Norway Books

THis is one of the best novels of all times. It addresses the human condition artfully and it is accessible.

Beautifully written, a masterpiece. Sigrid Undset paints a vivid sketch of Kristin's expectations for an ideal husband. Lavrans, the father of Kristen, is portrayed with qualities I would expect in an ideal father. Kristin's mother is shown to be so human, and yet so estranged from her loving husband and her headstrong daughter! This novel is the story of life, love and the consequences of love. It accurately describes the unbreakable link between happiness and the sorrow that comes along with it. I would recommend this book to any woman contemplating marriage, and to all married women as well!

This is a beautiful book. I read it over 15 years ago and the images and dialogue are still with me. For example, when I remember Kristin's husband saying to her "So it is finally over between us," and Kristin's agonized response, "Over? Why would it be over? There is still much between us that can still be put to ruin," I still get teary-eyed. And when Kristin's first betrothed (for some reason I can't remember the names of the men) says to her husband "I am less forgiving than you. I cannot forgive those who I have harmed," I'm still awed by the depth of the author's understanding for the complexities of human feeling. Though I have an undergraduate degree in literature, I read mostly genre fiction (sci fi, fantasy, historical). To me the perfect novel is beautifully written, insightful, and thought-provoking while still managing to be entertaining. This book is it.

This book is deeply engaging. The language can take some getting used to, depending on the translation - apparently there are 2 translations, and one is better than the other. I read the more difficult translation, and it was a chore at first, but so worth it. A great tale of timeless import, the characters are very vivid and realistic, the writing is superb. No wonder this book won the Nobel Prize.

"Kristin Lavrandatter", Sigrid Undset's Nobel-prize winning trilogy from the 1920s, doesn't appear on any college reading list that I have ever seen, despite its beauty, depth of observations about love, marriage, and family psychology, tour de force representation of life in medieval Norway, and the critical praise heaped upon it. It's length (1,000 pages plus in most translations) is probably one factor, and, some might say, another factor was the "medievalist" style of archaic English used in the Charles Archer translation that until recently was the one available. A very recent translation by Tina Nunnally is done in more modern, colloquial English. I should state here that I am probably in a minority in adoring the Archer translation - I did not, as others report below, find the language a chore at all: on the contrary, I found it enhanced the feel of having stepped into the past. I found the newer translation to be less satisfying, stylistically. Unless one speaks fluent Norwegian and can read the original without the veil of translation between reader and author, the matter is somewhat moot. So far as I could tell, Nunnally did not offer anything in her modernist translation that was substantially different from the story and characters presented in the Archer translation.

This great epic of Undset's is divided into three books: The Wreath, The Mistress of Husaby, and The Cross. Set in the 1300s, in feudal Norway, the novel's central character is Kristin Lavransdatter (literally, "daughter of Lavrans"), the eldest child of well-to-do, upright, respected, landowners. Pretty, intelligent, sheltered yet strong-willed, and the light of her deeply religious father's life, the novel opens during Kristin's childhood and ends with her death in old age. In the many pages between, Undset observes a life teeming with conflict, religious struggle, sexual awakening, marriage, and motherhood. And, through these stages of Kristin's life, Undset opens a window onto life in medieval Norway, of the powerful role of the church in everyday life, the restricted roles of women, the custom of arranged marriages, child-rearing, farming, and politics (Norway's monarchy had passed to Sweden at the time).

Undset's achievement at weaving together this enormous tapestry, of presenting so many characters, in addition to Kristin, with all their varied human foibles, is monumental. You will feel as if you have stepped into an alternative, yet quite real universe. Whether you read and prefer the newer translation or (as this reviewer does) the older translation, Undset's knowledge of the poignant, and apparently eternal, realities of relationship and family life should be equally rewarding. Undset had a strong interest in family psychology, women's issues, and was a convert to Catholicism - these interests, together with the painstaking research she undertook, combine to give us this living, breathing picture of life in the Middle Ages.

Book I, The Wreath (the title refers to the golden wreath of maidenhood worn by young girls before marriage) covers Kristin's life from childhood to her wedding; Book II, The Mistress of Husaby, covers Kristin's life from her marriage to her widowhood; Book III, The Cross, covers her life from the death of her husband through her death.

The central conflict of the novel is Kristin's marriage to Erlend Nikulauson. Erlend, although of a noble family and even more well-born than Kristin, has lived in adultery with another man's wife and has two children with her. After Kristin falls in love with Erlend and refuses to marry Simon Darre, the good man that her father has selected for her husband, and who has fallen deeply in love with her despite the arranged character of the marriage, the relationship between Kristin and her father undergoes tremendous strain. A series of tragic circumstances weakens Lavrans's resolve never to wed his daughter to an adulterer, and at last Kristin and Erlend are married, concluding the first book.

Husaby is Erlend's great estate, thus, Book II, The Mistress of Husaby, takes us through Kristin's married life, the complexities of her relationship with her husband, and years of childbearing. Erlend, at heart an adventurer who prefers the open sea to caring for his lands, flocks, and household, chafes under married life and exhibits an undisciplined, weak character except in matters of warfare. Kristin finds she must provide the strengths that he lacks at home and resents Erlend for it. Simon, meanwhile, eventually marries Kristin's youngest sister, although he never ceases to love Kristin, which opens up a breach between the two sisters.

