Cary recounts her time at a predominantly white boarding school in Massachusetts--her last two years of high school in the 1970s. Cary is self-aware, self-critical, and in her words indulges in
"recreational fault-finding."

My interpretation of the title is that it's about the unattainable nature of Black excellence being achieved or seen. (But what do I know? I'm a cranky, hormonal, angry, grieving mess right now). The idea of ice also conveys vulnerability, as does this passage from early-ish in the book

Ed Shockley, who graduated in my class, can still remember standing outside the Rectory looking at the grounds and wondering whether his white classmates would jump him in the woods.

It's wild how Black men are so feared when they're in danger from white people all the time

Cary, despite her fault-finding, has the capacity to experience "love and gratitude, hate, resentments, shame, admiration, loss" all at once, as she expresses her graduation feelings. Black Ice is a solid but restrained read. Despite it being relatively short, at 237 pages, it took me what felt like a long five days to finish it.