in one. Then again it's a different kind of dream.

Quite enjoyable even though I keep on mixing up the men, Max Mark etc. and the women too even there were only five (?) of them.

[Prue Mansfield · Rating 3 out of 5]

A short, superficially simple tale of an journalist who is awarded a trip to the Antarctic.
There is the stereotypical gross behaviour by some blokes; the ice and the penguins; the clothing; the oddball characters with a wide variety of reasons for being there. There was resentment and suspicion of journalists, that was never explained. There was an intense love affair, to go along with the intense environment. And some surprising risk taking behaviour, that of course did not pay off.
I enjoyed it. It is short, straightforward, easily read in a couple of days. The intensity of the experience emerged on the page.

[Danisha · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5🌟

I had some trouble staying within the story, and ended up zooming through the book. I finished it in less than a week.
When Max died, I was surprised but emotionless for the most part.
I really didn't like the fact that she got her period at the end of the story, because I so badly wanted her to be pregnant with Max's baby. That would've been cute.
And to be really honest. They really sped through his death. After it was announced, there was barely a story. It felt extremely rushed, in my opinion.
Overall, it was a story like no other I've read and I might read it again in the hopes that I don't lose focus again.

[chee chee · Rating 2 out of 5]

Got this at a book swap. Very mediocre read. I was drawn to the book by its blurb and was prepared for an emotional ride. But the writing fell short.

About a journo named Fin on an expedition to Antarctica. There she flirts and fantasizes about being with men. There was a lot of steamy sex. And her expedition ended in grief.

There were some “what am I reading..?!?!” moments. The author did a good job describing Antarctica and the wild life - that kept me reading. Otherwise, I would have abandoned the book 30% in.

[Sophia · Rating 1 out of 5]

" A story about love and loss" öhm... I think NOT. It's a story about men beeing men in groups, creeping ppl out. About shamming women and women beeing scared. It is about warning women about sexual harassment and rape and women going "oh, I better pack condoms" What the hell did I just read?

I find it most interesting she even got on that boat. I would run the other way, or pack a gun. There is a little love and loss, but mostly fucking.

[Bonnie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book seems to polarise ;) the readers who either hate it or love it. It's not an overly complicated story and I quite enjoyed it. I would have liked a few more details about the continent and less about who is sleeping with who. It reminded me of when I lived on an island for a while, and when you leave you know you won't be the same again.