I am not sure I have before encountered a fictional story that so wholly and successfully renders the spiritual saga that is the life of a baptized Christian. (Rolvaag's GIANTS IN THE EARTH comes close, so perhaps there is something to the Norwegian approach to storytelling?)

Appropriately, not one Christian character in this trilogy is solely a hero or a villain. Each sins in thought, word, and deed - whether by commission or omission - and each manages to love and serve others according to the measure of gifts he has been given by God. Everyone is maddeningly flawed, and everyone is sublimely tied together by the forgiveness of Christ.

Personally, I found it difficult to get through the more salacious portions of this trilogy's storyline, but I did find myself rejoicing in this third installment. An aging Kristin beckons us to walk alongside her and to contemplate - through repentance and faith - life temporal and eternal.

I am not Roman Catholic, so I do not resonate with some of Undset's theological assertions; however, I cannot commend enough the depth and breadth of this work's profound historicity and elegant imagery. Undset deserves the Nobel Prize in Literature that she was awarded.

I kept putting off reading the last volume because the first two made me so sad and I knew that this was would break my heart even more. Which it did. Oh my heart hurts for Kristin Lavransdatter... and for Erlend and for Simon and for Lavrans and all her sons.

“True, toil and struggle had been hers every hour since she rode, a bride, into Erlend Nikulaussön’s manor--and saw that here one at least must fight to save the heritage of him she bore below her heart.”

When I started this saga, I thought it would be about the difficulty of the hard work required in the olden times of the 14th century. It is that, but I found it to be even more about the difficulty of decisions, like the kind we still face today. As Kristin matures, her problems mature, and as with each of us as we age, they seem to get harder. How do we honor our parents? support our spouse? raise our children? repay our friends? We struggle to follow our religion, respect those we disagree with, avoid hurting those we love. We fail. And we deal with that failure.

Kristin’s struggles, though specifically very different than mine, feel so real and relatable. Adored spouses infuriate, family members become estranged, cherished hopes are not realized.

Yet the story celebrates the precious gifts all around us, through and in spite of these struggles. Eventually Kristin finds the beauty in her flawed loved ones, and in the hard country where she makes a home.

This third book may not be as interesting to the young reader. Life builds in the first two parts, but in this one there is a natural diminishing. It might be depressing for those who haven’t yet experienced the undeniable truth of this fact of life.

“Kristin sat with her little grandson in her lap, and thought, easy ‘twoud scarce be for her either at the one or the other place. ‘Twas a hard matter, growing old. So lately, it seemed, ‘twas she herself who was the young woman--then it was about her fate that the men’s strife and counsels tossed. Now she had drifted into a backwater.”

I have spread the three parts of the Kristin Lavransdatter trilogy over a period of five years now. I read very old library copies of all three books--1920’s translations by Charles Archer. His choice to include archaic phrases made for difficult reading at times, but I enjoyed the feel of them.

What I’d like to do now is find a newer translation, perhaps with extensive footnotes, and read it straight through. Maybe tackle some Norwegian history first. What can I say? There are a very few works of literature which promise a payback for the devotion of extensive time and energy. This is one.

I finished this series today at work, and then I was left with a lot of time to think about it. There are so many things worth talking about, but what seems like it's going to stick with me the most is the role of God-given male power in Kristin's world. Book one is about the obedience Kristin owes to her father. In book two Kristin struggles with the obedience she owes to her husband, the obedience her husband owes to the king, and her feelings that she's somehow been cheated by Erlend being so unreliable; she feels that she should be able to obey him and trust his judgment at all times, but she can't. Book three is largely about her grief over how little power she has in the lives of her sons.

What makes Kristin so interesting is that she believes in patriarchal power wholeheartedly, but she also never gives in to it. In a remarkable moment in the second book, her father tells her, "You struggle like a colt that has been tied up in the stable for the first time, whenever your heartstrings are bound." She doesn't want to accept the traditional fate of women, to love deeply but without power. Most often the male response to her resistance is a gentle lecture about the importance of accepting God's will and not trying to act in the world. Meanwhile, all of the men live in the world, make significant decisions, and take risks, apparently feeling that it's different for them, since they act on behalf of God rather than against him. None of the book's characters seem aware of the disparity, and I'm not sure Sigrid Undset is fully aware of it either.

It makes me wonder what the gender politics of Norway were like in the early 1920s when these books were written. These days Norway is tied with Sweden and Finland, and maybe Iceland, in the running for most progressive on gender issues. Back then were they on the verge of major changes like we were? I feel like these books contain some unspoken knowledge about why Kristin feels so desperate so much of the time. Undset never oversimplifies the problem. Kristin's father is a wonderful person whose integrity is never compromised, and Erlend is disappointing most of the time, but it's hard to say which of them does Kristin the most good or the most harm.

In the final book Kristin stays true to her character, struggling to do important things right up to the end. Maybe Erlend's appeal comes from the fact that he does need her help. He never smothers her with too much protection.

What a glorious study of human characters this books is! Also: I cried.

