Name: Kristin Lavransdatter
Rating: 4.236842105263158 (19 reviews)
ISBN: 9780143039167

Sigrid Undset

(Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)

Kristin Lavransdatter

Edwin Lang

This epic, The Life and Times of Kristen, daughter of Lavrans Bjorgulfson, takes place during the early to mid-14th century. Kristen is part of the Norwegian aristocracy and although the author implicitly stresses the predominant egalitarian ethos of the country, even in medieval times, the reader never once loses the sense that Kristen is gifted, beautiful and highborn, and in spite of her sins, a good woman, wife and mother. Late in the 3rd book (The Cross) Kristen reminiscences that she had continually sought to bend fate to her will, succeeded often, and generally suffered grievously for it but she thought that it was in her most sorrowful moments, and those in which she was most repentant like betraying her loving and good hearted father in her love for Erlend Nikulausson, that she was privileged to see the Light. There seemed always something noble in Sigrid Undset’s depiction of Kristen. And like The Dean’s Watch by Elizabeth Goudge, Kristen Lavransdatter is full of deeply religious sentiment, Catholic in this case, written when Sigrid Undset was in her late thirties and early forties. Interestingly when Ms. Undset was through with it all she herself converted to Catholicism. Throughout the story there is an implicit sense of Kristen’s self-worth that buoys the trilogy, not because she had been born into privilege or money or esteem – she pretty well loses most of it all as the story progresses – but because she knows that there is something like a ‘precious sin’ for which it is worthy to risk it all, and even in her deepest state of repentance she knows that it is a sin that she will never regret. The ‘sin’ of course is love. Kristen loves, completely, sometimes – quite frequently actually – in the style of a shrill and bitter harridan, but she nonetheless loves passionately, fiercely, faithfully, self-effacingly, even depravedly, until the end. She emerges from it all a kind and intelligent woman, worn out, old, seemingly alone and it seems that like St Paul she has run the race, well and with everything she had. I have no idea why I bought this book (in August 2015) - if it had been the attractive cover, or that it was a story about a woman by a woman or perhaps because the author had won the Pulitzer prize. But there seemed something inherently appealing about the book. The book’s quite long introduction helped: written I realized only after I finished the book by a man (Brad Leithauser, because all along I thought it had been the reminiscences of a woman reader) which starts with ‘My first foray into the world of Kristen Lavransdatter … turned out to be a reading experience like no other”. Like Mr. Leithauser I chose to read the book slowly, and Brad Leithauser has it right – at least partly right – when he summarizes Kristen Lavransdatter as the story of ‘a daddy’s girl who refuses daddy’s choice of a husband and marries for love, with often harrowing long range consequences’. Brad Leithauser is a poet and essayist, Harvard graduate (Law) and one of the 25 or so Rebel Angels: poets born after 1940 and spearheading a new formalism in poetic expression emphasizing a resurgence of meter and rhyme. I mention this because one has that sense of structure and discipline in Sigrid Undset’s Kristen. That in the heroine’s most transfigurative moments, whether in the arms of her lover, on a mountainside appreciating the scenery, even in her many moments of despair when her burdens seem too much for her to bear, it is rare that the author gives explicit definitive vent to it. There is nonetheless an appreciation of the harsh reality of Kristen’s life and a trace of comedy amid the tragedy: ‘surely she had never asked God for anything except that He should let her have her own will. And every time she had been granted what she asked for … and here she sat, contrite not because she had sinned against God but because she was unhappy that that she had been allowed to follow her will to the road’s end … She learned that the world is like an alehouse: The person who has no more money to spend is thrown outside the door’. Kristen Lavransdatter is a wonderful book, full of wonderful characters, all treated penetratingly well, honourably and compassionately and amid a wide and rich panorama of medieval Norway. Edwin

The Wreath

I absolutely loved this book! I find myself often discovering that classic novels are some of the best and most interesting books I read. I suppose that's what makes then a classic. I would rank this with Jane Austen and Charlotte Brontë works in terms of storytelling, longing, love, and betrayals.

