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Independent People (Paperback)

by Halldor Laxness (Author)
4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (54 customer reviews)
List Price: CDN$ 19.95
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Product Details

Product Description

From Publishers Weekly

Originally published in 1946 and out of print for decades, this book by the Nobel Prize-winning Icelandic author is a huge, skaldic treat filled with satire, humor, pathos, cold weather and sheep. Gudbjartur Jonsson becomes Bjartur of Summerhouses when, after 18 years of service to the Bailiff of Myri, he is able to buy his own croft. Summerhouses is probably haunted and is certainly unprepossessing, but Bjartur is a stubborn, leathery old (whatever his age) coot, and he soon has his new bride and few head of sheep installed in a sod house. When his wife dies cold and alone giving birth to the daughter of the Bailiff's son, Bjartur takes the child on almost as another test of his independence. Bjartur survives another wife, three sons that lived and several dead ones, all with his "armour of scepticism," which "endowed him with greater moral fortitude than that possessed by the other men." Through hard times (in the guises of worms and a cow that threaten his precious sheep), Bjartur maintains his ferocious and self-destructive independence, one aimed not so much at bettering his condition as being able to tell his former employer where to get off. Laxness is merciless with the hypocrisy of the upper classes, as exemplified by the Bailiff's poetess wife, who applauds the simple life of poor country people, or the Bailiff's son, whose social-welfare schemes help him but undermine the crofters. Laxness is not easy on Bjartur, who is bloody-minded in the extreme, but he is tender enough to compose a poem to his exiled adoptive daughter, and bold enough to engrave a simple marker in honor of the misunderstood ghoul who has haunted his farm and family. He's a figure that Snorri Sturluson would have recognized.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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Customer Reviews

54 Reviews
5 star:
 (44)
4 star:
 (6)
3 star:
 (1)
2 star:
 (3)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.7 out of 5 stars (54 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most helpful customer reviews

 
5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant + Depressing, May 21 2004
By Sarang Gopalakrishnan (Urbana, IL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This is a very moving book. The story is about Bjartur of Summerhouses and his (miserable) life as an independent farmer. The interest of the book comes partly from the vividness of its characters, esp. Bjartur and his daughter Asta Sollilja (actually his wife's daughter with the bailiff); the excellence of its comic sketches of Bailiff Jon who says very little and spits, his poetically inclined wife, Pastor Gudmundur the sheep-farmer, Bjartur's fellow independent farmers, etc.; the beauty of its descriptions of everyday life; and so on. Those are the things that make the book bearable. It is, however, chiefly a tragedy, and Bjartur is a tragic hero: stubborn, old-fashioned, fiercely defensive of his independence, but tender in an unsentimental way towards his sheep and Asta Sollilja.

Bjartur comes to a bad end because, in the "hubris" caused by the rise of wool prices during the First World War, he tries to build a regular house to replace his traditional (tiny) hut.

Bjartur is an old-world pioneer, and the bleakness of the book comes from its portrayal of the old world as a place with no space for pioneers -- a place where there is no new land, only abandoned land, and possibilities are rigidly circumscribed.

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5.0 out of 5 stars This is a great book--up there with Thomas Hardy--no joke, May 14 2004
By Robert Hirschfeld (Dobbs Ferry, NY United States) - See all my reviews
I was skeptical when a friend urged this one on me--a novel about an Icelandic sheep herder? I'd never heard of Laxness--and the Nobel Prize has sometimes been more of a political gesture than a recognition of true merit. But it took me no more than one paragraph to be totally absorbed. This book is, by turns, powerful, frightening, funny, and lyrical. Part of the credit is due to a masterful translation (I think, having no Icelandic whatever), or, at least a translation that never reads like a translation, if you know what I mean. But mostly it is the genius of the author, his ability to convey a physical image, an emotional context, the nuances and quirks of a character. This is the first time I've taken the trouble to write a review in here--but if there's a chance that someone might be inspired to get this book, then it's worth the effort. I compare Laxness to Hardy because of this writer's ability to evoke the ambiance of a place and to show his characters as organically linked to their roots. I see there are a few more of Laxness's books available in English and I plan to read all I can find. Get this one, by all means.
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4.0 out of 5 stars Icelandic "Gone With The Wind", Sep 15 2003
By Grodge "Kalamazoo Post" (Kalamazoo, MI USA) - See all my reviews
Laxness weaves a tale over a generation with the trials and tribulations of being a sheep herder on a haunted clearing in the near Arctic. Although I didn't relate exactly with the period and geography, the theme of independence and the politics of trade associated with the story were facinating. Bartjur, the shepherd, loves his independence more than his family and life itself.

In the end, his lessons are learned by his children who each take to heart the father's ways, but all in their own ways. Can we ever truly be completely independent? Or are we inextricably linked to family, community and society?

A very well written tome, with much vivid imagery, every bit as classic as Margaret Mitchell's GWTW.

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 		 Most recent customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars an Independent idea
As a traveler to Iceland, this book acts as an invitation into Icelandic culture from what is customary to serve visitors to what many Icelanders talk about over coffee. Lisez davantage
Published on Jun 20 2004 by phillipm20

4.0 out of 5 stars Another Nobel Peace prize winner just like Arafat
Ahh, Commies. Does their disgusting depravity known any bounds? Is there a depth so low that commies will not sink to it in their desire to steal the property of other men? Lisez davantage
Published on April 25 2004 by Philip M

5.0 out of 5 stars Independent People
I first read "Independent People" in 1996 after reading Brad Leithauser's essay in the "New York Review of Books. Lisez davantage
Published on Jun 2 2003 by Robin Friedman

5.0 out of 5 stars AN ICELANDIC EPIC
There are multitudes of underlying themes in INDEPENDENT PEOPLE that it almost demands a second reading to fully appreciate this novel. Lisez davantage
Published on Jan 3 2003 by S. Calhoun

4.0 out of 5 stars Powerful and Often Funny
This novel looks nostalgically at rural life in Iceland and regrets the effects of a market economy on rural people with simple wants and needs. Lisez davantage
Published on Nov 11 2002 by -_Tim_-

3.0 out of 5 stars Too many sheep
In 1955 Laxness got the Nobel prize for literature mainly for this book that describes the unequal fight of an Icelandic small farmer against the elements.... Lisez davantage
Published on Sep 15 2002 by Linda Oskam

5.0 out of 5 stars Oppressive. Alluring.
There's not much I can say about "Independent People" that hasn't already been written here. It's an extraordinary read, full of complex characters, striking detail, and a... Lisez davantage
Published on Sep 13 2002 by Jay Stevens

5.0 out of 5 stars One of Pepe's Passionfruits
One of the best novels of the 20th century. Yes it's about Icelandic sheep farmers, so what? It's not like you've read this sort of thing a million times before.
Published on Jun 13 2002 by sparky

5.0 out of 5 stars One of Pepe's Passionfruits
One of the best novels of the 20th century. Yes it's about Icelandic sheep farmers, so what? It's not like you've read this sort of thing a million times before.
Published on Jun 13 2002 by sparky

4.0 out of 5 stars A fascinating insight into Icelandic Character
1st let me say that I truly enjoyed this book. I found myself having to put it down from time to time because 1. It was to overwhelming and 2. Lisez davantage
Published on May 26 2002 by M. Miller

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