Erlend also becomes embroiled in a failed political coup that eventually deprives him of his lands, forcing him and Kristin and their sons to return to Jorundgaard, Kristin's childhood estate, which is now hers by right after her father's death. Thus, the last book, The Cross, takes us through the hardest years of Kristin's life, with an embittered husband who is killed in a dispute not long after the return to Jorundgaard. Kristin's years as a widow, providing hard-won wisdom and comfort to her brood of headstrong sons, and the spiritual peace she finds at last after her tumultuous life, make up the final section of the book.

Throughout all three books, the role of Catholicism plays a very strong role not only in daily life, but in the psyches particularly of Kristin and her father and mother. The struggle to accommodate the high standards of Christian practice and goodness that conflict with human feelings and weaknesses is a connecting theme in the work, as is the immutable nature of character. One cannot help wondering as one reads what would have happened had Kristin done her father's bidding and married Simon, much the stronger and more sensible man, and one who loves Kristin in his way as much as Erlend does. And yet, Undset makes it clear that the love between Kristin and Erlend, despite all the trials it endures, is one that neither could have lived without.

I cannot recommend this unique and brilliant work highly enough. It will stay with you for the rest of your life.

I was loaned this book by a friend of mine who is German. She was given this book by her mother and read it when she was a child in Germany. Years later she found it in a used book sale here in the states (her current residence) and fell in love with it again. She lent me this book, and I have to say it was wonderful. I learned so much reading this book everything from Napoleonic history to early French fashion. Desiree is a delightful character and her life is fascinating. I recommend this book for anyone. It is a light easy read. I was sad when I finished it because I wanted the story to continue.

"Desiree" is the (mostly) true story of Desiree Clary, silk-merchant's daughter of Marseilles, who becomes involved with the Bonapartes, rises with them to the heights of power, survives Napoleon's downfall and ultimately becomes Queen Desideria of Sweden, the first Bernadotte Queen. Desiree herself tells her story in diary form, although it isn't as annoying as the diary form usually is, and the reader experiences events of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries as Desiree did--as a series of domestic events. That these events occur in royal households and that Desiree is a major player in them could be accidental, but one quickly realizes that Desiree is a remarkable woman and these are no accidents.

The tone is intimate, and one feels as though Desiree is confiding in the reader as a friend. Annemarie Selinko is a virtuoso; even in translation not one word of this amazing story rings false. You will find yourself thinking of Desiree long after the end of the book. I read this first at sixteen, and found the historical information invaluable in a college history course (not the reason to read it, but it doesn't hurt).

I've since read the Josephine B. books, and a wonderful novel based on the life of Josephine Bonaparte called "The Emperor's Lady" by F. W. Kenyon (available used on Amazon), which I also heartily recommend, but "Desiree" is the platinum standard by which to judge historical novels/fictionalized biographies.

It is simply wonderful.

I love this book (as well as the movie to this book) and not all of the book is fiction! There was a woman named Desiree Clary she was the first love/fiance of Napoleon Bonaparte. She married one of his marshals, Jean-Baptise Bernadotte whom was elected to become King of Sweden in the early ninteenth century. Desiree's and Jean-Baptise's descandents are still on the throne of Sweden to this day.

I would also like to add that the author has done a brillent job in writing this book! She wrote the book so well, that it's diffucult to distinguish the line between fact and fiction in this book!

Desiree, the fictionalized true story of woman from a small French town who was supposedly Napoleon's first love and then later became a queen, is a great book to share with your teenage daughter.

My mother had me read this book when I was about 15 or 16 years old. The first few pages completely grabbed me and could hardly put the book down! Once I had finished, my mother and I looked at the encyclopedia together to see the actual photographs of Desiree, Jean-Baptiste, Julie, Napoleon, Joseph and Josephine. It was really great to *see* the people I had just read about. I have always remembered how *cool* it was for my mother and I to share this book and the real history behind it.

By the way, I own my mother's copy of the book (which is falling into pieces now), and a copy that I picked up at a library book sale. I have read this book at least every other year for the past 30 years. It is a wonderful read each and every time!

I hope you and your daughters enjoy this as much as my mother and I did!

I'm a certified anglophile, when it comes to history. This is probably because I am one-half Angelo Celtic and so the history I read about when I read about England, Scotland and Ireland, is in some sense my own. It is a basic human urge to understand where we come from after all. Anyway, this is my way of saying I don't "get" France. I can't speak French (and so in books when there's some French thrown in I'm just lost) and I don't know anything about French history (except a little where it bumps up with England.) For most of the historical fiction I read about France, which has events that occurred so long ago it doesn't seem to matter that I have no knowledge, this doesn't effect my enjoyment of the book. But when we get into the French revolution and the whole Napoleon thing it seems I have to know something to get the book. Happily, this book explains everything so well that I can report if you know nothing about the after events of the French revolution (like me) you will not only be able to enjoy the book but you will actually learn things!

