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The Greenlanders
The Greenlanders
Author: Jane Smiley
Pulitzer Prize winner and bestselling author Jane Smiley’s The Greenlanders is an enthralling novel in the epic tradition of the old Norse sagas. — Set in the fourteenth century in Europe’s most farflung outpost, a land of glittering fjords, blasting winds, sun-warmed meadows, and high, dark mountains, The Greenlander...  more » is the story of one family–proud landowner Asgeir Gunnarsson; his daughter Margret, whose willful independence leads her into passionate adultery and exile; and his son Gunnar, whose quest for knowledge is at the compelling center of this unforgettable book. Jane Smiley takes us into this world of farmers, priests, and lawspeakers, of hunts and feasts and long-standing feuds, and by an act of literary magic, makes a remote time, place, and people not only real but dear to us.
ISBN-13: 9781400095469
ISBN-10: 1400095468
Publication Date: 9/13/2005
Pages: 608
Edition: Reprint
Rating:
  • Currently 4.8/5 Stars.
 4

4.8 stars, based on 4 ratings
Publisher: Anchor
Book Type: Paperback
Other Versions: Hardcover
Members Wishing: 0
Reviews: Member | Amazon | Write a Review

Top Member Book Reviews

reviewed The Greenlanders on
Helpful Score: 1
This books is not a historical novel, rather a fictional journalistic styled history. It reminded me of Beowulf without the poetic element. It is almost primitive in style, yet the characters do assume some life after many episodes begin to reveal personalities. Greenlanders is slow moving and develops slowly. It tends to drag and weary the reader, yet also tends to call the reader back to see what the outcome of this most difficult setting will afflict upon its settlers. If you are looking to read a story with well-developed characters, you will be disappointed. If you are wanting to discover more about this part of our world, you will learn, but it tends to go on and on and on... Am I sorry I read it? Not really. Would I recommend it to friends? Maybe 1 in 20. Would I have finished it if I had been busily engaged in life at the time. No.
reviewed The Greenlanders on + 83 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
A world I never thought to look at came alive.
Read All 3 Book Reviews of "The Greenlanders"


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