List Containing Books Independent People (Sjálfstætt fólk #1-4)
| Title | : | Independent People (Sjálfstætt fólk #1-4) |
| Author | : | Halldór Laxness |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | Anniversary Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 482 pages |
| Published | : | January 14th 1997 by Vintage (first published 1934) |
| Categories | : | Fiction. Classics. Historical. Historical Fiction. Literature |
Halldór Laxness
Paperback | Pages: 482 pages Rating: 4.17 | 8603 Users | 1203 Reviews
Commentary In Pursuance Of Books Independent People (Sjálfstætt fólk #1-4)
This magnificent novel—which secured for its author the 1955 Nobel Prize in Literature—is at last available to contemporary American readers. Although it is set in the early twentieth century, it recalls both Iceland's medieval epics and such classics as Sigrid Undset's Kristin Lavransdatter. And if Bjartur of Summerhouses, the book's protagonist, is an ordinary sheep farmer, his flinty determination to achieve independence is genuinely heroic and, at the same time, terrifying and bleakly comic. Having spent eighteen years in humiliating servitude, Bjartur wants nothing more than to raise his flocks unbeholden to any man. But Bjartur's spirited daughter wants to live unbeholden to him. What ensues is a battle of wills that is by turns harsh and touching, elemental in its emotional intensity and intimate in its homely detail. Vast in scope and deeply rewarding, Independent People is simply a masterpieceIdentify Books In Favor Of Independent People (Sjálfstætt fólk #1-4)
| Original Title: | Sjálfstætt fólk |
| ISBN: | 0679767924 (ISBN13: 9780679767923) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Series: | Sjálfstætt fólk #1-4 |
| Characters: | Bjartur í Sumarhúsum, Ásta Sóllilja, Nonni, Helgi, Gvendur, Ingólfur Arnarson, Rauðsmýrarmaddaman, Jón, hreppstjóri, Rósa, Finna, Hallbera |
| Setting: | Iceland |
| Literary Awards: | Premi Llibreter de narrativa Nominee (2005) |
Rating Containing Books Independent People (Sjálfstætt fólk #1-4)
Ratings: 4.17 From 8603 Users | 1203 ReviewsJudge Containing Books Independent People (Sjálfstætt fólk #1-4)
4.5 stars - This was a really fantastic book to finish off the year. This book is beautiful and heartbreaking and my writing skills could never do it justice. If you are at all interested in Iceland and Scandinavian lit this is a must read. It is a slow burn and takes some patience. It is a book I would like to revisit at least parts of in the future. I will be thinking about these characters and what it really means to be an independent person for a long time.I see a number of my GR friends have read this but A BILLION MORE of them have this listed as To Read. Yes, I see why. Every single person who has read this thinks this is a masterpiece but you stroke your chin and you think do I really need a 600 page novel about Icelandic sheep farmers in my life? Even if it is a Nobel prize winning all time masterpiece?Maybe you are like me, you live in a city and think the countryside is very pretty to visit for an afternoon, what with all the moo cows and
It is hard to write about this novel, but others have managed to do so with words that make perfect sense. Perhaps, though, I'm still caught in that after-book glow, figuring out just whether or not my love for this book will condense itself into sentences with letters and words and commas and periods. Maybe it will, maybe it won't. For your sake and mine I'll keep this blathering short and encourage you, instead, to go and read reviews from others on this site. There are good ones.It is a
3.5 starsI read Independent People as a buddy read with Janelle from The Page Turner, who is an insightful and well-spoken Booktuber that suggested that we read something by Halldor Laxness, who is the first and only Nobel Prize in Literature winner from Iceland. It is a great selection to read this, because I have never read a work of Icelandic literature before picking this up, so I was looking forward to reading something about a country I did not know so much about. After reading this, I got
Independent People is a poetic and insightful portrayal of Icelandic life in the mid-twentieth century. In a foreign land and exotic to most, Halldor Laxness beautifully conveys one man's struggle for independence and questions what it means to be truly independent. Bjartur, Independent People's protagonist, was born into servitude and breaks free the shackles of debt only to become enslaved by sheep, the harsh Icelandic climate, and to a lesser degree the supernatural world and politics.
Better Red Than DeadEntering into Independent People with no introduction, one could be forgiven for thinking it a merely charming review of early 20th century Icelandic culture, an update of the sagas and a chronicle of the rugged life of the North. Laxness apparently promotes this in his opening paragraphs with his references to local legends of Norse colonisers, Celtic demons, and the various Icelandic myths of national origin. He describes a timeless scene, ...the centuries lie side by side
It took me a little to do this thing with Independent People. 500 pages of itsy bitsy print: it requires a monogamous, long term commitment. But, Brad Leithauser enthuses in the foreword, this is the book of my life. I have to reign in the suspicion I am its only ideal reader. Hey ho, not a bad sell. Still, why? What is the book about?Well, its a book about sheep says Leithauser. Well, for heavens sake. 500 pages about sheep, do I have it in me? Im not Welsh after all, where the men are men and
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