This is a fake diary kept for about forty years by (real person) Eugenie Desiree Clary, one time fiancée of Napoleon and later Queen of Sweden and Norway (obviously many events happen between the two titles.) I know nothing about the real historical person of Desiree, but the character is an amazing women. Smart, resourceful, bold, courageous, romantic, sweet, funny...kind of a perfect main character. She meets Napoleon's older brother Joseph when getting her older brother out of jail and invites him to dinner to meet her older unmarried sister Julie. Joseph brings Napoleon along with him and soon because of the girls' large dowries and the impoverished state of the Bonaparte's, Julie and Joseph are married and Desiree and Napoleon are engaged.

But we all know that Napoleon marries Josephine. So the majority of the book (told by Desiree remember) revolves around Desiree's own love story with a General Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte (a great character and lovely romance) and of course what happened in France under Napoleon. Like I said this book is an education about what happened to change a republic into an empire (perhaps we could be looking for parallels to today's United States?)

Desiree's life is fascinating but what also makes this book interesting is the portrait painted of Napoleon-a very different one from other view points about him (say as in "The Josephine Bonaparte collection" by Sandra Gulland which presents him as...well as a very different kind of man. Josephine also) The Napoleon of this book is selfish, arrogant and so conceited and entitled he's unbearable (as Desiree says at one point, "can you believe I was going to marry him?") I suppose the view presented in this book is more in tune with the traditional historical view of Napoleon (little-man syndrome and all) but then I don't know much about it.

I want to be clear on the fact that the romance in this novel is NOT between Desiree and Napoleon but between Desiree and her husband Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte. In fact once you past page 100 it's pretty obvious that the only emotion Desiree feels towards Napoleon is some nostalgia and contempt and fear.

Anyway, this is a great book. It has engaging characters, history that's real and understandable (even by one with no knowledge such as me) and an enchanting narrator who has an inspiring sense morality, especially about government. My only complaints are that sometimes the diary entries are very far apart chronologically and there is little explanation of what happened in between the dates and so often times I had to re-read entries a couple time to get a sense of continuity. A history book may have been helpful here but I eventually figured out what was happening/had happened in between the entries. Also there are so many characters, often with similar names that a character index really would have been helpful.

Other than that this book is pretty perfect. It's a real treasure and I heartily thank the kind person who recommended it to me as one of the best of the historical fiction genre.

Five stars.

This book has some of my favourite illustrations (in stiff competition with 'Everyone Knows What a Dragon Looks Like' also by Mayer).
It is perplexing to me why we don't see more works like this from him. Instead, we are apparently meant to suffer thru such works as 'Little Critter: Merry Christmas, Little Critter!.' It's not that they are so bad, but when you have books like the former, they seem like kind of a waste.

As a child, this book was my favorite. At the time, I was too young to realize that among all its virtues as a storybook (a mythologically-gripping plot and breathtaking illustrations) was a finely woven thread that spoke of the bravery it takes to right a wrong, how adversity reveals character, and how perserverance, fearlessness, and strength are characteristics valued in girls, as well as boys.

Like any great fairytale, the morality is subtext and wrapped in beauty and magic. If I had to choose only one fairytale to give my daughter, this would be it.

This was a book that I received at a very young age and has been treasured for many years. Now that I am shortly going to be a mother I can't help but want to pass this magical book down to my daughter. Today, I purchased as many books illustrated by Mercer Mayer that I could and hope that his works are never forgotten and live on, at least in my family.

This is a telling of love and promises. You will be transported to a place of beauty and harsh reality. i read this story to my daughter for many years. The excellent drawings set a picture in the mind. I have told this story as a spoken tale to rapt audiences, at such diverse settings as an extended family thanksgiving dinner, to an on the job construction crew ( having to use a very loud voice ) none of whom ever would let me not finish the entire telling.
This story transcends the boundaries of child-adult prose.

Hi! My name is Elizabeth. East of the sun and west of the moon is a very sad but wonderful book. THis book is about a faird maiden whom is so beautiful but yet so intellegent. All of the men would like to be wed to her. later on her life takes some sad twists and turns and now she must travel east of the sun and west of the moon. When she gets there she already knows that she will not find a warm welcome within. But soon everything changes and she meets the man of her dreams! And now any traveler wil know that " Eaast of the sun and west of the moon... where you will find a warm welcome within!"

this is one of the most beautiful love stories ever written. we all fall in love at a young age, but not too many of us continue to remain faithfully in love with one person throughout our lives.

Hamsun's writing is simple, but yet the words are powerful, but however, sad.

Knut Hamsun at his finest.A brillant observer of people, with a keen eye for human emotions. This is about love,intense love.And excepting the options,with a wavering reluctance.The genius of Hamsun is that he implies so much in the most simple and humblest of styles.Excellent read.Class distiction? Love? What is one to do.Enjoy. Good Health!
Happy New Year
BDf


Excerpts

"...It was a heart's naive,fervent confession,eruptions that couldn't be held back but leaped up from the lines like stars coming out of the sky..."


