Read Kristin Lavransdatter I The Wreath Penguin Classics Sigrid Undset Tiina Nunnally 9780141180410 Books

Product details Paperback 336 pages Publisher Penguin Classics; F First Paperback Edition Used edition (December 1, 1997) Language English ISBN-10 0141180412

Kristin Lavransdatter I The Wreath Penguin Classics Sigrid Undset Tiina Nunnally 9780141180410 Books Reviews

• This is a wonderful classic book. I will let other reviews speak to that.
  
  First, I began this book once in an older translation. In the older translation, it is a tough slog with arcane English usage. This translation is glorious and readable. You absolutely want this translation.
  
  Second, the printed book feels good in your hands and is well printed.
  
  Third, the edition does not have chapter marks, or search properly. It is usable, but is missing many features that make the book desirable for such a big book.
• Probably my all-time favorite book! This pulled me into Kristin's life. Sigrid Undset is a brilliant writer and it's a tragic crime against literature that she did not leave us more of her writing. There are many descriptions in this book which had the effect of making many things, especially nature, really come to life. She uses using words I was not familiar with, so I learned too. If you do not like reading detailed artistic descriptive writing, you may not enjoy this book. But I cannot think of a complaint about this wonderful story of a life. It was a magical read. I felt physically taken to the places she described. While reading this book during my long daily commute on the train, I almost missed my stop several times, that's how absorbed I was, she really took me there; I FELT like I was Kristin. For the faithful Christian Catholic, there is a lot to love in these books. Ms. Undset's understanding of God's redemptive plan of salvation embodied in His Son and the Church He founded is apparent and especially accurate; her writing at brief times is theologically inspiring. For anyone who has not read this book, I am officially jealous, you are in for a real treat!
• This novel blew me away. I read this because it was recommended for people going to Norway, and I was expecting something dull. I found myself in a page-turner. Admittedly, it starts off a bit slow while you adjust to the world of medieval Norway and meet all the characters, but then you're hooked with the richness and complexity of this love story. It's not easy for 21st century people to understand the overwhelming part that religion plays in these long-ago lives, but you need to put yourself in their homespun garments to understand.
• I bought this book in preparation for a trip to Norway. I didn't love it, but I finished it. The character of Kristin fell flat for me - she was a tool Undset used to communicate her message about sin and redemption. There were moments when the plot pulled me in, but the characters never became to real to me. After finishing a book like *Pride and Prejudice* or *Catcher in the Rye*, I can imagine how characters would react to events in my world or other novels; I can't do that with characters in this book. Is Kristin kind? bitter? impulsive? rebellious? loving? hypocritical? It all depends on what the plot needs her to be in order to move forward. She has moments of self-awareness, but these rarely result in any change in behavior. On more than one occasion she realizes that she has "trampled" over others and Undset waxes poetic on the scales falling from Kristin's eyes as she becomes aware of her sin... and then Kristin continues on as ever, until the next moment of self-awareness (at which point she seems unaware that she's been here before).
  
  The thrust of this novel is not Kristin's life or development as a person, it is the religious themes Undset develops. As someone who was not raised within the Catholic tradition, this emphasis on sin and guilt felt quite heavy-handed at times.
  
  The book is well-written and I finished it in about a week (teacher on vacation), but it just wasn't what I was looking for.
  
  Plot summary
  Kristin spends 300 pages as a fair young maiden, the apple of every man's eye. She may or may not be as innocent as she appears, but she mostly enjoys the first 300 pages of her life - at times a bit too much. She then spends 800 pages feeling guilty and angry. In the last 20 pages she learns to sacrifice herself.
• Worth the price of adding the Audible file. One becomes immersed in this tale, the history, the characters, their language and customs, the beautiful architecture and clothing, even the smells of the barn and the wildflower meadows come alive to the listener. Are you a lover of travel? You may believe that you have gone back in time to the land of glacial fjords and primeval forests. If you are not descended from Norwegians, you may find yourself wishing that you were.
• The whole series- one must read all three volumes-is beautifully translated trilogy written by the great Norwegian writer Sigrid Undset. Years ago when I was in High School my Uncle said it was one of greatest novels he had ever read. He was an avid reader and a well-educated man familiar with the works of Tolstoy Dostoevsky Turgenev and the list goes on. I finally read it in my seventies and I was richly rewarded. The characters are three dimensional and interesting. From my Norwegian niece I learned it was considered in her university a fairly accurate picture of Norse Medieval life and history. It broadened my appreciation of the Middle Ages and its people Despite our cultural differences the novel made its people real and accessible to the modern reader. Living here in Maine I appreciated its depiction of life in Winter especially in view of the absence of snow blowers plowed roads and Polar Fleece. The resilience these people had amazes me.One feels present at all points in the trilogy especially throughout the novel in view the onslaught of the Black Plague.I recommend this book highly as not only one the greatest of novels and at the same time being a great and compassionate read.