Saw a rec for this a while back, then ran across it at the library's new book display, so here we are. This is an 1100-page historical fiction book (originally published as a trilogy) written in the 1920s, set in 1300s Norway. Sort of, kind of, a love triangle; Kristin is betrothed to Simon, then she and Erlend fall in love and so they try to get out of the arranged marriage. Against a very Catholic backdrop of what is sin and what does this mean for your soul. The characters spend a lot of time praying to God, the saints, etc. (Undset converted to Catholicism a couple of years after finishing the series.) I like this kind of stuff that can be Very Earnest About Explaining The Themes, No Subtext Here, (see also, Dostoevsky, Hugo, etc.) but people less enamored of Christianity might find it slow going.
One of the overarching Very Earnest Themes is "if and when you sin, don't spend too much time worrying about when or if the comeuppances will strike, because there Will be comeuppances, you don't have to worry about that. So you might as well enjoy the fun parts while you can."
Everyone goes by patronymics, like modern Iceland, so literally, Kristin is "Lavran's daughter." Except there are also a few families that have unofficial family names, so Simon is sometimes Simon Andresson and other times Simon Darre.
Here is a family tree (uh, spoilers), and there are probably more details/side characters one could add if one really wanted to. Actually most of the time I was able to hold in my head pretty well who the relevant characters were at any given time. The one thing that kept tripping me up is "who is Ulf and how is he related again." Ulf is Erlend's mom's half-brother (same father, but Ulf's mom was married to someone else at the time, which is why he's Ulf Haldorsson). By 1300s Norway standards this is obviously scandalous and Ulf is demoted to being Erlend's mere house servant. But he's brave and loyal and still around on the last page.
I am not a fan of the contemporary fandom slang about "boy moms" and "girl dads" etc., parenthood is parenthood. But if ever there were a quintessential Boy Mom, Kristin is it. She has seven big strapping lads, bold and sometimes a little too much so, like their dad. And yet deep down (or not so deep) she's very proud of them just how they are. Part of what's moving is the everyday descriptions of how parental love changes and stays the same across the decades.
Naakkve's foot was sticking out from the covers, slender, with a high instep, a deep arch over the sole, and not very clean. And yet, she thought, it wasn't long ago that the foot of this man was so small that she could wrap her fingers around it, and she had crushed it to her breast and raised it to her lips, nibbling on each tiny toe, for they were as rosy and sweet as the blossoms on a bilberry twig.
(Apparently the "Can I eat the baby's toes?" "No." "Just one?" routine is more of a cultural universal than just my extended family's idea of humor.)
Yes, sometimes she even felt a longing for the fjord.
Monty Python approves.
In the context of the Lord's Prayer:
he knew that in some way he had always been able to forgive his debtors. It seemed much harder to forgive anyone who had bound a debt around his neck.
Is there a more general name for this trope? (Towards the end of the first Harry Potter book there's that dialogue of "and then your father did something Snape could never forgive." "Oh?" "He saved his life." "..." "That was probably why he felt like he had to save you, so he didn't owe your father anything. Then he could go back to hating your father's memory in peace.") Like, that sense of fairness, and "I absolutely refuse to give someone else the chance to be the bigger person because that means they're winning," ties into some of the anxiety and issues I've been dealing with on and off. It's nice to see someone else articulate it, at least.
The patron saint of Norway is King Olav, who reigned in the 1000s, and the characters spend a lot of time praying to him. What's funny is that he didn't live a particularly pious life, the Vatican never officially canonized him, he was just a popular king and after he died in battle, the Norwegians just decided "he's a saint now." Then in the 1500s, the Reformation happened, and Scandinavia and other parts of Europe became mostly Lutheran/Protestant (so much less emphasis on the saints) rather than Catholic. But apparently even that didn't stop the Norwegians, they were just like, "he's our saint." My mom's family is not Scandinavian but they are (US) Lutherans, and my mom went to St. Olaf College in Minnesota, that's how much the Lutherans still love St. Olaf.
Crossover potential: Erlend's brother Gunnulf is a monk who traveled through Italy and went to Rome on pilgrimage, he explains "carnevale" to Kristin. The timing could work for him to have met Dante during the writing of the Divine Comedy!
Also, the last chapter is set in 1349, so Kivrin Engle from Oxford Time Travel could show up and be like "oh not again." (Also, there's a scene earlier where the village church catches on fire, and all the men go to evacuate the relics and stuff because that's the village's proudest possessions. Which was reminiscent of "To Say Nothing of the Dog," but also, from a 21st century perspective it's like...priorities, guys, God also wants you to watch out for each other's lives.
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fred_mouse
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