A good story ahead of its time

4.5/5

The journey by which I found out about and then acquired a copy of this work is nothing short of magical, and is why I so deeply miss the reserve of used book sales I somewhat took for granted back in the day. You see, way back when, I took on Undset's [b:Kristin Lavransdatter|6217|Kristin Lavransdatter (Kristin Lavransdatter, #1-3)|Sigrid Undset|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1388289230l/6217._SY75_.jpg|1370150] due to my habit of 'go big or go home' when it comes to underrepresented demographics in various awards, in this case the Nobel Prize for Literature, and ended up discovering a favorite. Through some whim of circumstance, I had actually committed to this, one of Undset's lesser known works, two years prior to my first reading of her, and if one knows anything about literary publications of women in translation, you know that not even a Nobel can save their less lauded works from obscurity. So when I went through the motions of the often thankless process of searching through the section devoted aged hardbacks largely of works long out of print and stumbled upon this long familiar title, I was more than a little chuffed. After so many years of intensive reading, I knew not to expect an author up to measure up in their second engagement to the level they set in the first, especially with as awe inspiring an introduction that Undset struck. However, this work is a masterful portrayal of desire, revenge, and unfulfillment, splayed out on the field of the Nordic Middle Age, the Vikings still reaping and sowing in the vein of pagan fulfillment but just on the verge of being fully converted to Christianity. It's the opposite of experimental and has no interest in subverting expectations, but if you're in the mood for a tale of in the style of old that zings just as sharply in the modern day, you're in for a real treat.

There's a lot going on these days, and yet, because of capitalism, so much of it looks the same. Sure, freedom of speech and all that, but if something doesn't become the next cash cow and pull in the consumers past their credit limits, good luck convincing someone who doesn't already participate in an open access project (fanfiction, Wikipedia, game modding, etc) that it's worth bringing into existence. Due to its inherent physical characteristics and position in society, literature can more easily escape the hegemonic specter that is the superhero movie where no one really dies and thus no one really matters, but if you asked yourself whether a work like this one here could be published to the wide acclaim it deserves today, you'd probably tell yourself that the plot is nothing new, the characters do not for a single moment quip, and the world building really doesn't sustain itself without any high fantasy thrills. And yet, this text thrills without proselytizing, immerses without overwhelming, and for the most part takes me back to the days where I would hold my breath while reading the last few pages, the conclusion impossible to predict and the tension thick enough for a knife. It didn't end up ranking as highly as Kristin Lavransdatter, but it did further confirm my labeling Undset as a favorite. For sometimes the humans are drawn so well in both their sanctity and their sins that one must know what happens, the conflict is so familiar in their horrid complexity that one cannot help but painfully relate, and the setting is so enticing in its possibilities and dire in its consequences that one simultaneously yearns for it while being more than relived that one is in the 21st century. As stated, it's likely too simplistic and 'done before' to win any prizes today, but sometimes what one needs on these dreary days is a ripping good tale, and the fact that the tale is about a woman who happens to be a human is an added bonus.

A few months after I relocated for work, I decided that, in order to balance being unwilling to drive 70+ miles for a potential handful of used books and yet fervently missing the experience nonetheless, I'd permit myself a regular monthly amount to spend on Bookshop.org. Now that my finances are much more stable, I'm in a better position than I've ever been to actually indulge in that scheme, but after my experience with this work, I know for a fact that getting that shipment in the mail, all nice and neat and easily collated, is never going to be as gratifying as the thrill of the successful hunt. Thoughts of eventually moving again to a more booksale-friendly area aside, I'm grateful that the fervent commitment to literature that I've dedicated nearly two decades of my life and an untold amount of my money to cultivating has made for experiences like these, where a used book that I pick up for a buck ends up being the bridge between a fraught past and a vibrant future. Indeed, upon looking back on my logged tag updates for this, I realize that I so fortuitously acquired it a mere five days before I got the offer of the full time job that has taken me farther on my love affair with bookishness than my younger, much beleaguered, engineering undergrad self could have ever imagined. The fact that it happened with a work of Undset's is, honestly, to be expected. In any case, I'm sure at some point I'll read one of her books and not have it be coupled with a cataclysmically life affirming event, but to find that out, I'll simply have to read more of her books. And if worse comes to worst and my life is totally typical from beginning to end, I'll have yet another masterful book by a damn good author who deserves far more contemporary acclaim than she gets under my belt, and that's hardly the worst thing to settle for, no?

this one started my fascination with Sigrid Undset's writing, good stuff

Dark, beautiful, heartbreaking.

This novella covers a surprising amount of time -- the exact number of years is not given, but I'd guess it covers at least forty. This means that while small moments of time can be explored in depth, many parts of the novel are only very briefly shaded it. Sometimes this works, and gives the book a mythical quality, but other times it just left me dissatisfied. Vigdis, the main character, is raped by Ljot, an Icelander who comes to her home in Norway. She curses him, and over the years her curses come true, in ways that cause everyone pain. Vigdis's trauma is handled with care, and her revenge is, at times, very satisfying, but most of the time the events were too briefly sketched out for me to get any emotion from any of it.