"...Work will force me to be calm,and in a few hours I may be cheerful again..."

This is probably Knut Hamsun's' masterpiece when it comes to love stories, and possibly one of Europe's most beautiful love stories. The book is about the son of the old miller, and the daughter of the local "nobleman", the owner of the "Castle". From they are very small and all the way up until the very end he loves her. The parts where they are in the cave and on the island are so beautiful and melancholic. But he being the miller's son, and her being part of the "upper-class", the love is an impossible one. Various circumstances increase the distance between them, and the impossibility of their love, but I won't reveal much. The story is just so beautiful and sad, that it should be required reading for all.

Then comes the fun part, the author; Knut Hamsun, probably Norway's greatest author of all time, was a die-hard "right-wing" anti-modern conservative. This is quite amusing, because all the liberal and anti-European readers just can't wrap their mind around the fact that a person that wrote such beautiful prose was so "abhorrent" in their twisted view. One of his 5 best books and one whose story you'll carry with you forever. Highly recommended!

(I read a different edition)

I will agree with what has been said so far. This is a beautifully written novel by an extraordinary writer. I don't know if a movie was made from this novel, but I certainly hope there won't be. I don't know how the thoughts Hamsun puts down on paper can be conveyed through film. It would take a director greater than any living today.

I would have a hard time saying whether this or Hunger represents Hamsun's greatest work of fiction. No matter, get them both. And thanks to Oliver Stallybrass for a magnificent translation.

Knut Hamsun has sometimes been described as the Thomas Hardy of Scandinavian literature, and the theme of Victoria- love between two people of different social classes- is one which Hardy treated several times. Here the protagonists are Johannes, the son of a miller, and Victoria, the daughter of the local squire, who meet and fall in love as children. Although they continue to love one another throughout their lives, they are separated by circumstances and the story ends tragically.

The forces that conspire to thwart their love are more complex than simple snobbery or class-distinction. During the period in which the book is set (the 1890s), the marriage of an internationally successful author (which Johannes becomes in adult life) to the daughter of a minor nobleman would not have raised too many eyebrows in society. Although Victoria's family are aristocratic, however, they are not wealthy; indeed, they are in desperate financial straits and need to secure a financially advantageous marriage for their daughter to re-establish their fortunes and to restore the Castle, as their crumbling manor-house is called. She is therefore pressurised, much against her will, to become engaged to Otto, the son of a wealthy official at the Royal Court, even though she does not love him. Johannes also enters into an unsuccessful engagement with another woman; only at the end of the novel, when it is too late, do Victoria and Johannes discover how much they mean to each other.

This could easily be the plot of a Hardy novel, but Hamsun tells this story in a style which is very different to Hardy's. Hardy's novels are generally complex, discursive and with a large cast of characters both major and minor. Victoria is a very short novel (at 170 pages much shorter than any of Hardy's), told in a simple and direct manner and concentrating very much on the two lovers. The other characters are not developed in any detail, with the partial exception of Otto, who is presented as an arrogant and unpleasant lout.

Although the story is told in a straightforward manner, this does not mean that the prose is plain or unadorned. Although this is a third-person narrative, the action is mostly seen from the viewpoint of the poet Johannes and narrated in an appropriately poetic style. (This, at least, is the effect of Oliver Stallybrass's translation; I do not speak Norwegian so I cannot compare it with the original). The lyricism of the writing complements the pathos of the loves' plight; the result is a book that can be compared to a jewel, small, but beautiful and highly polished.

Assault in Norway is superb: no regrets, just buy it. This is a true story about a small commando group of Norwegians assaulting the Vemork hydroelectric plant in Norway where the Nazi's were manufacturing "heavy water" for the potential use of uranium enrichment -a step towards the atomic bomb.

The British were unsuccessful with this strategically important mission at first. When British commandos landed by glider, they crashed and some survivors were executed by the Gestapo. So a small group of ex patriot Norwegians were sent from England to take on the task. I don't want to spoil the book, but they face survival in the cold, hunger, and the daunting challenge of assaulting the Vemork Plant, surrounded by steep cliffs.

Gallagher's writing is top-notch; it's a simple and direct style, with an effective use of detail. The result is an engaging story, not only factually but on a character and human level. You feel like you are there with these Norwegians; Ronneberg, Poulsson, Haukelid, and the others, and skiing on the Norwegian plateau, and facing their challenges, fears, and seeing their courage. The ski chase alone is fantastic.

The only complaint is since there is some contextual background in the beginning, it takes a chapter before the story takes off, but once it does, it locks on and doesn't let go.

Overall, Assault in Norway is a gripping feel good true story that will transport the reader to the Norwegian geography, a time of high stakes, and to this daring operation. This is one mission you don't want to miss. Highly recommended.

Almost unknown outside of Norway, a handful of Norwegian resistance fighters probably saved the the world from Nazi domination. The Nazi atomic weapons program needed heavy water from a mountain-protected Norwegian heavy water plant. Bombing the plant would have been difficult especially considering the vicinity of the town in the same mountain crevice. But the Nazis had to be stopped. British commandoes were promised to help the Norwegians but the commandoe raid failed in their attempt to reach the Norwegian guerrillas. If the world was to be saved, it was in the hands of 9 men.

