El's Reviews > Kristin Lavransdatter

[ETA movie review at the end.]

Man, I don't even know how to review this book. It's really big, and full of melodrama, and it took me a pretty long time to read; and now that I'm done I'm somewhat tired and will be glad not to have to think about this anymore.

Don't get me wrong, this is a fine book. But I didn't love it. At times, I didn't even like it. There was a lot of talky-talk, and maybe that's my own fault for reading the entire kit-and-caboodle in one collection as opposed to reading the three books individually. At times it felt like I was stuck in 14th-century Norway and couldn't get out. On paper that sounds great - it's really not so great when you think about stuff that was going on in 14th-century Norway.

Things I liked:
- Massive books make me happy. Really. Truly. Despite how little it seemed to work for me with this book.
- Descriptions galore. My girl Sigrid knew who to write scenery, and it makes me want to go to Norway stat. Makes me want to run around in the woods in the snow and make snow angels with the birds and shit.
- This was clearly very well researched. I give Sigrid props for that, because as much as I love doing my own research, I have a feeling I would have petered out halfway through and there'd be a lot of really glaring mistakes. I couldn't help it - at times I forgot that Undset wrote this in the 1920s; it feels very much like it was written three or four hundred years ago.

Things I didn't like:
- The characters. Really. I didn't like many of the characters. The ones I did like disappeared for one reason or another. That's disappointing. In addition to that, the characters that did exist for more than one appearance were terribly flat and uninspiring. I learned a lot about Kristin, sure, and her relationship with certain people. But her gazillion kids that she kept pooping out? I have no idea who they were. As they got older, it made it easier because they started to have real lives outside of the little world Kristin tried to keep them wrapped up in, but when they were kids? Forget it. Hell, one of the kids (I don't remember which one) just sort of appeared out of nowhere. I barely even remember there being talk of Kristin's pregnancy. And I don't care what anyone says, I am not convinced that the majority of the characters were even necessary.
- As well-researched as the book was, and as beautiful as the descriptions of the scenery were, I think Undset often got tired of writing. She'd be all chatty about something and then all of a sudden she'd end the paragraph with something like, "Then he left." What? What happened? Why did that scene end? It's like Undset's bedtime snuck up on her, or the nurse called her from the waiting room, and she had to quickly finish up the scene lest she not be able to continue it later. Whatever, it was distracting and annoying, and made it hard for me to really get involved in the story.
- I wanted to beat the crap out of just about everyone. This is separate than my complaint about the characters. Just 'cause I say so. Seriously, everyone was exasperating.


But in the end, it's a touching story, if you can muddle your way through all the melodrama. There's a lot of whining and tears, some strange and often sudden aggression, lots of talk about religion while at the same time lots of talk of forest fairies and whatnot. It must have been hard to live in the 14th-century in Norway. No one had any idea what the hell was going on. Superstition was the impetus for any decision, and then when said decision didn't turn out so a-okay, then there'd be lots of talk of forgiveness and the need to repent.

I'm glad I read this in any case. It's a Nobel Prize winner, though for why I'm not entirely sure other than it's written by a woman and was controversial for its time (there's talk of sex and pregnancy! Say it ain't so!). Kristin has the ability to be a strong-minded and forceful woman, but then she would slip back into this pathetic shell of a girl which infuriated me beyond believe.

I can see how many people love this book, even though it didn't work for me. I'm rating it the way I am because of the beautiful scenery. I think Undset's real skill was nature writing, but since I don't know jack about her, I don't know if she ever did anything along those lines or what. I read Gunnar's Daughter by her a few years ago and didn't care much for it either; though I see my brother read it recently and he gave it a whopping five stars.

It is possible that Undset doesn't work for me, period. For now, though, I am pleased to be done, I feel very accomplished. And now this goes on to my brother so he can read it and we can fight about it.


[ETA, 04/01/12: So I watched the movie version of this. I know, right? Who even knew there was a movie version of Kristin Lavransdatter? But really, it exists, and the stunning Liv Ullmann directed it. That's right, the chick from those Ingmar Bergman movies. She was his "Molly Ringwald". She's wonderful.

Unfortunately, the movie version of Kristin Lavransdatter wasn't that great. She directed it in 1995 but it felt more dated than that. And I think she was trying to go for some Bergman effects but fell sort of short. (And, yes, it pains me to say this.) There were dramatic scenes which was fitting, I suppose, because the book itself was so OMG-dramatic; still, it's even more frustrating to actually witness it than it is to just read about it.

And, seriously, the book is a gazillion pages long - the movie itself is only three hours. You can't cram all that shit into three hours. In fact, she barely even scratched the surface. She only focused on one or two major themes, and in the process spent a lot of time showing people crying upon close-ups and some frolicking among trees. Yes, for real.

So, meh on the movie, meh on the book. Still a bunch of thumbs up for Liv Ullmann though. For what it's worth.