I probably would have never read those books if I wasn't currently living in Norway (or I would have given up... It's long!!) but i glad I stick with it as it is a really great way to understand the Norwegian culture. AND i score major points when I tell Norwegian people I read it ;-)

For en bok, og for en flott serie Sigrid Undset skrev. Jeg skjønner nå hvorfor disse leses fortsatt, og hvorfor så mange anbefaler å lese dem flere ganger i løpet av livet, på ulike livsstadier! Jeg leste Kransen på videregående, og har et helt annet blikk på den i dag. Og kanskje vil jeg lese bøkene annerledes igjen om 20 år?

Jeg har hørt hele serien via Fabel, og forelsket meg, vært fortvilet, lidd og grått med Kristin Lavransdatter.

Kristin was a mirror for me to look into my own soul. And it was painful - and so good - and so hard - to see the discontent, unforgiveness, fear, and people-pleasing that has been festering in me for decades.

These are some of the questions that came up for me from reading this book…
Why does Kristin have such a hard time forgiving Erland?

Would it have affected Kristin’s ability to forgive Erlend if he had not been dismissive and nonchalant in his apology to her?

What role does the offender’s apology/posture in repentance play in the victim’s forgiveness?

What does it look like to bear the cost of forgiveness?

Do I know what it means to truly forgive? Or to be forgiven?

What does it mean to be a good woman?

Would my children be more virtuous if I was more repentant?

How much of my discontent in life breeds discontent in my children?

Is Jesus ALL I need to be content? (I hope yes, but is that what I am living out?)

Repentance - does it lead to virtue? Or does it cause virtue?

So many of Kristin’s sins are because she can never open her hands to the life she is given vs the life she wants to have. (Because she thinks that she knows what is right/best for her… what she thinks she OUGHT to have… Sounds familiar, ahem… EVE) The tension between the given life vs. the planned life is so real for her.

Too many good quotes to list them all. Two that struck me the most:
“Again it came upon her, that peculiar feverlike inner vision. The river seemed to be showing her a picture of her own life: She too had restlessly rushed through the wilderness of her earthly days, rising up with an agitated roar at every rock she had to pass over.
Faint and scattered and pale was the only way the eternal light had been mirrored in her life. But it dimly occurred to the mother that in her anguish and sorrow and love, each time the fruit of sin had ripened to sorrow, that was when her earthbound and willful soul managed to capture a trace of the heavenly light.” pg 367-8

"Disobedience is my gravest sin, Gunnulf, and I was inconstant too. All my days I have longed equally to travel the right road and to take my own errant path." pg 379

Okay, this trilogy really needs a review, but it really can’t be done briefly. It is an incredibly powerful story as a whole and one thing I will say is that I see the trilogy as one work - you should really read all three books or it’s difficult to unpack the treasures and overall message. At times it can feel like quite a depressing depiction of life, but this is exactly why it is so important to read it right through. It sure is powerful as a whole. I don’t plan to get into the many details needed to do this work justice on here, so if you’d like to know my thoughts in detail bring it up in person some time :). I do very highly recommend it! The quality of the writing is incredible and I couldn’t put it down. It is an epic and honest story of the lifelong battle against sin and weakness and the persistence of God’s love, mercy and redemption.

Kristin Lavransdatter 3: Korset = The Cross (Kristin Lavransdatter, #3), Sigrid Undset

Kristin Lavransdatter is a trilogy of three volumes: The Wreath. The Wife, and The Cross.

The Cross by Sigrid Undset, New York: Vintage Books, 1987, 403 pages.

As a young girl, Kristin is deeply devoted to her father, a kind and courageous man. But when as a student in a convent school she meets the charming and impetuous Erlend Nikulaussøn, she defies her parents in pursuit of her own desires.

تاریخ نخستین خوانش: نوزدهم ماه مارس سال 1997میلادی

سیگْرید اونْدْسِت (در کتابخانه ملی: «سیگری اونس») نویسنده «نروژی» بودند، که در سال 1928میلادی برنده ی جایزه نوبل ادبیات شدند.؛ ایشان در شهر «کالوندبورگ»، در «دانمارک» به دنیا آمدند، ولی دو سال داشتند، که به همراه خانواده‌ ی خویش، به «نروژ» رفتند.؛ ایشان در سال 1940میلادی، بخاطر مخالفت با «نازیسم هیتلری»، و حمله ی «آلمان» به «نروژ»، از «نروژ» به «ایالات متحدهٔ آمریکا» رفتند، و در پایان جنگ جهانی دوم، در سال 1945میلادی، به کشور خویش بازگشتند.؛ بهترین اثر ادبی ایشان «کریستین دختر لاورنس»، در سه کتاب «تاج گل»، «همسر»، و «صلیب» است، که ماجرای زندگی سه‌ گانه در «اسکاندیناوی» در دوران سده های میانی میلادی است، و زندگی یک زن از زمان زایش تا درگذشت او را به تصویر کشیده‌ است.؛ سه جلد این کتاب نخستین بار بین سال‌های 1920میلادی تا سال 1922میلادی منتشر شد

تاریخ بهنگام رسانی 17/05/1399هجری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی

This book, and the trilogy as a whole, has left me without words. Kristin’s life is tragic in so many ways and her battles with faith are gut wrenching. This is not a book from which one easily recovers.

A heart book for sure. Broken, beautiful, story of redemption and love. I will be thinking about these books for a long time and certainly hope to reread them soon.