The guerrilla plan and execution was brilliant and successful. But there was a complication and they would need a second raid to stop the Nazis. Again they produced results and this time even more incredible.

It is an incredible story of our incredible debt to these brave Norwegians who hardly understood the importance of their mission until long after it was over.

This is one of the most interesting stories in World War 2 history. The attempt by British Special Forces to destroy the Nazi nuclear reactor was a tremendous effort. Using Norwegian skiers who blended into the local background and destroyed the nuclear hard water reactor the mission was a success. This story also includes their dramatic escape and the second attempt at destroying a boat of hard water. This story is one that needs to be told and I highly recommend to everyone. Very well written and reads like a novel.

While teaching chemistry this year, I came across the word deuterium, which stands for what is called 'heavy water.' I was browsing around looking for more information on the difference between regular hydrogen, deuterium, and tritium, for my class...as I have found that the more history given in chemistry classes, the more the students are likely to remember technical information if they understand what it was used for.

During WWII there was a perceived race between the Allies and Germany to be the first to come up with an atomic bomb. The Allies were right to be worried because most of the work on nuclear energy had been done in Germany prior to the war, by people like Einstein and Fermi. These men were quickly moved out of Germany, and into Britain and the U.S., as their minds were worth their weight in gold.

One of the ways to cause a nuclear reaction is to use heavy water. Hydrogen under normal conditions has a proton and an electron, but no neutron within its nucleus. In order to start a nuclear reaction, a nucleus has to bombard uranium or plutonium, and regular water cannot supply that neutron. Deuterium is an isotope of hydrogen that has a neutron in its nucleus, and so can start a reaction.

The Germans did not have access to heavy water, and this was part of the reason that they invaded Norway early, as Norway had an outstanding heavy water facility. Those involved in the production of the atomic bomb in this country were very concerned that the Nazis were about 2 years ahead of us in creating a bomb. This threat was enough to be of importance to Franklin Deleanor Roosevelt and winston Churchill, and to General Groves who was the military arm of the Los Alamos group creating the bomb in the U.S. Groves made it clear that the Norsk Hydra plant needed to be taken out of commission immediately.

Both British and Norwegian loyalists were involved in this joint effort. Luckily the men who created the Norsk plant were in England and could give detailed instruction to the men who were to sabotage the plant. the first attempt at gliding British into Norway ended in disaster, when the gliders crashed, and those who survived the crash were murdered by the
Germans. The second attempt, made up of all Norwegians, was more successful, and they not only blew up important parts of the plant, but made it home to Britain in safety.

Unfortunately, the Germans were able to get the plant up and running sooner than expected, and were sending heavy water to Germany for safekeeping. This meant that another sabotage needed to be planned, one that would sink the barrels of heavy water in the deep part of a fjord. and this time the lives of innocent Norwegians were lost as they could not take the chance of alerting civilians and having the Germans suspect something.

I wish the book had explained more about the chemistry of the heavy water, but the book was an enjoyable historical read, as so much of the information came first hand from those Norwegians involved. I found enough information on the Internet to explain the process using heavy water, and it is still used today in Canada.

The Norwegians should be proud of the part they played in defeating the Germans...as someone of Norwegian ancestry, I am proud of what they sacrificed.

Karen Sadler,
Science Education

This is the first time I've felt compelled to write an Amazon review. I'm a high school teacher and I happened to pull "Assault in Norway" off of a shelf in the school library while my class was being lectured by the librarians. Who knew an act of casual boredom would lead to such an enthralling literary experience? Tom Gallagher's writing is excellent, and it takes effort to remind yourself that you aren't reading a spy novel but about a true-life event. Also importantly, this book brings to life, more than any movie or video game or text book ever has, the urgency and importance in fighting World War II and fighting against the Nazis. If you've ever taken for granted the idea of ordinary men doing extraordinary things, you never will again after reading about the extraordinary things the men who attempted to sabotage the Vemork plant and the Nazi atomic effort had to do. I have now realized for the first time that in the case of this war, the rhetoric and hyperbole is true. This was a war fought against evil men trying to take over the world, and it called for all good men to do what was right, and to do what in ordinary times they would never imagine doing, and to do so with the quiet desperation of men willing to sacrifice everything short of their humanity to achieve their goal... I salute these men and what they did, and all those who laid down their lives and identities in order to keep the world a place safe for freedom and individuality. You know these men... they are your fathers and your brothers and uncles and friends and neighbors, and they are willing to do what is asked of them for honor and country. I ask myself, could I do what they have done? Given a real threat against a real enemy, I hope I would have been able to, and I thank those whose lives are chronicled in this book for doing their part to ensure that, at least against this particular enemy, I won't have to.
I may have gotten a little carried away here, but you must read this book. The dangers and threats of World War II are ones that we must never forget, and the actions of men like these are the ones that we must always honor.

