Read-Along: “Kristin Lavransdatter, Part III: The Cross”
Posted by Valerie in book review, read alongs
I finished reading the Kristin Lavransdatter trilogy (written by Sigrid Undset; translated by Tiina Nunnally), along with several others reading along. The co-hosts of this Read-along, Emily at Evening all Afternoon and Richard at Caravana de Recuerdos , share their thoughts on this final book (click on the links above), and they each include a list of other participants’ posts as they go up.
Well, I am glad I finally finished this trilogy. As I’ve said with Book II, I think my main problem has been the task of reading all three books in the trilogy within three months. You know how they say there can sometimes be too much of a good thing? Well, in this case, for me it was too much of a not-always-so-good thing.
I hate to sound so critical of Sigrid Undset’s Kristin Lavransdatter trilogy, because I’m basically a nice person and I’ve always tried to follow my mom’s advice: “If you can’t say something good about a person, don’t say it at all”. However, my comments are not directed at Sigrid Undset herself as a person (one could say that she is no longer alive to see these comments, anyway). Rather, comments concern her writing style, or the portrayal of the fictional characters in her books.
“Book III: The Cross” is a continuance of Kristin Lavransdatter’s life story. What I will always remember about it, is: yet more family problems. (skip the next few sentences if you want to know absolutely nothing about the story– but I don’t plan on giving away much). Kristin and her husband Erlend separate and never really seem to fully reconcile. Kristin sees her sons approaching adulthood and not always making wise decisions or actions. And, because death at relatively early ages were common back then, Kristin loses a lot of friends and loved ones. Much has been made of the Black Death hitting several of the characters in this book, but this doesn’t happen until the last 50 pages or so of the book.
I do think that Sigrid Undset portrayed the characters, and incidents, in a realistic way. This is both good and bad. Bad in that as such is how life is, things get repetitive. Baby after baby. Death after death. People (especially Kristin) have a hard time just letting go of the past. Good in that you do get to see this story as “it is what it was”; and that here medieval life isn’t seen through rosy-colored glasses. Undset’s trilogy could have been just as effective in painting life as it was back then, if she had summarized and/or edited her books better.
Undset’s characters are definitely all too human, especially Kristin. Here is a quote from “The Cross”:
“But deep in her heart Kristin felt that she had not forgiven Erlend. She could not, because she would not. She held on to her bowl of love, refusing to let it go, even though it now contained these last, bitter dregs. The moment when she left Erlend behind, no longer thinking of him even with this corrosive bitterness, then everything that had been between them would be over”.
Kristin struggles with her emotions, feelings, her faith in God. One book of this would have been enough, rather than an entire trilogy. Of all three books in this trilogy, I prefer the first one, “The Wreath”. That book was adequate enough to introduce me to the way of life and common thinking during the time and place of medieval Norway.
Beyond that, I’m not sure I’d have felt compelled to read the rest of the trilogy (definitely not that close together…a year in between, maybe) if it hadn’t been for this read-along. Still, I’m glad I participated in this read-along! It has been both enjoyable and enlightening reading others’ opinions on this trilogy. Although, as I write this post, I have yet to read in depth others’ blog posts on the final book in the trilogy. I’m looking forward to doing so!
My previous posts on Kristin Lavransdatter:
Read-Along: “Kristin Lavransdatter, Part I: The Wreath”
Read-Along: “Kristin Lavransdatter, Part II: The Wife”
Entries (RSS)
I felt much as you do, although I thought the last book picked up after Erlend’s death. I’m glad I read it, but don’t imagine I’ll tackle it for a re-read anytime soon.
Amy´s last blog ..Best of 2009
I love the quote you chose about “the bitter dregs.” That is so Kristin!!!
rhapsodyinbooks´s last blog ..Sunday Salon – Review of Songs for the Butcher’s Daughter by Peter Manseau
It’s SO funny to me that I had such a different reaction to KL as pretty much all of the read-a-long participants. I wonder if it made a different that I read it in such a short time span? So I was so caught up in Kristin’s life?
Eva´s last blog ..Let the Lord of the Rings Read-a-Long Begin!
Valerie, I TOTALLY agree with the length issue – where was Undset’s editor?? And I don’t think you should feel bad for critiquing Undset’s writing – nice people can still be insightful critics, after all!
Anyway, thanks so much for reading along, and congratulations on finishing!
Emily´s last blog ..First Lines
I’m very curious why all the read-a-long people disliked it so much…I’ve seen so many GOOD thoughts on the book before hand. Suffice it to say, I’m still going to read the book myself!!
Rebecca Reid´s last blog ..Treasure Island and Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson
Amy, I don’t think I will ever re-read the trilogy. I may pull it off the shelf to look up passages, but not an entire re-read.
Jill, yes, that is why I bookmarked the “bitter dregs” quote, so typically Kristin!
Eva, it’s possible that you enjoyed Kristin because you read the trilogy in such a short period of time — but there are a lot of people who liked KL. It just seems that most of the read-athon-participants did not. If there were more of us that had read along, I’m sure there would have been more who liked it.
Emily, thanks to you and Richard for hosting
!
Rebecca, don’t let my, or others’ opinions, affect you. When you get to the trilogy someday, I’ll be interested in what you think of it!
Valerie´s last blog ..FreeVerse: Poems by Wen-Siang
Repetitive…so true!
Like Eva, I read it pretty fast (although probably not as fast as she did). After spending a month with the first part, I raced through the rest just to get it over with.
softdrink´s last blog ..The Age of Orphans
[...] concerned at first when I saw that there were missionaries and talk of religious faith; especially after reading the “Kristin Lavransdatter” trilogy. I was not in the mood for the possibility of more heavy-handed references to religious theology [...]
Valerie, thanks so much for reading along with us! Although I hate, hate, hated the trilogy for a number of reasons (!), I enjoyed reading everybody else’s reactions along the way–and I appreciate the fact that the critiques you bring up in this post (both the positive and the negative ones) show a level of engagement with the reading experience sometimes missing on other peoples’ blogs. P.S. My grade school principal had advice much like your Mom’s: he once instructed our entire class that we should always clap and never boo at the end of a performance…either to show that we really enjoyed it or because we were politely, silently happy that the performance was over!
Richard´s last blog ..Beginnings