Books Free The Greenlanders Download Online
Declare Of Books The Greenlanders
Title | : | The Greenlanders |
Author | : | Jane Smiley |
Book Format | : | Paperback |
Book Edition | : | Deluxe Edition |
Pages | : | Pages: 608 pages |
Published | : | September 13th 2005 by Anchor (first published March 12th 1988) |
Categories | : | Historical. Historical Fiction. Fiction. Novels |
Jane Smiley
Paperback | Pages: 608 pages Rating: 3.9 | 2293 Users | 348 Reviews
Narration As Books The Greenlanders
Pulitzer Prize winner and bestselling author Jane Smiley’s The Greenlanders is an enthralling novel in the epic tradition of the old Norse sagas. Set in the fourteenth century in Europe’s most far-flung outpost, a land of glittering fjords, blasting winds, sun-warmed meadows, and high, dark mountains, The Greenlanders is the story of one family–proud landowner Asgeir Gunnarsson; his daughter Margret, whose willful independence leads her into passionate adultery and exile; and his son Gunnar, whose quest for knowledge is at the compelling center of this unforgettable book. Jane Smiley takes us into this world of farmers, priests, and lawspeakers, of hunts and feasts and long-standing feuds, and by an act of literary magic, makes a remote time, place, and people not only real but dear to us.
Define Books In Pursuance Of The Greenlanders
Original Title: | The Greenlanders |
ISBN: | 1400095468 (ISBN13: 9781400095469) |
Edition Language: | English |
Setting: | Greenland |
Rating Of Books The Greenlanders
Ratings: 3.9 From 2293 Users | 348 ReviewsWeigh Up Of Books The Greenlanders
This is a convincing and masterly fictional account about eking out a life on mediaeval Greenland. If you prefer non-fiction then Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed is your best source.As with Sigrid Undset's 'Kristin Lavransdatter' trilogy, 'Greenlanders' is written in oral-epic-saga mode so it didn't surprise me at all to find a character called Birgitter Lavransdottir (hattip?). Now for the *gasp* statement - I am already (100 pages in) enjoying this more than the eternalWow. I picked this up on something of a whim with one or two reservations (as my GR friend Richard has opined its a stonking wodge of paper and I didnt know if the book would hold my interest for the page count), but boy am I glad I tried it. This is an incredible book. Not just because of the great amount of research that I imagine was involved in its creation, but quite simply because it tells a compelling story (or really an interrelated set of stories) that is immersive and vivid. Based on
Can't help wondering whether those giving high ratings are simply scared to undermine all the massive amounts of research that must have gone into this. I can totally imagine it being some people's thing, of course, but it's just so... slow. Not a shred of gratification anywhere. From a writer's perspective it's a commendable feat, but it's not readable. It does have bursts of humour in places where you'd least expect it:'When she passed a birch tree, she said, "Little birch tree, little birch

The Greenlanders is an exceptionally well-written bit of historical fiction, detailing the little-known history of the Norse settlement in Greenland from the mid-14th to early-15th century. While the story focuses primarily on one family, there is no real protagonist, and the narrative slips in and out of the lives of many members of the small community. Smiley (no relation of mine, sadly!) consciously adopts the style of an oral epic, paying attention to the rhythm of the prose and repeating
The sad decline of Greenland's eastern settlement features death by starvation, the vomiting ill, being swept into the sea and drowning, falling through the ice and freezing and drowning, murder both justified and not, wasting away due to emotional trauma, and being burned to death for adultery. But the tone and pace are not as intense as you might expect from this account - instead, the tale is told in measured tones with very little reference to feelings, presumably much like the sagas
I really really wanted to read this book - I generally like Jane Smiley's work, and its historical fiction! About Northern Europe no less! But in the end it was just...ponderous and dull. And frankly, I couldn't care less about any of the characters - not the unfaithful wife, the family she left behind, the crazy priest...not anyone. They were just all so dull. Even as Smiley so painstakingly - in so much detail - talked about the harshness of their life and their winters I still didn't care.
I loved this book so much! As with all books I really love, I can't say exactly why it was so absorbing. A lot happens, but not in a page-turning way, it's not funny at all, and while you do come to know and care about the characters, they are held at a certain remove from the reader. But it's nearly 600 pages of awesomeness about a lost society I'd never had any interest in before, and I loved every word of it. It's about endurance and survival in a hostile landscape, in which human emotions -
0 Comments