Reading the Chunksters discussion

Posts for Part III of The Cross

I have finished but I won't post until more have caught up.

I've caught up and have finished. You first.

Ok well now I have found out how to do spoiler alert :)

This is the last volume in the trilogy. I loved all three but this last one is my favourite. I read the Charles Archer translation editions and feel something was at times lost in translation. I hear the Penguin version may be better so at some future point I will try to pick that up.

This work, by Nobel prize winner Sigrid Undset, needs to be read more than once to get the full measure of it. I will read other works by her.

Basically, this seemed to be a woman's life of love, hopes, faith, and self-awareness as she seeks ever to understand the God that created her and what she is here to learn, with other characters and events woven in. At times the characters really frustrated me but that made this work so much more believable. Real people are flawed and a product of their time and experience.

(view spoiler)[ The break down of the marriage with Erlend was the most frustrating of all. Simon I really liked in the main and felt sorry for him. (hide spoiler)]

That was... quite long!

I was a little disappointed that the great plague is sort of shoved in there at the end. There's been no mention of it prior to now and then, bang, it comes in and kills a lot of people.

The End.

I also think that this trilogy is a powerful argument for not having children. Or for not having them if you expect anything but grief and pain from them.

Unlike you Tracey this last book was definitely my least favourite. I was sick to death of Kristin's moaning, I didn't like any of her children and I was just wanting it to be over.

Nicola, I always enjoy your honest evaluations. I found Kristin to be a great character. She was often annoying, but unlike Lily Dale whose annoying acts were cloaked in self-righteous martyrdom, I found Kristin's annoying acts a result of true and interesting character traits/faults.

I enjoyed the trilogy immensely, though I agree that after 1000 pages I was ready to let go of them all by the end. There were just too many kids to care about any one is particular, and I was fine if they all died. While I agree with Nicola about the plague being shoved in at the end, after reading a book blurb mentioning the plague, I was just very relieved it didn't dominate the entire third volume.

Based on her religious thoughts, Kristin's nunnery entrance was a natural last phase after her husband's death. The religiousness of the book was actually less than I expected and more natural than I expected. I entered dreading the expected religiousness and instead felt it was a strength of the novel. I especially liked the confluence of Catholicism with prior religious superstition.

I understand about the plague issue not seeming to be covered very much but like Brian, I think it would have bothered me more if it had been all about that...just endless lists of dying which is basically what the plague was. I think the way Undset approached it was realistic; everything was a part of a life which in truth is what history is when it is actually happening. It's only to us in hindsight that it becomes a drama if you will.
Kristin was not a very likable character but again I felt Undset what writing realistically. This was no New York Times Bestseller book for sure but one that I think will stand the test of time. It has never been out of print since it was first published.

This is my second read and it wasn't an easy read either time so I can agree with Nicola on that.

I read the Nunnally translation and thought it a very smooth easy read. I had considered reading the Archer edition, thinking I might prefer the archaic language, but the reported expungement of certain scenes in the Archer edition turned me off. Also, when I read that the new translation spurred the rediscovery of the trilogy, I was convinced that the Nunnally edition was the right choice for me.

Thanks for that Brian. I will definitely try the newer translation next time as I feel there was a lot lost in translation with the Archer editions.

My final thoughts on this trilogy are whether any of us (male or female) would have liked to have lived in those days.

As a female...no way! Giving birth in those conditions is not my idea of a better time. If one was not married or didn't have too many births than maybe life was not too bad if living with a kind and wealthy husband. In the main, I am so grateful to be born today.

Brian wrote: " I was just very relieved it didn't dominate the entire third volume."

True, that would have been worse.

Tracey wrote: "My final thoughts on this trilogy are whether any of us (male or female) would have liked to have lived in those days.

As a female...no way! Giving birth in those conditions is not my idea of a be... In the main, I am so grateful to be born today. "

Yup!

Drugs, hygiene, goodreads...what more could a mother to be want :)

Tracey wrote: "Drugs, hygiene, goodreads...what more could a mother to be want :)"

Even better for me is being able to join a growing group of women who are saying 'I don't want kids, I don't like kids, my life is perfect without them thanks! I'll do the planet a favour and take a permanent rain check.'

That really hasn't been an acceptable option until my generation so I really lucked out!

Brian wrote: "Nicola, I always enjoy your honest evaluations...."

Most people who don't want kids say diplomatically: " Oh, I like kids, just as long as they are other peoples' kids." Nicola, the straight-shooter says what they really mean: "I don't like kids." W. C. Fields would be proud.

Now, applying this to the saga we have read, I never quite got why Kristin loved having so many kids. They were such a wild pack of wolf cubs, I would think 3 would be more than enough. Four or five, maybe, but seven or eight? I know there's no birth control, but she seemed to really want them. I guess that is part of her complexity. Self-centered but wanting more kids. Maybe that's consistent, her wanting some 'chips off the old block.'

Maybe its because of my own experience. My wife loved and wanted 3 children, but after 2 boys, she cried when she learned the third one was a boy - and not just because she wanted a girl. Increasing our wolf cub pack from 2 to 3 just seemed overwhelming to her by the middle of the pregnancy.

I enjoyed this section, and not only because the end was in sight :) I thought the plague was well done. I dreaded it dominating the whole book.

I was interested in the religious aspect, and I would have liked to know more about life in the convent and how she felt about being a nun. I had the impression she didn't have a vocation at all, but just went to the convent because it suited her better than living with either of her married sons, and perhaps also because it was close to the two who were monks. The two young men didn't seem dedicated to a religious life, either. Maybe that was realistic for the time. Monasteries and convents as alternative housing for elders and disabled people ...

Kristin became less annoying for me when there were no more marital fights, although it's true she did whine a bit about the boys, especially her long regrets about how she wasn't fair to Bjorgulf.

I thought Kristin was one of those women who love babies and lose interest as the children grow up, and that's why she was always happy when one was on the way.

I wasn't fond of the sons here. I liked them in the earlier books when they were children and teens. Then I found Naakve charming, the twins brave and amusing, Gaute earnest and serious, Lavrans and Munan cute. But when they grew up they were all horrible.

It made me glad I don't have kids, too :)