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aphunt_reads's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Modern Catholic novel - emphasis on eternal significance of humanity as response to instability of modern world.
Glad I read this as a group and surprised by how gripped I was by this. Struck by communal living, how difficult life was in mid ages, and how real the characters were.
Glad I read this as a group and surprised by how gripped I was by this. Struck by communal living, how difficult life was in mid ages, and how real the characters were.
betseyboo's review
5.0
A bookseller at King's English recommended this read and it has been sitting on my shelf for years. I finally picked it up and was determined to finish this three book edition. What a great experience! One word of advice, don't read the introduction written by Brad Leithauser. I don't want to know the ending of a three book series before I even start. I nearly threw the book across the room!! Wait until your done.
feranmi's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
inspiring
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Thanks to the Classical Stuff You Should Know podcast for recommending this mammoth book. It is very inspirational. Kristin is a strong-willed woman, who makes mistakes and pays for them. And in the end, she can now reconcile with herself and is redeemed. She defies her father's loving wishes to marry the man of heart Erlend who would her heart over and over again. Yet, she remains steadfast in her love for him. He abandons her multiple times and breaks their vows. Erlend would pay for his wrongs but Kristin is left crushed and reduced in the end. She has Simon Darre who remains faithful to her, he tries to preserve her honour and even saves the man she jilted him for. She is no saint but a woman, a human. This an epic of one woman's journey. Her losses, victories, her rises and falls, her blessings and her curses, her sins and her redemption. It is also a story of motherhood. It is joy and loss. I want to reread this book one day because there is a lot of strength to draw from Lavrans' daughter.
cami19's review
adventurous
challenging
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
angorarabbit's review against another edition
5.0
TW: Deaths by violence, disease, and accident. Deaths of children and pregnancy losses. Deaths of animals. Seduction of a minor. Child marriages with age disparity. Numerous spicy scenes, short, non-graphic, can be skipped. Christian themes. Themes of guilt and sin. There is no diversity in ethnicity. All characters are cis gendered and heteronormative.
TLDR: This may have ruined the genre of historical fiction for me, it was that good.
Personal History: I bought the books decades ago and never got into them. Now listening to the podcast Saga Thing has given me a better understanding of Norwegian and Icelandic history, though the sagas of the Icelanders takes place a couple of centuries before the events in Kristin Lavransdatter. The new translation also had some helpful footnotes. I haven't compared any of the old and new translations yet. I found the translation for the most part easy to understand with the background I have of religious studies and history. It might be harder going for those who are coming to the book without that.
The characters and places are vividly drawn. Kristin and the other characters are very real and human, with all the good and weakness that entails. Modern readers may be confused by how much some of the characters dwell on their supposed sins.
Since I am me here are my complaints. Notice that they were not enough to make these books lose a star for me.
Because the books cover the entire life of Kristin, there are periods that are skipped over or briefly mentioned. Ramborg doesn't appear until she is already a year old.
Other characters that are important disappear, the farmer's wife in Husaby who befriends Kristen in a crises and attends her first very difficult labour and delivery for one.
The section where Simon convinces Erling to speak to the king for Erlend left me confused.
A Bit of a Library E-book Rant: I didn't realise that a new translation have been published by Penguin until one of my libraries showed it as available. Of course, this is the library that has a 7 day checkout period on a 1,169 page book. This wasn't so bad until there started to be a waiting list on my third renewal. I would still be reading this if it hadn't been for Apple offering the e-book for $2.99 on a flash sale Also, I read library e-books using a Kindle app on my Apple device. The Kindle app would show the book as "not available" when the Libby app showed it was checked out to me at times, so some check-out periods were 4 days instead of 7.
TLDR: This may have ruined the genre of historical fiction for me, it was that good.
Personal History: I bought the books decades ago and never got into them. Now listening to the podcast Saga Thing has given me a better understanding of Norwegian and Icelandic history, though the sagas of the Icelanders takes place a couple of centuries before the events in Kristin Lavransdatter. The new translation also had some helpful footnotes. I haven't compared any of the old and new translations yet. I found the translation for the most part easy to understand with the background I have of religious studies and history. It might be harder going for those who are coming to the book without that.
The characters and places are vividly drawn. Kristin and the other characters are very real and human, with all the good and weakness that entails. Modern readers may be confused by how much some of the characters dwell on their supposed sins.
Since I am me here are my complaints. Notice that they were not enough to make these books lose a star for me.
Because the books cover the entire life of Kristin, there are periods that are skipped over or briefly mentioned. Ramborg doesn't appear until she is already a year old.
Other characters that are important disappear, the farmer's wife in Husaby who befriends Kristen in a crises and attends her first very difficult labour and delivery for one.
The section where Simon convinces Erling to speak to the king for Erlend left me confused.
A Bit of a Library E-book Rant: I didn't realise that a new translation have been published by Penguin until one of my libraries showed it as available. Of course, this is the library that has a 7 day checkout period on a 1,169 page book. This wasn't so bad until there started to be a waiting list on my third renewal. I would still be reading this if it hadn't been for Apple offering the e-book for $2.99 on a flash sale Also, I read library e-books using a Kindle app on my Apple device. The Kindle app would show the book as "not available" when the Libby app showed it was checked out to me at times, so some check-out periods were 4 days instead of 7.
christyb123's review
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
shareen17's review
4.0
The epic story of a woman living in medieval Norway. It's beautifully written with gorgeous descriptions of the scenery. I don't always like the characters, and sometimes find the religious parts a little heavy-handed, but still find the story engrossing. It's usual to have stories where the hero or heroine follows their own path and finds happiness. This is one where you often wish she would have just done what her parents and community expected of her.
taural41's review
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Toxic relationship, Pregnancy, Death, and Violence
Moderate: Sexual content, Child death, Rape, Sexual assault, and War
Minor: Death of parent and Murder