I cannot express how much I love this book. So here is one of numerous passages that Undset, yet again, artfully writes and captures human sin with a hint of redemption.
“She had chosen him herself. She had chosen him in an ecstasy of passion, and she had chosen him again each day during those difficult years back home at Jorundgaard - his impetuous passion in place of her father’s love, which would not allow even the wind to touch her harshly. She had refused the destiny that her father had wished for her when he wanted to put her in the arms of a man who would have safely left her onto the most secure paths, even bending down to remove every little pebble that she might tread upon. She had chosen to follow the other man, whom she knew traveled on dangerous paths. Monks and priests had pointed out remorse and repentance as the road home to peace, but she had chosen strife rather than give up on her precious sin.
So there was only one thing left for her; she could not lament or complain over whatever might now befall her at this man’s side.”

Somewhat to my surprise, I finished this, part 2 of "Kristin Lavransdatter". Surprised, because in one way it's chick-lit -- 1920s mediaeval Norwegian chick-lit. Besides, it's heavy on the Church, sin retribution etc, and very slow and detailed. But the detail has its own fascination; if you've ever wondered what 14th-century Norwegian farming families ate for dinner, and what they wore while eating it, and who sat where, and what they talked about, not to mention how long they sat there and where they slept afterwards, you're in for a treat. I didn't know I cared, or that I cd be interested in the life story of a nice girl who stands by her man no matter what. The "what" gets quite exciting there, for a bit, but then we're back to life on the farm, noting with amazement that bivouacking in a hole in the snow was quite the thing to break a journey, and enjoying lyrical descriptions of the Norwegian landscape in all its variety.

Kristin Lavransdatter begins to pick up the pace with The Mistress of Husaby. The writing is beautiful. As a mother of 8 sons, I think Kristin's reflections and thoughts on motherhood are straight out of our own hearts. At times wrenching, at other times maddening, by the time we get to The Mistress of Husaby we understand why this trilogy won the Noble Prize for Literature.
If you lost interest while reading The Bridal Wreath. Keep going. This is WRITING.

Now that I'm rereading this amazingly complex and perhaps rather bleak trilogy, I'm trying to find out what I possibly could have gotten out of it when I read it on the beach one summer as a 12-year old. I think I was very fascinated with Kristin's struggles against her family and church to be with the man she loved. I appreciated her as a sort of feminist icon, and perhaps thought there were very clear parallells with the modern struggles for young gay people to be true to themselves and be with the ones they loved. I think I read it as a sort of manifesto to love and freedom.

In that way it's incredibly interesting to reread these novels now and see that this is not the ideology these these texts are promoting at all! Undset actually had a very conservative agenda while writing these novels, and Kristin's choices as a young maiden haunt her for the rest of her life. But like any great works of literature, these novels are multilayered and ambiguous. So they are neither progressive nor conservative, and it is never clear whether Kristin made the wrong choice or not, even though the choice she made did not necessarily secure her a harmonious and easy life.

The second instalment in this trilogy, The Wife, is a lot more challenging than the fast paced first instalment, The Wreath. Time moves more slowly, Kristin struggles with depression and guilt and an outrageous number of childbirths, and there is a lot more focus on the political situation in Norway at the time. Her husband, Erlend, gets involved in a plot to overthrow the king and is arrested and tortured for his efforts. It feels like Undset expects that her readers have a lot of prior knowledge about life in Norway in the beginning of the 14th century though, so she explains very little of what is going on. I had to work hard to interpret the clues and tidbits of information in the many conversations in the novel (these conversations are made more complicated by the fact that they are told by a narrator who often focalises through Kristin's perspective, and she isn't too updated on the political situation either) and then do some research on my own. I have certainly learnt a lot, but this need to do research did disrupt the reading flow somewhat.

It's also interesting to realise that I don't actually like Kristin very much. I find her arrogant, and her share of catholic guilt makes her acrimonious and bitter. But I appreciate how well rounded, multifaceted and dynamic these characters are. I was sad when Kristin's melancholic and mysterious mother died, as she is by far my favourite character.

It is rewarding to engage with the philosophical aspects of the novels as well. The combination of catholicism, existentialism and the world view of medieval Norway make this trilogy an intellectual feast, and it is one of the most unique reading experiences I have had. This makes it worth fighting through the linguistic combination of danish-norwegian and old medieval terms, which at times is excruciatingly difficult and at times breathtakingly beautiful.

Ja, jeg var aldri slik at jeg gikk til helvede med bar bak for å berge broken min ubrent.

The second book in the Kristin Lavransdatter series somehow reappeared in my life several months after I finished the first one, which I had loved. This tale is set in medieval Norway, which was united and relatively prosperous and had turned to Christianity recently enough that the old gods still held some sway here and there. Kristin is now married to a flawed man, but they love each other and raise 6 boys. I found the beginning a little slow, with debates about religion and faith going on for longer than I liked. But eventually the plot accelerates and, as with the first volume, ends with an emotional twist that is superbly developed. And that is what is so great about these books. By having such convincing emotional relationships set in medieval Norway, I was reminded that people have always been people, and their loves and lusts and goals and frustrations are so much like ours today.

