I was quite fascinated by the historical accounts of Undset, as Norway was invaded by the Germans, but toward the end, I felt like she ended it rather abruptly. So I felt like she had only shared about 2/3 of the journey, as she fled through Sweden, Russia, and Japan. The observations in all those countries were most interesting.

Sigrid's life experiences are as fascinating as her Kristin and Olav sagas. The first 200 pages tell of her escape from Norway following the Nazi invasion (about which I had scant prior knowledge) - her telling of the events is well worth the read - her trip through Russia was beyond gritty - SU's writing can really bite when she wants it to - the last 50 pages offer much insight into Sigrid's personal beliefs and thinking - one thing for sure, she does not care for the Germans (and who can blame her) - Martin Luther was German which no doubt prejudiced her feelings towards Norway's Lutheran Church (syphilitic? - ouch) - in other words her negative attitude towards Germany went back well before Hitler's rise - this book is well worth tracking down and reading - I managed to find a VG 1942 copy with DJ on eBay

I started out really liking this book, a personal account by Nobel award-winning Undset of her escape from Norway during the beginnings of World War II. But I really had a terrible time reading the last section.
First of all, as an example of Undset in positive mode, she had stopped in Japan on her way to the United States--she could do that because the U.S. and Japan were not yet at war. She remarks on her love of Japan and Japanese culture and people in contrast to where she had just been in the Soviet Union (she also drew individual characterizations of Russian people favorably). Regarding the Japanese people and the current war they were undertaking in China and Southeast Asia, she was sure that the warmongering was only from the top and that the Japanese people, with their beautiful culture, were not likely to be a violent people. "We smile and smile but our hearts weep," was the beautiful quotation she took away from that country. She excuses them further by saying, "it has always taken long to break a people's will for war if it believes its existence is threatened." However, in her last section, she starts in on the Germans. And here she lumps them all into one category rather than separating the war-mongers from the peace-makers. She claims that the Germans have been overly-emotional and war-mongering since the earliest days of their existence (glossing over the violence of early Norwegian Vikings). She barely alludes to a few unnamed Germans who may have resisted Hitler, but that is such a brief reference one needs a magnifying glass to see it. She castigates German theologians and religion (Luther was a psychopath, according to her), but the characteristics of the Hitler regime, she says, have been present with Germans "since time immemorial."
She may be excused somewhat due to her recent personal experience with the ravages of war, including the loss of a son. But she does not seem to be able to put herself into the shoes of all the people who were affected by the war--the Chinese and others in Southeast Asia that the Japanese were ravaging.
I guess what I take away from me is the appreciation of the first four sections of the book, and a warning to self about easy generalizations.

Interessant og tankevekkende. Undset er direkte og til tider ganske nådeløs i sine observasjoner og konklusjoner. Samtidig er hun reflekterende og det er tydelig at det hun kommer med er gjennomtenkt. Hun skildrer Tysklands invasjon av Norge, sønnen og sin egen flukt via Nord-Norge, Sverige, Russland og Japan, før de ender opp i USA. Velskrevet og interessant etterord av Morten Strøksnes.

Interesting travelogue, glad to read a historical note from Norway. Nationalism is the life-or-death language of the time and affects the last chapter especially negatively, as I was warned.

Pinte meg gjennom de siste sidene for å kunne dra vitsen om at filmen er bedre

I read this partly because I have been watching the pbs series, Atlantic Crossing, also about escaping nazi invasion of Norway in 1940, and because as a girl I loved The Kristin Lavrensdattar trilogy. But Undset has to travel east to NY, including across Siberia by train. This is the part I enjoyed in this book, she describes the extremely poor and unsanitary conditions over 20 years after the revolution, the descriptions are excellent. 3.4

Interesting perspective from a writer who experienced the German invasion of Norway during WWII.

Ich habe die deutsche Version gelesen, die allerdings hier auf der Plattform nicht vorhanden war.

