Frigid Women

by Sue Riches, Victoria Riches, Dawn French (Foreword)

"Men like to conquer, fight, or subdue the Arctic, while we had a different attitude. We felt that we had to go along with what we were faced with. . . . We tried to have the Arctic on our side instead of confronting it."  In 1997 a group of 20 women set out to become the world's first all-female expedition to the North Pole, hoping to raise awareness and support for sufferers of cancer and other illnesses. Sue Riches, recently recovering from a mastectomy, and her daughter Victoria were among them, and this is their inspirational story of personal accomplishment.

Genres: Nonfiction

250 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1996

Reviews

[Susan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Na 'vier vrouwen en een boot' en 'ik fiets door' nóg een boek over 'gewone' vrouwen, geen topsporters, die een 'eerste vrouwen die'-record neerzetten. Dit keer gaat het om de eerste expeditie naar de noordpool bestaand uit alleen vrouwen. De auteurs (moeder en dochter) zitten samen in het derde team van een estafette, en lopen ruim twee weken richting de noordpool. Wat nog niet zo eenvoudig is (los van de helse kou uiteraard), want ijs beweegt, waardoor 's ochtends kan blijken dat je weer een heel eind afgedreven bent en geen stap dichter bij de Noordpool. Ook hier is de moraal van het verhaal; gewoon beginnen, en uiteindelijk kun je veel meer dan je denkt. Mooie moraal, maar geen mooi geschreven boek.

[Rachael Hewison · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is quite a hard book to review. If I look at it as literature it's not brilliantly written. It feels clunky, reading the same day from three different perspectives was quite annoying and I feel like it could have been fleshed out so much more. However in terms of an exploration story I thought it was great- I learnt so much about expeditions to the North Pole which I never knew before and how frustrating it must have been for the pole to keep moving about. I felt emotional when they got to the pole and can't even begin to imagine how the women must have felt. It was fascinating. I read it as part of a book club and it generated some really interesting discussions.

[Stefan]

Fun, but a bit rambly despite being short

The first 80 pages of this book are filled far too much with stories about funding - and whilst that was obviously important to them, it's incredibly dry and not something a reader will connect too.

Once it gets to the arctic, it's very fun, and their time on the ice makes reading the book worth it - (and has thoroughly put me off wanting to go)

Every day is repeated from both womens perspective, which means when it's rambly, it's really slow - but when it's exciting, you get two different looks at an adventure - I thought this was hit and miss throughout the book - and a better editor would have cut down the repeats of the boring days.

[Lj · Rating 5 out of 5]

After hearing from someone who had heard these ladies speak. I was inspired to read their story for myself.

What incredible experiences they have had. Amazing achievements, proving girls really can do anything!

[Rachel Healey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Whilst the style of writing is slightly clumsy I eventually relaxed into it's style and ended up really enjoying this book. Both authors kept their normalness throughout the book and so it was a very relatable story.

[Hannah Abraham · Rating 3 out of 5]

Was really good! Read it after having a talk from Sue Riches at work. Learnt a lot and found it very interesting and loved how it swapped people

[Kelly Louise · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting but poorly written and very dated.

[RJ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting account of an epic journey. Very much enjoyed recent talk by one of the authors - she was very entertaining and inspirational

[Krista · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was surprised at how good this book was, as I just found it in a book bin at Montecito. I know nothing about the North Pole and was surprised to learn about trekking there. Written in diary format (not my favorite), switching between mother and daughter, was actually pretty smooth. I thought it would have been jerky, but it worked well. Very inspirational. And while I will not be doing an expedition like this anytime soon, especially with mom, I enjoyed reading about it.

[Roz Savage · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really good fun read, with the narrative alternating between mother and daughter. I enjoyed seeing their contrasting perspectives on a ground- (ice-?) breaking relay trek to the North Pole. Written in a chatty rather than a literary style, the pages turn easily and you get a real feel for the mundanities as well as the glories of Arctic exploration.

*Full disclosure: I know Victoria Humphries (nee Riches) so am not totally impartial!

[Hilde · Rating 4 out of 5]

adventure, travelling, strong women, I think it's a fascinating book.

[Hilde · Rating 2 out of 5]

it was OK