Soooo much happened in this book! There is so much to consider and ponder in it about faithfulness, family, attitudes, sin, and guilt. It broke my heart how much time and energy and worry they spent on trying to earn forgiveness and hoping they had done enough. On to book 3!!!

When I first heard someone recommended Kristin Lavransdatter, the conversation went something like this…

him: “You know what book is REALLY good? Kristin Lavransdatter.”
me: Kristin what??

then…

me: “Okay what is it about?”
him: *shrugs* “Just the life of a medieval Norwegian woman named Kristin. It’s really good.”

This conversation makes sense now. It really is just about the life of a medieval Norweigan woman. It’s also a fascinating exploration of life in medieval Norway. And a fascinating exploration of life in general.

And, though I still couldn’t give a much better explanation of what it’s about, I’m on the edge of my seat to read the final book.

It's not hard to see why/how Kristin Lavransdatter (the trilogy) won the 1928 Nobel Prize for Literature. This saga is amazing in so many respects: authentic attention to detail, moving narrative and deep insight into the human psyche. I am longing for someone who has read the book, to discuss it with me.

The author has done a phenomenal job presenting the slower-paced, farming-based, medieval life, centered on traditional values marked by a calendar of saint's days. She describes the local folklore and myths including where they occasionally obfuscate Christian morals while still giving us intelligent and believable men and women from that era. It is both refreshing to discover that our forebears struggled with many of the same moral dilemmas we face today and discouraging to realize their standards of moral conduct were higher than our own.

I did not want to put this book down. Going immediately to start the final book in the triology.

3 1/2 stars

# 2 in the Kristin Lavransdatter trilogy and to my mind a bit of an improvement on the first. Probably because as Kristin grows up and takes on the responsibility of being mistress of the Husaby estate we learn more about the day to day life of those times in a way that we really couldn't when she was a young girl and just running around deciding who she was going to marry.

Kristin is a bit of a contradictory character. After her flightiness of the previous book I wasn't prepared for her to be so efficient at running a house, especially one that had been so badly neglected. But as soon as she had arrived and the wedding guests had departed (which showed a concern for saving her husband's face by not launching into it in front of everyone) she rolled up her sleeves and set straight to work, turning the house into a liveable residence. And, not only the house, but the stores and other such outbuilding which would obviously have a great impact on the profitability of the estate. Women of these times, we must infer, did not sit placidly down spinning and sewing - they were extremely productive members of the household.

All of this was very good to see, as was her holy pilgrimage. Not that I care myself about 'sin' but I thought that as a pious young lady she really did need to face up to the fact that she had behaved very badly according to the social and religious mores of the day. If only she'd left it at that but along with all of this maturity she also unfortunately entered into a running war with her husband where she displayed the passive aggressive sulkiness of a child.

Erland (hubby) took this in pretty good part considering his obviously hot temper. Partly because of his undoubted guilt over the appalling way he'd seduced her into, er, anticipating their wedding vows and partly (which was very pleasant to see) because he obviously did love her very much. I found Kristin once again to be very frustrating. Whatever had happened they couldn't change the past and seeing as they were now married for better or worse why on earth couldn't she put it behind her, truly forgive Erland for his misdeeds and become the contented and happy wife she really had it in her to be?

I'm tempted to blame it all on religion - that constant drumming into the ears of sin, sin, sin! It certainly played a part, a large part, especially if you consider the fact that it was because it was a sin in the eyes of god that Kristin wasn't a maiden on her wedding day that caused her father so much shame. If he hadn't cared, and if Kristin hadn't known how much he cared... Well, it would have been a very different book. Even so, after fight number 1001 over what couldn't be fixed I just wanted to give Kristin a right good shake and tell her to stop slicing off her nose to spite her face. She had made her choice and to keep flinging it in Erlands face was no part of a proper Christian wife. But there, isn't that always the way? Using religious piety for sanctimonious blaming of other people in an attempt to shift the guilt for your own misdeeds.

Anywho!

There was a lot going on around the constant fights and giving birth to lots and lots of babies. Norway was in a rather interesting situation as regards to Kings at the time and I highly suggest any reader reads the introduction to familiarise themselves with the bare bones of what was going on as it will make the 'male' conversations a lot more comprehensible. The men of course being very interested in the politics of the realm. Kristin paid absolutely no attention, even with all of the repeated meetings in Husaby and pretty treasonous talk going on right under her nose. As far as she was concerned it had nothing to do with her. Rather a blinkered view but, ok.

Rounding out the political talk was some history and economic lessons. I was very impressed to learn that women had a lot of economic power. In what was surely a holdout from pre-Christian times, they inherited property in their own right with, from what I could gather, equal shares among all the legitimate children, male or female. And, what is truly astonishing, they kept their dowry and any inheritance separate from their husband! If a wealthy woman married a man then he had no claim on her property or money. If she died without producing an heir then everything she had went to her nearest kin and he had to vacate the premises. Wow! I do wonder how long that lasted once Christianity really got going in the country? That would not have sat well with the highly patriarchal nature of that religion at all!

