I have finally done it; I was able to finish a 1100+ page book in just over a month. Given that I am still working full time and doing a major project with my husband and other life circumstances… I could have done a little better, but not bad.
So, here it is: Kristin Larvansdatter by Sigrid Undset. It had been sitting on my shelves for at least five years, and I always passed it by because that 1124 pages looked daunting. I have the three-in-one volume by Penguin, so as I was reading it felt rewarding getting to those milestones.
Kristin Lavransdatter is a life story of, obviously, Kristin Lavransdatter, taking place in Medieval Norway. Kristin comes from a pretty well-off family; her father had served in the court of the king, and had come home to be very successful in his landownings and farming. When reaching the age for marriage, she becomes engaged to a wonderful human being named Simon Darre (Andresson). Wanting to spend a year in a covent before getting a married, Kristin is introduced to Erlend Nikulausson, who she breaks her engagement for. Together they have seven sons, and their marriage is continually tested with downfalls and reckless behavior. That is as much as I want to share, or else I will end up sharing everything like I did to my mom because she became invested in it after I read a section of it to her.
Kristin Lavransdatter was incredibly well written; written in the 1920s but translated in 1997, the language is simple, but very very detail-oriented. I was telling my husband that it reminds me of all of those memes about Tolkien writing about a tree for five-six pages; that is this book’s entirety, which may be a turn-off for a lot of people. When Undset was writing this, she went and did so much research on Medieval Norway that she won a Nobel prize in literature for her work, so whenever there is a scene change, there is a page, or so about the setting and everything that goes into that setting like the different grasses and floral that live there, the condition of the sky and the river if there is one, the mountains, the condition of the characters’ faces, any historical background that involved the ancestors of the family if that is applicable. It is a lot of information to take in! There were points where I thought about giving up because there is just so much information. By the time I got about halfway through the whole thing did I finally get accustomed to it so that I could keep moving the plot along.
At whatever point you are able to get through that obstacle, there is so much drama and rich character development, because you literally see Kristin grow up from her birth to her death. Which brings me to another love/hate point. I found it funny that she literally never seems to change. She adapted to the various roles that she became, but her core character never changed. To me, all of the grownups never changed; Simon stayed consistently servant-led and inwardly tormented, Erlend always being reckless and not outwardly thoughtful to the people he should care the most about, Kristin being incredibly stubborn and defensive especially once the children are introduced. The children you see them grow and change. Kristin points out their consistent characteristics, but they develop into surprising people; they rise up to the callings for their lives.
At the root of all of this, the theme seems to be the actions that people make and the consequences that follow. The difference is whether you learn from them, or not. For Kristin and Erlend, I had really hoped that they would realize what their behavior does to each other and the people around them and either change themselves, or change their dynamic by leaving each other. Those two are so incredibly toxic to each other; they rode on the feelings they had for each other in the little time that she was at the convent and they seem to hold that over each other. How pure and youthful she was, how handsome and loving he was; those were used as, I think, a weapon to hurt the other and point blame for why they are in the state that they ended up in. Kristin never let Erlend forget about what impact his actions had on the future of his sons, and he would just simply walk away and needed excuses to be away from her.
I am planning on keeping this one; I just mentioned that to my husband and he was surprised by that. It grew on me, we will just say that.
I would very much recommend this while, again, keeping in mind that this is a marathon of a book. If you are interested in checking out Kristin Lavransdatter, you will be able to find it here.
9/10
Chofa Times on the Chofa 