Das Buch ist eine Erzählung der Autorin über ihre Erlebnisse auf der Flucht vor den Nazis aus Norwegen, die sie über Schweden, Russland und Japan in die USA führte. Sie hat wohl eine umfassende humanistische Bildung genossen (Geschichte, Kunstgeschichte, Sprachen) und eine ausgeprägte politische Meinung, was auch der Grund ist, weswegen sie flüchten musste. Obwohl sie schon vorher weit gereist ist, lässt sich ihre Meinung insoweit zusammenfassen, dass kein Land so schön ist wie Norwegen und dass keine Staatsform besser ist als die Demokratie.
Das Buch ist teils Biographie, teils Streitschrift. Immer wenn es ihr um die Warnung vor Absolutismus und Faschismus geht, wird es mitreissend. Die Beobachtungen auf der Reise sind häufig eher platt.

Die letzten 50 Seiten des Buches verbringt die Autorin damit "die Deutschen" zu charakterisieren, wobei sie kein gutes Haar an ihnen lässt. Beispiele:
- S. 182: "Recht, das war zum Beispiel für uns Menschen in Norwegen eine Norm für unser Verhalten anderen Menschen gegenüber, eine Norm, zu deren Entstehung wir selbst beigetragen hatten - für die Deutschen bedeutete Recht die Regeln und Gebote, denen sie unter der Aufsicht von Gericht und Polizei gehorchen mussten."
- S. 200: "Kein einzelner Griff in dem genialen Spiel auf den tiefsten Saiten der deutschen Volkspsyche, das Adolf Hitler vorgeführt hat, ist genialer als gerade dieser - dass er verlangt hat, wie ein göttliches Wesen verehrt zu werden. Damit kam er einer uralten deutschen Forderung entgegen - einer Forderung, die bereits in der deutschen Mittelalterdichtung über der Nibelungen Not das Leitmotiv darstellt, dem Trieb zur bedingungslosen Unterwerfung unter einen Herrn. Dieses Ideal des treuen Dieners hätte etwas Schönes an sich haben können, wenn es nicht eine Kehrseite besässe [...]: Die Treue einem Herrn und Führer gegenüber rechtfertigt jegliches Verbrechen, jeden Verrat, den der eingeschworene Diener gegen alle anderen begeht, wenn er nur glauben oder sich einreden kann, dass er sich selbst ehrlos macht. [Es] hat noch den Zusatz, der s in den Augen der meisten nicht-deutschen Menschen noch abstossender macht. Dem Bedürfnis, den Fuss eines Herrn im Nacken zu spüren, entspricht der Wunsch, jemanden unter sich zu haben, auf dem man selbst herumtrampeln kann."
- S. 219: "Es hat keinen Zweck, weiter zu glauben, es gebe keinen fundamentalen Unterschied zwischen der deutschen Volksmentalität und denen der anderen europäischen Nationen, dass zwischen unserer mangelnden Fähigkeit, die Deutschen und ihrer mangelnden Fähigkeit, alle anderen Menschen zu verstehen, nur ein gradueller Unterschied besteht [...]."
- Ansonsten noch allerhand Wörter wie Hass, Psychopathen, Rattenfänger von Hameln, Herdenmentalität, rächen oder "Der uralte und felsenfeste Deutschglaube, dass Rücksichtslosigkeit, ausgefeilte Grausamkeit und Terror patente Mittel seien, um alle Siege und Güter zu erringen" (S. 224)

Fascinerande og svært god bok

An honest and I believe accurate accounting of her travels thru Norway,Sweden, Russia and Japan on her way to the the US in 1940 Her travel could only be entirely westward hence the fourteen days in Russia section across the entire continent.There is terrific insight into all the people she meets especially so in Stalinist Russia.Possibly one of only a few accounts because written diaries of others were confiscated at the border.Undset was at risk because of her anti Nazi work and as such she may be forgiven her prejudices of pro-Japan and anti-German.

Why did I waste so much time on her Catholic trilogy *iYawn* when this would have been oh so much more to my liking. Fully recommended by Paul Watkins in Fellowship of Ghosts: A Journey Through the Mountains of Norway

blurb - This is the passionate journal of the author’s perilous flight from Norway to Sweden, across Russia to Japan, and finally of the United States during World War II. She left Norway as an active participant in the underground resistance movement, anxious to tell the story of the brutal invasion of Norway by Nazi Germany.

Softcover, 250 pps.