In other ways, she’s alarmingly sheltered and naive. Of course, in that time period people faced more challenge and perhaps grew up sooner. Kristin is both tween and teen in this book.
And much wringing of hands, along with furtive embracing ensues. Problem is, she’s already betrothed to Simon Andresson (also called Simon Darre). But partway through, Kristin meets Erlend Nikulaussøn, the love of her life. Undset spends plenty of time on the family relationships, especially Kristin’s with her younger sister Uvhild. She’s the treasured daughter of Lavrans Bjørgulfsson, oldest of three sisters. For most of it, I was frustrated with Kristin’s childish behavior. This book was the hardest for me to connect with. Kristin is a conflicted woman, and I couldn’t help but be drawn into her dilemmas. So the discussion of Catholic themes-including copious amounts of guilt-is also strong. On the flip side, Kristin is incredibly pious, as Undset was for part of her life. The themes are quite modern, including women’s sexuality and the significant downsides of her turbulent marriage. But in others she’s rebellious and unlike most Norwegian women of her time. Thankfully, it was translated again in 2005 into more modern and readable English.įundamentally, this is an epic telling of Kristin’s life starting at age seven.
The original English translation also used Medieval English language, which made it much less popular. Kristin is a woman living in Norway during the Middle Ages-the early to mid 1300s. Yes, it took me almost the entire month of May to read. Or, as I read it, a 45 hour long audiobook. But, let’s also clarify that this is actually a trilogy, now published as a 1100+ page behemoth. In fact, Undset is so revered that she won a Nobel Prize for Literature in 1928, after Kristin was published. Kristin Lavransdatter is a Norwegian literature classic by Sigrid Undset.
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