South Pole Station (Shelby) - Book Reviews

Book Reviews
For those who like stories that “turn up the heat” on off-beat personalities trapped in tight quarters, South Pole Station is super cool. It’s a worthy debut and a sign of a smart new novelist arriving on the scene. (By the way, be sure to take note of Cooper’s last name.)  READ MORE …
P.J. Adler - LitLovers


Entertaining.… The mechanics of the central plot — …astrophysicists squabbling over the Big Bang Theory… — are best not inspected too closely, although they do yield some nicely rebellious behavior …and a satisfying …nerd romance.… More appealing …are the back stories and posturings of the ensemble cast, whose day-to-day dramas provide a vivid notion of what it's like to live in a frigid landscape that's dark for six months of the year.
Alida Becker - New York Times Book Review


[An] enjoyable first novel.… Shelby is very good on social interactions at the end of the earth, and South Pole Station crackles with energy whenever science takes center stage
Dennis Drabelle - Washington Post


If you like literature that transports you to exotic locales beyond the reach of commercial airlines and enables you to view hot topics from cool new angles, South Pole Station is just the ticket.… Shelby's writing is pithy and funny …[and] in this unusual, entertaining first novel, [she] combines science with literature to make a clever case for scientists' and artists' shared conviction that "the world could become known if only you looked hard enough."
Heller McAlpin - NPR


Most associate [climate fiction] with 'sci-fi' and therefore sci-fi's most recognizable tropes.… But what if we expand the genre's definition to works that address issues of climate change in the here-and-now, in worlds that aren’t speculative or futuristic at all, but rather, unnervingly familiar? What we would find are some of the most urgent, funny, and beautifully written works in contemporary fiction. Case in point: Ashley Shelby’s South Pole Station.
Chicago Review of Books


Set in the vast yet claustrophobic reality of Antarctica, the novel's first delight is in its vivid depiction of sub-zero life.…The second delight is the clear message that science is not belief. It's science.… Shelby keeps more than a few story lines thrumming here, yet a keen eye for character and a sharp ear for smartass dialogue keeps the strands straight.
Minneapolis Star Tribune


This is a fascinating novel, loaded with interesting history of Antarctic exploration, current scientific operations, and the living and working conditions of those folks brave enough to endure six months of darkness and six months of daylight.
Publishers Weekly


(Starred review.) Shelby's first novel, based on a short story that won the Third Coast Fiction Prize, skillfully weaves science, climate change, politics, sociology, and art.… All readers of fiction, particularly those interested in life in extreme climates, will find [South Pole Station] appealing. —Joanna Burkhardt, Univ. of Rhode Island Libs., Providence
Library Journal


[Shelby] eschews easy choices and treats interpersonal relations, grief, science, art, and political controversy with the same deft, humorous hand. Readers will find characters to love, suspect, and identify with…. [F]or readers …who enjoy stories about quirky individuals and …armchair travelers.
Booklist


Throughout witty, often hilarious scenarios, Shelby expertly weaves in the legitimate political and environmental concerns…. Shelby's exploration of the human spirit continuously digs deeper, ever in search of answers to all of life's important questions—scientific and otherwise.
BookPage


In the messy human petri dish at the South Pole, a comic novel brews.… [S]mart and inventive…. Jokes lubricate a moving and occasionally preposterous story of love and death in the Antarctic cold.
Kirkus Reviews