Being of Norwegian descent I found The Klipfish Code exciting and informative. The book is for young independent readers. After reading the book I passed it on to my grand-daughters, both age 12, who also enjoyed the book. A book we can all learn from.

I bought this book for my grandsons, ages 8, 10 and 12. I read the book with interest, but will let the boys' mother decide whether or not to let them read it now.

Over the years I've read all Mary's books, and this latest proves that her writing just keeps getting better. Masterfully done. Full of deep heart. Satisfying in all ways. While her books are ostensibly written for children, as an adult I am always a satisfied reader. Klipfish Code is a must read for children & adults alike!

Excellent reading for ages nine to ninety. I think it would make an excellent movie. I have been to Isfjorden. It is only seven miles from my grandfather's family home where relatives still farm.

I absolutely loved this book. It is hard to comprehend events such as these: invasion of Norway; occupation by the Nazis for 5 years; control of church and school by the Nazis; Resistance soldiers; when the United States has been so blessed. That families were separated for long periods of time is something I cannot understand. I asked myself many times as I was reading, would I be able to do what Marit did at age 12? Would I be able to send my children away, not knowing the time frame we would be separated, in order to keep them safe? Would I risk being arrested or possibly murdered to hold to my beliefs?
Klipfish Code is a very thought provoking novel. I highly recommend it and am anxious to suggest it to my Middle School students.

The book burns, numbs, burns. The people are real. The history is real. "It was History she ran from," the author tells us, we who are prone to forget or deny, "and, to her, there was no stalker more tenacious, no trapper so cunning: its favorite victims are those who survive."

'Music for the Third Ear' is a deceptively simple and quick book. But it lingers, it doesn't go away, and it keeps you thinking about it long afterwards. There are so many levels that meet or careen into each other... It is an extremely saddening book, with no happy ending, and barely a ray of hope. It is pessimistic, as many of the characters are sucked down into and feed on their own vortexes of hate or need. It is a violent protest about man's inhumanity to man, and what to depths our egocentricity allows us to stoop---Mette feels all she does is OK because she is childless; Mesud rides on a cloud of ethnic hate that becomes its own reason to exist and be nurtured; Dr. lo Schiavo has no qualms about removing love and trust in the name of 'charity' and 'humanity', and so on. The only truly innocent one is as always the child, who might be the eternal loser.

A moving story that is relevant today. It tells us how war is a tragedy not only for its victims, but also for the children of the victims. After World War II the phrase "never again" became a mantra, but when is it going to occur? Read this book; pass it on to your friends. Help spread the word that today we should shout to our leaders around the globe "NEVER AGAIN."

Susan Schwartz Senstad could not have written a more timely and powerful work of fiction. The book is about the aftereffects of the rape genocide/ethnic cleansing policies carried about by Slobodon Milosevij on a couple coming back from their ordeal who meet up with a child of Auschwitz survivors, looking to take them in and "fix" what happened to them. .... In this powerful intersection of the Shoah that could not happen again, with the one that has happened and is now being debated--like its predecessor--Schwartz Senstad understands the human need to rid ourselves of survivor guilt, the resilience of the survivors of the Balkans and of other atrocities, and the great silence that, for the victims, is often the only possible response to what has happened to them. In this short and powerful tale, the main character,Zhelijka, a Croation Catholic woman, endures deliberate cruel and constant mass rapes, until she becomes pregnant by an anonymous father. Zhelijka's soon-born son becomes the pivotal character in the story. She calls him "Zero" and despite her strong ties to her child, is finally forced to endure yet another horror--she allows her Muslim husband Mesud to put the child up for adoption. Ultimately, the rejected child re-enters the lives of the four adult characters, Zhelijka and Mesud and Mette (the first-generation holocaust survivor) and her Norwegian husban Hans Olav.A perfect book club book, which manages to transcend its sad moments with emotion writ large and beautifully, a la Alice Walker or Joyce Carol Oates. Destined for the Oprah show! Thanks to Picador, USA for publishing a paperback version that exceeds the beauty of "The Red Tent."

Music for the Third Ear in eerie synchronous plotting seeks to and successfully connects two twentieth century holocausts, the Nazi atrocities and the Yugoslavian. Although fictional, it achieves an immediacy and a depth of understanding, particularly about the victimization of people from the Bosnian War. By putting names, faces, and personal histories in front of us, we can't avoid becoming emotionally involved.

I will just briefly outline the plot here. The details are important, but what lies underneath in meaning is more so. A Yugoslav couple, one a Bosnian Muslim and the other a Croatian Catholic reunite five years after the end of the Bosnia War in Rome. The woman has a son as a result of gang rape during the war, whom her husband forces her to give up to a childless Italian couple. The Yugoslavians immigrate to Norway, where they stay temporarily with a childless couple, the woman being the daughter of Jewish holocaust survivors. The child, in the meantime, has severe psychological problems and eventually becomes a pawn between the Italians, the Yugoslavs, and the Norwegian couple. Each family is already psychologically scarred, some as a result of war, some for other reasons.