Such things may not interest a lot of readers, but I do love my history and I know so little of Scandinavian history especially that it's great to get exposed to it in this way.

I'll shortly be reading the final book Kristin Lavransdatter, III: The Cross. I have to say I am feeling just a teensy bit anxious seeing as the picture on the front cover is a woman with a cross dangling from her wrist in what looks suspiciously like an attitude of weeping remorse. I've felt that this book has already pushed my tolerance for excessive catholic induced wailing over sin and I would prefer less not more of it in the concluding part of the trilogy.

The Wife is book two of the Kristin Lavrensdatter cycle, or trilogy, or life-story, or series...I'm really not sure what to call it. The first book, The Wreath, follows young Kristin's first 19 years as an unmarried maiden in 14th century Norway, ending with her wedding. Book #2 picks up with Kristin's arrival at her husband's estate and follows the next 15 odd years of her married life, most of which is spent ill in bed, pregnant, or recovering from pregnancy. In other words, much happens and yet...not so much.

My favorite thing about these books so far is the vivid detail author Undset brings to life. One of my favorite parts in this regard (strangely) is when Kristin goes about cleaning house at her new husband's much-neglected manor. The moths and maggots in the wool, the bugs steamed from the sleeping furs, the worm-infested dry winter rations will put even the most reluctant time-traveler in an unromanticized Middle Ages.

However, I found this volume to be lower on story and detail than The Wreath, and instead we get much of Kristin's perpetual Catholic guilt over the Fruit of her Sin (her first child is born six months after the wedding, Zounds!) She and her husband spend most of the book at passive-aggressive odds with one another, but it takes a good 300+ pages for anything to come of this. Meanwhile, there is a parallel political plot (literally) full of so many Norwegian nobles' names, I really could only follow the basic gist. This, too, doesn't really become linked to Kristin's story until 300+ pages in.

I had a hard time enjoying this one, not just because there isn't much plot, but because I had difficulty caring about Kristin and her husband (though her father Lavrens is the most likeable character, and the source of the most emotional scene in this book). Most of the story is told in narration, little in scene, and follows a pattern of: "And then two years later they were in X. List what happened in those two years. Name off the people that died in those two years, oh, and Kristin had another son. Two years after that they went to X. This is what happened in THOSE two years..." ext.

I'm not sure if I will end up reading the third book. I feel like I have a decent taste for Norway in the Middle Ages, I've learned much about regular life back then and...why not quit while sated instead of pushing myself through 450 pages of more of the same? Ah yes, because the third book deals with the Black Death. Curse you, Kristin, you're going to make me hang on to the very end, aren't you?

The way Sigrid Undset challenges my hermeneutic of love...! I thought The Wreath was a test, but The Wife even more so. Kristin struggles vastly with guilt, and not vague "medieval" guilt either, but guilt over what she has done. She reckons with the betrayal of her family, finally confessing to her father, and walks miles barefoot with her nursing infant to confess her complicity in a suicide. Her spiritual growth is fascinating to read, but what was aggravating to me was her husband, whom I have never learned to like.

Erlend is not a good person. He doesn't have good impulses, he doesn't love his children, he is not content with growing prosperous from his own resources, he is an adulterer, he is cruel and vindictive and foolish. He is irrationally angry with Kristin for doing what he asks of her and grows angry every time he impregnates her! The audacity, the unmitigated gall! When he was arrested and sentenced to death it took all of my willpower to not root for his execution. I just want him out of this narrative. The Wife was published in 1921 and I couldn't help but wonder if Freudian theories influenced Undset in creating Erlend. He is genuinely envious of his own children breastfeeding. It was interesting to me how some of Erlend's sins, largely his childishness, impetuosity, adultery, and poor management/decision-making, were hinted at in the previous book, but the extent of his incapacity was not revealed until Things Happened™ and the romance died between Kristin and Erlend.

Meanwhile, Kristin comes into her own in this book. She shows herself to be a competent mistress of a large estate and survives to bring seven boys into the world, all of whom are still alive, no mean feat in those days. She spiritually matures, and grows in both awareness of the world around her and how to move in it wisely. I am eager to see where the next book takes her, and her children as they age. I find myself genuinely curious if Erlend will survive very long because he is such a fool. I am curious if Undset will redeem him. At this point, I don't care if Erlend and Kristin have a meaningful reconciliation in their marriage. I gave up on them having a good marriage long before Erlend finally wheedled Lavrans into letting them get married. Erlend has much, much bigger problems than that, and unfortunately it seems he has no one in his life to turn to for advice...

Content warnings: Erlend is a horrid little human being. He hits Kristin more than once but never more than a single slap. Kristin endures several traumatic births but only the first is detailed. There are mentions of medieval torture being performed on Erlend but it is not detailed.