Emma Lechner

Fran Lewis

It was a hard book to get into but it was good after all. For a Nobel prize in literature it is a surprisingly good read.

Lizzy Grayson

I read this book just over 3 years ago and have been saying ever since that it is my favorite book. From someone who has never really had a "favorite" book (just a bunch of favorites), this was a big deal for me, and I started to question whether it was really as good as I remembered. Having just finished re-reading this 1,124 page book in under 2 weeks, I think I can safely say that I was not mistaken in my first analysis. It is still by far my favorite book, and I actually loved and appreciated it on an even deeper level since I was less focused on the plot itself (additionally, this is probably a book that is better appreciated when one is not reading while nursing at 3am as I was the first time through hahaha). Any time I have ever tried to explain this book, I have felt that I was doing it a deep injustice, so I'll just leave my immense love of it (and this petty attempt at putting words together in a review) as evidence that you, too, should journey to medieval Norway and get to know Kristin Lavransdatter.

Donald

I think it's fair to say that this is the greatest romance novel ever written.

Christopher McCaffery

That was completely wild and I'm not sure what to think.

'There you can see Husaby, Kristin. May God grant you many happy days there, my wife!' The wife continues the story of a passionate and wilful woman in medieval Norway. Kristin Lavransdatter is now married to Erlend Nikulausson, a man whose single-minded determination to become an influential social and political figure forces Kristin to take over the management of Erlend's estate, Husaby, while raising their seven sons. Once again, Sigrid Undset presents the rich historical detail and compelling characters that make her Norway's most beloved author. Award-winning translator Tiina Nunnally not only captures the modern beauty of this historical epic, but she also restores passages omitted from the original English translation. 'A masterpiece . . . writing in a prose as vigorous, articulate and naturalistic as the novel it re-creates, Tiina Nunnally brilliantly captures a world both remote and strangely familiar.' -PEN/Book-of-the-Month Club Translation Prize citation

The Wife

I think this is good. Still trying to decide. Totally wild ride.

Simon Elliott Stegall

This is a brilliant and heartbreaking book, in more ways than one. I was more moved by its ending than I have been since I read J.D. Salinger's "Franny and Zooey" 5 years ago. I see why this book won the Nobel Prize for literature. Highly recommend.

Maytal

Wow, what can I say about this book. I've never seen such amazing world building before. Each time I opened the book I fell into Norway in the 1300s and could believe every word. This book shows the struggles of sin, grief, jealousy, love in a powerful story of an ordinary woman and her life. Would recommend to anyone interested in reading to choose the edition by this translator, who did an amazing job. I also recommend taking this book slowly - let yourself fall into this world and stay there for a bit with Kristin.

Monica Evans

Seth Kalback

Joshua Line

'There you can see Husaby, Kristin. May God grant you many happy days there, my wife!'The wife continues the story of a passionate and wilful woman in medieval Norway. Kristin Lavransdatter is now married to Erlend Nikulausson, a man whose single-minded determination to become an influential social and political figure forces Kristin to take over the management of Erlend's estate, Husaby, while raising their seven sons. Once again, Sigrid Undset presents the rich historical detail and compelling characters that make her Norway's most beloved author. Award-winning translator Tiina Nunnally not only captures the modern beauty of this historical epic, but she also restores passages omitted from the original English translation.'A masterpiece . . . writing in a prose as vigorous, articulate and naturalistic as the novel it re-creates, Tiina Nunnally brilliantly captures a world both remote and strangely familiar.'-PEN/Book-of-the-Month Club Translation Prize citation

The Cross

Noha Abdelaziz

Brigid Hogan

Elizabeth Hisserich

pam a lamb

Chronicles the life of a fourteenth-century Scandinavian woman, Kristin, from her youth, through her tumultuous marriage, and to her later estrangement from her husband.

Kristin Lavransdatter (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)

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