The story is told in flashbooks. As we are taken through their lives what becomes painfully evident is that we can only watch, but are powerless to stop another tragedy in the making, even after war is long over. What makes it bearable at all, is the loving insight of the author, a psychotherapist, who tells the story in way that enhances our understanding and never intrudes.

The title is not entirely clear to me, but I gather that it relates to a method of psychotherapy described by the psychoanalyst, Theodore Reik, in which listening, not just with the ears, but with all of one's senses and one's soul, is revelatory and crucial to understanding and healing.

I bought this book at a book-signing Marilyn was having at Mendenhall Glacier Visitors Center in Alaska. I was was there on a side trip from a cruise ship, and it was my lucky day. Marilyn autographed it for me, and I took it back to the ship - where it hardly left my hands for the balance of the cruise, and on the plane home. What a great book! Reading this account of Marilyn's early life with her husband in Alaska is like becoming a part of her family. You suffer with them when they don't find fish, and rejoice with them when the year is good. You see in your mind's eye the beauty of Alaskan waters, and can almost smell the salty air as they hunt the elusive salmon. You rejoice in the birth of each child, and marvel at their life aboard a small fishing boat. You live with them in the tiny cabin they build on land. Written in the first person, Marilyn brings you to Alaska and into her family with a wealth of details, and with a skill and honesty to be admired. The book deserves every one of it's Five Stars rating. Do yourself a favor and buy it for some long weekend when you want a really good read. You will not regret it!

Besides telling the not-to-be-put-down story of her life, the author has created a historical document of southeastern Alaska, including the changes that occured during her many years there. The book is also a source of inspirational quotations which embody the Alaskan spirit. Marilyn Jordan George is a multitalented person; I am glad she penned her life story.

Marilyn literally takes you aboard with her and her family. I almost got sea sick. LOL Marilyn is articulate and tells it like it is. She doesn't sugar coat the unfortunate happenings. You will laugh, you will cry and you will get angry at certain characters. All in all a wonderful read.

My husband and I had just spent a number of fascinating days exploring The Pan Handle of Alaska (Southeast Alaska)-Which included-a number of communities that are only reached by boat or plane, as well as gliding among the ice floats in an area called Tracy's Arm to view a large glacier. When we landed in Petersberg we visited the museum and met Marilyn Jordan George. We could not resist buying her book; Following The Alaskan Dream.
We have both read it and have both thoroughly enjoyed it. The author gives you a detailed account of how life was lived during her days of salmon trolling in Southeast Alaska. Marilyn recounts the good-times and the trials of raising a family living on a boat, while salmon trolling with her husband, Skip Jordan.
It was most gratifying to read and enjoy a book that represents how positive thinking and a zest for life can give you such great pleasure. I was very sorry it ended---and hoped that there will be a sequel. Eliot Marshall/Klatzkin-Yardley, Pa.

Vivid portrayal of southeast Alaska's vanishing fishing industry. Sharing the author's lifetime of experiences I could almost feel salt spray in my face. A must-read for anyone who has lived in this beautiful country, has visited there, or dreams of Alaska.

This is a much sparser version of her work than her later novel Kristin Lavransdatter. It gives much less detail and characterization so you might find it dry in comparison. I'm glad I read it but I didn't like it nearly as much as I'd anticipated based on her later writing.

In writing Gunnar's Daughter, Sigrid Undset had two aims: to show that the struggles of the human person against himself, others, and nature have no history; and to reveal a pagan past as it actually was--cruel and bloody in contrast to the growing Christian faith it encountered. In both cases, she succeeded brilliantly.

Take the first case. You often hear yammering from certain quarters that it is possible for human beings to progress as a society beyond their passions. Myopic nonsense! The characters of Gunnar's Daughter hurt themselves and others, and love as much as they hate, with exactly the same capacity as anyone today. An honest reader will realize that we are no better at heart than the men (and woman) whose stories are told here--but also that we are no worse. What we have hated and loved and yearned for, men and women have always hated and loved and yearned for. In reading this you realize for the first time that you can actually appreciate your ancestors as living men and women, and not as faceless DNA donors.

In the second case, in Undset's time--the early 20th century--there was then as now the movement to glorify the pre-Christian past, the sort of naivety only possible from the safety of the Christianized world. Undset was rightly disturbed by this movement, and in Gunnar's Daughter she draws the picture of bloody, violent, might-makes-right world--and better yet, shows the redeeming effect of Christianity as it makes its way into Scandinavia. Contrast Vigdis' exposure of her healthy but unwanted infant--an unremarkable event in her time, even if, as Undset shows, one not done without lingering sorrow--with the later refusal of Viga-Lyot to expose his deformed and sickly baby expressly because, as he states, he is a Christian, and will not hear of it. This is of even more interest in our day, when the growing nonChristian influence on our society has led us full circle to a time when once again the unwanted baby is done away with--Undset's picture was more prescient than she knew.

All in all, a haunting and true book.

Undset, Lagerlof, Bjornson, Hamsun, Gustafsson; five stars aren't enough to reflect the masterpieces that they all wrote, and, in the case of Gustafsson, are still writing. Read all their books and grow a lifetime in a couple of years.

