Very much enjoyed the first 3/4 of the book, which detail
Undset’s experiences during her flight from
Norway during WWII. The last part of the book is an understandably harsh criticism of the German people, though perhaps we are fortunate that her estimation of the Germans as a people has proved not entirely accurate. It is still a worthwhile read that gives insight into the mindset that must not have been totally unique to the author in reaction to the events of surrounding the rise of Hitler, totalitarianism, and worldwide war.

Although interesting as a travelogue and report on the Nazi invasion of Norway, this book suffers from the fairly narrow and nationalistic perspective of its author.

Read Kristen Lavransdatter and The Master of Hestviken in the fall of 1972. Absolutely captivated. Recently reread book one of Kristen Lavransdatter and still enchanted by the tale. Introduced to Njals Saga by my undergraduate Civ I prof and periodically return to the genre. Return to the Future deals with the German invasion of Norway during WW2, and her escape to Sweden, Finland, USSR, Japan and finally the USA. Her description of the USSR and Japan give a telling account of life in those two less than representative societies. For those unfamiliar with Undset, she was the first woman to win the Nobel Prize for Literature.

This book was included in a sort of "grab-bag" that I bought at a church event. It is the best of the bunch, and I could have easily given it 4 or 5 stars for being worthwhile, if that were the standard. The author is a Nobel prize for literature winner for previous books, obviously an intelligent and insightful individual. She writes of her flight from Norway, as the brave but unprepared Norwegian Army is being overrun by the Nazis. Her description of her train trip across Russia, the bleakness of its people and cities and its lack of the most basic hygiene or nutrition at the time, is unvarnished. When she reaches Japan, she wonders whether her more positive reaction to the Japanese people, even though she knows they are aggressors in a brutal war, is because they are so much cleaner and more pleasant, standards that are important to her Norwegian people. The last portion of the book is devoted to a summary of her strong political and sociological beliefs, and she expresses most strongly her negative feelings for the German people, attributing much of the responsibility for their history to innate traits. I imagine she would be surprised and pleased at Germany's place in the world today. It was very interesting to read her view of things from a time when she had no idea how the war would end.

Jeg må si at det var reiseskildringen som lokket meg til denne boken - og det var den delen jeg definitivt likte best. Essayet som utgjorde den siste firedelen, skummet jeg ganske raskt gjennom. Det samme med deler av teksten til Strøksnes.
Men fortellingen om flukten fra Norge og den lange «bakveien» til USA leste jeg altså med stor interesse.

This starts as a tale of escaping within and then from Norway in 1940. It ends as an essay regarding the causes of Germany's fall into war and totalitarianism. Some of the claims seem nonsensical now, but many of them are prescient. Although writing in 1942, she pretty much predicts the Marshall Plan, for instance. Although a lot of the writing is incendiary, it's coherent and thoughtful.

She writes extensively about Russia and Japan and the trip there on the Trans-Siberian Express. That's an epic journey!

Found in the stacks at Miller Creek's clubhouse library.
A surprise -

Sigrid Undset - winner of the `928 Nobel Prize for Literature.

"The passionate journal of Unset's courageous flight to freedom during World War II."
In 1940, Norway was rippped apart by the enormous and brutal invasion of Nazi Germany. The peace-loving Norwegian citizens were unprepared and finally to the United States.mentally and militarily for the relentless assault which devasted their country and their souls."

This is her "personal account of her perilous flight from Norway to Sweden, across Russia to Japan, and finally to the United States. Her story of pain and courage depicts the sights, sounds and human frailties of life, her passion for freedom, and her vision for an unknown future."

A memorable quote from the book:

"...can it surprise anyone that we hate with full and passionate hearts the strangers who now destroy with lawlessness, the country which we have built up with law through thousands of years?"

Reminded me somewhat of the Zookeeper's Wife.

I did not know about this part of history.
This was an eye-opener to what the Scandinavian countries experienced during the war, with unsettling similarities to our current mindset in the US.

Translated from Norwegian.
First printed in 1942.

Bizarre memoir. Most of the book is a memoir of Undset's flight from Norway to the United States in World War II. Typical cooperation with the local people and encounters with new cultures, although it's interesting to see early 20th c. perspectives on other nations ("the Russians seemed more homogeneous. In the cities nearly all the men were beardless, but unshaven... The large, straight, projecting nose most of the women had , and short, broad, strong-boned faces." 97)

The final chapter is the most interesting: a sudden break from the narration into a no-holds-barred racist invective against Germans. Slightly understandable, given the Nazis occupied her home country of Norway and forced her to flee, across freakin Russia and JAPAN to the United States. But almost all of it is cartoonish hyperbole that evokes almost no sympathy from this reader:

'Nazi Germany's peculiarities are not anything new. Quite the opposite: they have been traits in the psychology of the German people since time immemorial' 'the genuine, backward German people' 'psychopaths' 'thought-movements which are essentially the products of German minds ... both schizophrenic and maniac-depressive traits' '[Martin] Luther was a psychopath.'

There's not much here beside the unique historical perspective Undset provides.

I utgangspunktet er jeg skeptisk til Undset etter at jeg leste Kristin Lavransdatter som pensum og holdt på å få mark. Jeg syntes at Kristin var så dum at jeg ble sjeleglad da hun endelig åndet ut, nokså likt hvor irritert jeg ble over familien Buendía i Gabriel García Márquez' Hundre års ensomhet. Så prøvde jeg å lese Kristin Lavransdatter igjen for et par år siden for å se om jeg så ting i et annet lys når det er gått litt tid, men ga opp ganske raskt, det bød meg fortsatt mot.
Jeg tenkte derfor at det kunne være interessant å lese noe helt annet av Sigrid Undset, da jeg snublet over denne boken som jeg ikke hadde hørt om. Jeg visste at hun var dratt til USA under krigen og fikk lite anerkjennelse i Norge etterpå, men kjente ikke til så mange detaljer.
Selv om mange av Undsets betraktninger i boken blir nesten parodisk farget av hennes fordommer var det likevel spennende lesning. Etterordet av Morten Strøksnes gjorde min leseropplevelse enda mer givende fordi han både besvarte mange av de spørsmålene jeg hadde stilt meg selv underveis og bekreftet en del av mine reaksjoner og inntrykk. Det er snodig å lese om folks tidsnære vurderinger nå når vi har fått perioden på avstand.

Fascinating story of a woman making her way out of Norway through Russia to escape the Nazis. She has a very frank, clear writing style that I really appreciated.

Captivating story by a very intelligent and thoughtful writer; written about her journey to safety from Nazi occupied Norway so Communist Russia and newly militaristic Japan are addressed at great length. Her ability to weave discussions on everything from freedom and democracy to hygiene are both fascinating and an invitation to further thought
Thomas F. Bertonneau has a great review in the Brussels Journal online if you are interested in more

4.5 gwiazdki