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Giants In The Earth

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This is the first in a trilogy of books about the Norwegian settlement of the Dakota Territory. The second book is titled, " Peder Victorious", and the third and last book is titled, "Their Fathers' God." The author, a Norwegian who emigrated to the United States in 1896 and eventually became a professor at St. Olaf's College, wrote it in Norwegian, but it is every bit as American as apple pie.

This is a beautifully written, lyrical book about the experiences of the early Norwegians who settled in the vast prairie of the Dakota Territory during the latter half of the nineteenth century. It speaks of their isolation and desolation, as well as of the hardships inherent in pioneering so far West with so little resources at hand with which to do so. Dependent solely upon their inner resources, hard work, ingenuity, and whatever goods they had managed to haul with them, these peasant, would-be-farmers from Norway would be the stuff of which this country was made. Their resilience in the face of relentless hardship, adversity, and deprivation is stunning, as is their belief in a better life.

The story focuses on a small group of Norwegians who traveled together from the same small fishing hamlet in Norway and formed a settlement. Pioneers, they paved the way for those who were yet to come. The author details their trials and tribulations, with the focal figure of this group being an individual by the name of Per Hansa, who arrived in the vast prairie of the Dakota territory with his wife, Beret, and their three children. Yet, despite these central characters, all that happens revolves around the land and the elements that sustain it and drain it from season to season.

It is Per Hansa, however, who, perhaps, best epitomizes the enterprising spirit of the first settlers to the Dakota Territory, while his wife, Beret, represents those whose coping mechanisms were less able to make a smooth transition to their new environs. Per Hansa, bursting with energy and enthusiasm, is a man who thinks out of the box and refuses to let the elements get the best of him. He is a natural leader upon whom the others rely, a symbol of the pioneering spirit that revolutionized this country and made it great.

Beret, on the other hand, symbolizes those who see a relentless uphill fight to try to make something out of seemingly nothing. She fails to see the beauty around her, seeing only the stillness, the isolation, and what she perceives as the interminable loneliness. Therein lies the heart of the dichotomy in their relationship, as Per Hansa sees his cup as half full, while Beret sees hers as half empty.

Yet, despite Per Hansa's joy in the land, there is an underlying bittersweet moroseness that permeates the book that serves to underscore the great sacrifice that these early pioneers had to make in order for their settlement of the Great Plains of the Dakota Territory to work. It is grounded in an understanding by the author of the Norwegian immigrant culture and experience. It is a book that is brimming with feeling and written by an author who had the soul of a poet. Those who have read and enjoyed the quartet of books written by Swedish author, Vilhelm Moberg, about the early Swedish settlers of Minnesota, will likewise enjoy this book, as will all those who love lyrically written historical fiction. I very much look forward to reading the remaining two books in this trilogy.

It's true that I've never read this book and almost certainly never will, but it's also true that this was my mother's favorite book when she was a girl and my mother has excellent taste in literature so, via her, I highly highly recommend Ole Edvart Rolvaag's immortal classic, "Giants in the Earth". Trust her, you'll love it.

Rolvaag's Giants in the Earth will forever remain as of the truly epic works of American literature. A descendant of the Trottlander tribe of southern Norway myself, I grew up on a farm in midwest Minnesota and experienced the identical landscapes so vividly described in Rolvaag's masterpiece. Needless to say, I have always felt a profound connection to this work through how its rich pathetic fallacy largely mirrored my childhood fantasies and dreams.
Giants in the Earth is a novel about dichotomous relationships. And in a novel that depicts how relationships ultimately define their participants, the central figure in this important work is the land itself. It is interesting to note the order of effects the pastoral loneliness produces in its inhabitants. Beret, like many other non-natives living on the Great Plains, views the land as a lethal threat too pervasively gargantuan to overcome. Per on the other hand, views the land like so many of my father's generation: a fertile blessing that contains some of the most arable land on the entire planet. The attitudes of the novel's central characters towards their situation comes to reveal their strengths and weaknesses in a poignant, bittersweet saga as morose and sublime as the land itself. Compelling, tragic, humorous and underspoken, Rolvaag's Giants in the Earth reflects the feelings and goals of an entire generation of immigrants striven to succeed at all costs. Thankfully for us all, they did.

A saga-like tale of Norwegian immigrants to America, specifically to Dakota territory, travelling in covered wagons, living in sod huts dug into the ground, isolation, blizzards, planting & plagues of locusts, this book will make you feel you were there.

This story is also about the marriage between Per & Beret Hansa, a difficult relationship: He wanted to emigrate and she did not but went along with him, unfortunately it is all too much for her and she loses her mind. I think this book presents a very realistic picture of marital relations of that time.

The ending was somewhat bizarre and made me laugh out loud though I'm not sure it was supposed to be funny. I intend to read the sequel and will probably reread this one again one day, it's a great immigrant/pioneer classic.

O.E. Rolvaag's epic GIANTS IN THE EARTH is truly an American classic, especially for those of Norwegian or Scandinavian descent or those who've lived in the Great Plains. It seems to be a true description of the life the early settlers lived, the desperation of opressive freedom, and the claustrophobic effect of too much open space.