I suppose that anything that sells books makes it to the top of the page, although I appreciate that the first review I read about this book was straightforward, unbiased and sans agenda. I have been reading the great writers of the world since I learned to read. I began to explore the works of Undset, Lagerlof, Bjornson, Hamsun, Gustafsson, etc., thirty years ago and it irks me no end that the works of a Scandinavian writer like Undset, who lived in a time when women had all the rights in the world, should be referenced by your commentator from Brattleboro, VT as womens fiction. If she has read "The Master of Hestviken" or "Kristen Lavransdatter", then she must have missed all the suffering endured by the men and women. Great works of creativity do not address personal agendas. They are wrought from the soul. Lagerlofs' "Saga of Gosta Berling", another masterpiece, explores the same moral questions with a male protagonist. I say to you, dear lady from Vermont, that feminism is dead; we are all feminine and masculine regardless of our plumbing, and the last GREAT female poet, Sylvia Plath, lived the pain of that polarity until it killed her. Shame on you Amazon.com for using divisiveness and the promulgation of hatred, fear, and misunderstanding to make a buck. Publish this!!

This novella should fit comfortably beside the plays of Sophocles or Aeschylus or the tragedies of Shakespeare. Don't let that intimidate you: it's more accessible than all of them, and a perfect book for a book club. It's the story of a man who commits a despicable act of violence in his immaturity, against a woman who must live with the consequences all her life - as must he. Questions of justice, repentance, mercy, and forgiveness are raised - and left to readers to answer as best we can. Undset's portrayals of the characters maximize the difficulties of these questions and the discussions which readers will be craving after finishing this fine book. I picked it up to see if I like Undset enough to commit to 1000 pages of Kristen Lavransdatter. I have since picked up that meganovel - and find it, so far, less engaging by far than Gunnar's Daughter, which deserves one of the highest places in the canon of Western literature.

In this case of medieval date rape and the grim consequences which follow hard upon it, Sigrid Undset created a wonderfully literate experience using the saga "voice". Although I detected slippages in tone, here and there, and felt the ending too contrived and overwrought to be pure saga, I was still swept along by this book, finishing it in a single sitting. It is short, yes, but also a very compelling narrative as it details the tribulations of two would-be lovers who are yet too proud and self-willed for their own good or for the society in which they find themselves. As with the typical viking hero, Viga-Ljot is overly confident of his own charms and impatient of results. And Vigdis, the maid he has set his heart on, is no less aloof and overbearing in her own way than that historical figure, Sigrid the Haughty, who so angered King Olaf Tryggvesson that he slapped her in the midst of their courtship and thereby sealed his doom. Viga-Ljot does much worse in this tale and his fate is thus forever bound up with a woman who cannot forget or forgive him. Like Gudrun Osvif's daughter in Laxdaela Saga, Vigdis bides her time and nurses her pain but, in the end, that pain is not assuaged by the actions she takes, for it is ultimately destructive to everyone it touches.

A good example of the saga form in modern literature indeed, and yet, despite the finely tuned prose of this novel, capturing the nuances and understatement of the saga voice with masterly strokes, there is an underlying stridency here, an almost emotional overreaching which is not, itself, true to the saga form. In some ways this book is too modern and its author's sensibility, at this juncture in her career, almost too young and unseasoned. Undset seems to be reaching for the tragic denouement of the Greek classics to end her tautly told tale rather than content herself with the flatly understated and finely nuanced wrap-up more appropriate to the saga form. But this Greek-like ending left me much colder than the drily tossed-off afterthought of a true saga might have done. And yet, for all that, Undset has here given us one of the better modern novels done in saga form. My hat is off to her.

By the way, for another really fine novel based on the old sagas, one, in fact, that I think outdoes even this one, try SAGA: A NOVEL OF MEDIEVAL ICELAND by contemporary Canadian author Jeff Janoda. Many have tried to evoke the sagas in modern prose but few have done it as well as he has. Janoda has written a contemporary novel that does genuine justice to its original source, Eyrbyggja Saga, while not succumbing to the overwrought sensibility which mars GUNNAR'S DAUGHTER at the end. If you like fiction grounded in the old Norse saga literature, then Janoda's book should be your very next stop.

SWM
author of The King of Vinland's Saga

Kim definitly did her research. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and look forward to the sequel. It was so entertaining!

Great book for this exciting new author! I can imagine Nicole Kidman as Jorunn and Tom Cruise as the first hubby! It would be a fantastic movie. When is the sequel coming!

This is a great story with believable characters.Kimberly Nygaard has done her research, and is obviously well acquainted with the people and history of Norway.

Kimberly Nygaard writes a gripping first novel! Enjoyable prose, intriguing story and even educational. If you're at all interested in Norwegian history, this is a must!

My book club just finished reading Jorunn's Saga and every member enjoyed it. (That's a first for our club!) We liked the characters, the descriptions, and the setting. The difficult choices these character's faced had us all questioning what we would do in similar circumstances. This book is a great catalyst for a group discussion.