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A review by margaret45678
Independent People by James Anderson Thompson, Halldór Laxness
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
reflective
sad
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Despite the heavy subject matter, I actually found it a fairly easy read once I got into it. I had to wait until the very end to appreciate its real greatness though.
"His being had rested full of adoration for the glory which unifies all distance in such beauty and sorrow that one no longer wishes for anything - in unconquerable adversity, in unquenchable longing, he felt that life had nevertheless been worth while living."
"When a man looks at a flowering plant growing slender and helpless up in the wilderness among a hundred thousand stones, and he has found this plant only by chance, then he asks: Why is it that life is always trying to burst forth? Should one pull up this plant and use it to clean one's pipe? No, for this plant also broods over the limitation and the unlimitation of all life, and lives in love of the good beyond these hundred thousand stones, like you and me; water it with care, but do not uproot it, maybe it is little Asta Sollilja."
"One has grown weary of one's house before it has finished building; strange that mankind should need to live in a house, instead of remaining content with the house of wishes."
"Capitalism punishes people much more for not stealing than for stealing - so why shouldn't a fellow steal?"
"His being had rested full of adoration for the glory which unifies all distance in such beauty and sorrow that one no longer wishes for anything - in unconquerable adversity, in unquenchable longing, he felt that life had nevertheless been worth while living."
"When a man looks at a flowering plant growing slender and helpless up in the wilderness among a hundred thousand stones, and he has found this plant only by chance, then he asks: Why is it that life is always trying to burst forth? Should one pull up this plant and use it to clean one's pipe? No, for this plant also broods over the limitation and the unlimitation of all life, and lives in love of the good beyond these hundred thousand stones, like you and me; water it with care, but do not uproot it, maybe it is little Asta Sollilja."
"One has grown weary of one's house before it has finished building; strange that mankind should need to live in a house, instead of remaining content with the house of wishes."
"Capitalism punishes people much more for not stealing than for stealing - so why shouldn't a fellow steal?"