Per Hansa, the protagonist of our story, moves his family from a fishing village in Norway to the plains of the Dakota Territory in the last part of the 19th century. They are homesteaders, the people who settled the untamed prairie and bound themselves to it, sometimes at great personal cost.

Rolvaag brilliantly describes both the psychological effect of early prairie life and the Norwegian immigrant culture of the time. Being a new land, there were new challenges, new ideas, and new opportunities. In Per Hansa, Rolvaag invents a character that displays the passion and drive of the early settlers. His wife, Beret, like so many wives of the time, follows him with little idea of the hardships and, unfortunately, none of the psychological tools to deal with them. Their neighbors are wonderfully crafted: Tonesten, the whiner; Kjersti, his strong, capable, disrespectful wife; Hans Ola, the solid, dependable Scandinavian whose success is not so much from following his dreams as it is making no mistakes.

One comes to love the settlers even as they deal with squatters, locusts, sod houses, and the endless winter of the northern Plains. Midwestern Americans of Scandinavian descent will know that this is our story - our great-grandparents and great-great grandparents were contemporaries of Per Hansa and Beret.

Rolvaag should know this story - he himself was an immigrant and lived in Northfield, Minnesota for many years. The book was originally written in Norwegian and published in Norway, so in translation some idioms and cultural forms are hard to understand, but the translators and editors of the current text do a fine job with footnotes and introductory material.

I grew up around Norwegians and felt I never really knew them. They seemed to be a dour, austere, pensive people. Rolvaag wrote this book in Norwegian for Norwegians, capturing the nature of that character. Per Hansa and Beret can't communicate what they really feel. Tonseten comes off as the stereotypical pompous know-it-all that non-Norwegians find hard to take. I can easily understand why some readers find the book boring. I first heard of the book many years ago growing up around Norwegians. If not for that I never would have read it.

O.E. Rolvaag's Giants in the Earth is the facinating tale of Norweigan immigrents traveling by caravan to the Dakotas. They have come along way, starting in Norway, moving to Quebec, then onto Fillmore County Minisota and now to the Dakota territory.
This book illustrates the hearships and troubles of settling in the west during the 1870's. It also gives an accurate dipiction of how men and women react diferently to this great move.
This story is full of good life lessons and colorful charactures. This book is a challenging read. The charactures names are somewhat the same initialy making it a bit hard to follow.
It was also hard to keep up with some of the events and main points. But towards the middle of the book you get a good grasp on just who the charactures are. You almost fall in love with them, additionaly the pace of the plot increases.
It took alot of re-reading to be able to grasp the progress of the plot. The begining is extremly boring and dull, but it does get much better.
This book is for an older audiance with a good knowledge of history. History buffs and people with a Norweigian decent would be most satisfied in reading this. Alot of time, patients and dedications is needed to get throught this book.
Rolvaags writing style is very diferent and a bit unusual. To truly understand and enjoy this book you must take care in reading it, a highlighter helps as well.

O.E. Rolvaag's Giants in the Earth is the facinating tale of Norweigan immigrents traveling by caravan to the Dakotas. They have come along way, starting in Norway, moving to Quebec, then onto Fillmore County Minisota and now to the Dakota territory.
This book illustrates the hearships and troubles of settling in the west during the 1870's. It also gives an accurate dipiction of how men and women react diferently to this great move.
This story is full of good life lessons and colorful charactures. This book is a challenging read. The charactures names are somewhat the same initialy making it a bit hard to follow.
It was also hard to keep up with some of the events and main points. But towards the middle of the book you get a good grasp on just who the charactures are. You almost fall in love with them, additionaly the pace of the plot increases.
It took alot of re-reading to be able to grasp the progress of the plot. The begining is extremly boring and dull, but it does get much better.
This book is for an older audiance with a good knowledge of history. History buffs and people with a Norweigian decent would be most satisfied in reading this. Alot of time, patients and dedications is needed to get throught this book.
Rolvaags writing style is very diferent and a bit unusual. To truly understand and enjoy this book you must take care in reading it, a highlighter helps as well.

For years, my father repeatedly urged me to read this book about the pioneer life of Norwegian immigrants. Although my father is from Texas and has no Norwegian roots, he read this book in high school and it apparently made quite an impact upon him. Moreover, my great-grandmother on my mother's side immigrated from Norway around 1900 and this gives me some insight into her experience. The author does an outstanding job of conveying the mental as well as the physical struggles that pioneer families faced in the 1870's. I never contemplated that the isolation of pioneer life could be so difficult. The book was a quick read after the first 50 or so pages, and I am now moving on to Peder Victorious. I am glad I finally followed my father's advice.

Having grown up on the prairie, I have always found the tales of pioneer life absolutely intriguing. Both sides of my family come from pioneer roots and stories such as "Giants in the Earth" never fail to move me.

This novel was particularly wonderful. I wasn't sure what to expect when I began to read "Giants in the Earth." Having never read Rolvaag I was a little nervous, but it has turned out to be an experience that has helped to guide my course of studies over the past year.

The character development is extraordinary. One can't help but feel an intimate attraction to the characters and Rolvaag's dramatic portrayal of their lifestyle can't help but inspire empathy in readers.

The characters each inspire different emotions - Per Hansa: Pride; Beret - Frustration!

I would strongly recommend this book to anyone looking for an absolutely unbiased portrayal of pioneer life. It will inspire you.