The Greenlanders
by Jane Smiley
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 244)
recommends it for:
Historical Fiction Fans
This books begins with a strong premise, and interesting humanity-versus-nature story chronicling the decline of a settlement in Greenland, circa fifteenth-sixteenth century.
It would seem that whomever is responsible for editing this book needs to review basic paragraph structure and narrative flow. Jane Smiley patches snippets of dialogue and multi-year story events together between characters that may only appear once or twice.
The character relationships are especially murky, due to th...more
It would seem that whomever is responsible for editing this book needs to review basic paragraph structure and narrative flow. Jane Smiley patches snippets of dialogue and multi-year story events together between characters that may only appear once or twice.
The character relationships are especially murky, due to th...more
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Read in January, 2008
I've been fascinated by Greenland for the past few years, and so my dad got me this book awhile back. It's a pretty daunting looking read -- 582 pages about a fourteenth-century Norse civilization there -- so I wasn't sure I'd ever make it through it.
Since the book was written as a historical saga, it focuses more on plot than character development, and moves rather quickly between characters, sometimes spending 30 pages on a character and then seeing them die off in a sentence or two. ...more
Since the book was written as a historical saga, it focuses more on plot than character development, and moves rather quickly between characters, sometimes spending 30 pages on a character and then seeing them die off in a sentence or two. ...more
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Read in February, 2008
This book floored me. Simply. Sparse, moving and impressively restrained. Jane Smiley writes convincingly in the voice of the Norse sagas, but of course the inclusion of the women as important, thoughtful characters marks this as a modern novel. But oh, how beautiful it is! The Norse colony in Greenland, founded around the year 1000 and mostly disappeared by 1450, was doomed by harsh landscape and a changing climate, and Jane Smiley's Greenlanders feel this coming apocalypse vaguely, dreadi...more
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Read in January, 2003
I really don't even remember when I read this book... that said, it was one of the most beautiful books I've read. Jane Smiley is an expert in Icelandic literature and sagas, which I know she once taught at University of Iowa (she may still). She chooses to use the prose style of these epic sagas to write her own saga of 14th c Vikings attempting to colonize Greenland. This makes it a bit difficult to get into right at first, but just like with any writing style, you quickly adjust. Just give...more
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How many chances am I going to give Jane Smiley?
I had to drag myself through this 700 page epic about 14th century Norse people in Greenland. The first few hundred pages were utterly confusing - with dozens of significant and insignificant characters (and no way to distinguish the two) with similar names. If I had only kept a cheat sheet, I'd have done a lot better.
There were moments in this rambling book that were really interesting. The story spans generations of an unlucky family and ...more
I had to drag myself through this 700 page epic about 14th century Norse people in Greenland. The first few hundred pages were utterly confusing - with dozens of significant and insignificant characters (and no way to distinguish the two) with similar names. If I had only kept a cheat sheet, I'd have done a lot better.
There were moments in this rambling book that were really interesting. The story spans generations of an unlucky family and ...more
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Read in November, 2007
recommends it for:
fans of Icelandic sagas
If you've read an Icelandic saga, you've got a leg up on most readers who attempt this vast, multi-generational tale. Smiley works the style as best she can, making it only slightly palatable to a modern reader (the sagas rarely give us the why--just the what and how; Smiley gives us a bit more psychological background for her characters), although not to the point of modernizing the dialogue, which is more than a bit stilted.
There was much I enjoyed. The way events happened that were not ...more
There was much I enjoyed. The way events happened that were not ...more
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Read in October, 2007
What makes this book unique is also what makes it unapproachable: Namely, it was written in the style of a Scandinavian epic, which is a departure from the narrative graces we're used to. At first, this causes it to seem anecdotal and choppy, and I had a hard time getting into it. After I became immersed in the characters and their lives, however, it quickly gathered momentum and drew me in. Though it follows a large cast of characters, I did not find myself yearning for more attention to so...more
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Read in September, 2007
recommends it for:
Vikings
Smiley really outdid herself. I got lost in a world of sheep-shearing and seal hunting, long, painful winters when the food runs out, and petty grievances that demand revenge.
It's also interesting to see how she deals with the decline of a civilization from a combination of climate change (the area cooled a couple degrees at this point, then warmed up again a couple hundred years later), and stubborn refusal to adapt to the solution that's right in front of their faces: the Inuit way. (Ahem...more
It's also interesting to see how she deals with the decline of a civilization from a combination of climate change (the area cooled a couple degrees at this point, then warmed up again a couple hundred years later), and stubborn refusal to adapt to the solution that's right in front of their faces: the Inuit way. (Ahem...more
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Read in January, 2006
recommends it for:
everyone
This is a fairly obscure book from a well-known author. I actually think that it's one of her best. If you can get past the odd names and locations in the first part of the book, it's totally worth the effort. I highly recommend it. I was sad to reach the end of it, because the author had done such a good job of creating a complete world of unfamiliar people, places and things.
The Greenlanders is the story of a (doomed) settlement of Europeans in Greenland. This book is a fascinating loo...more
The Greenlanders is the story of a (doomed) settlement of Europeans in Greenland. This book is a fascinating loo...more
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I've read this book way too many times - it is one of my all time favorites. Every time I read it I weep and every time for a different reason. If you enjoy Icelandic sagas (Laxdala Saga, Njal's Saga) you will get the storytelling method pretty quickly. If not - have patience. It is miraculous how Smiley has managed to see into an unknowable past and the slow, quiet experience of living at the end of a civilization.
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Jared Diamond's "Collapse" (sorry, haven't figured out how to underline yet) and this novel dovetail nicely. I picked up the one while I was reading the other and discovered that while a large chunk of Diamond's book is devoted to the decline of Greenland's tiny settlement, the entirety of Jane Smiley's book is a novelization of that very thing. Really gets ya up close and personal with the whole decline-and-fall process. Plus, you get to experience Smiley's beautifully clear, spare w
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Read in July, 2008
Epic novel about Norse settlers in Greenland. Really rich description of the decline of a society, really evocative portrait of medieval Greenland, but most of all, really long and slow. I've read other of her books which are not this turgidly written, I suppose she was trying to make the book itself like Greenland: huge, without a lot going on, but still compelling. I'm glad I read it but I think I could have read five equally good books in the same amount of time.
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Read in January, 2000
recommended to April by:
Julian Le Grand
This book reminds me a bit of A Fine Balance (by rohinton mistry)....wonderful writing, an incredible sense of place, great characters. But such horrible things happen to the characters that I occasionally felt an urge to just smack the author upside the head for their unrelentingly bleak view of the world and it's inhabitants. Even so, I couldn't stop reading, and I can't forget the characters. Highly recommended.
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Read in January, 1996
How she pulled this off, I don't know. Smiley presents a Norse epic of fictional people in 14th-century Greenland. The book is quite long and I found myself completely engrossed in their interwoven and difficult lives; sustaining on whale blubber and sleeping good portions of the winter in order to survive. Love and vengeance are prominent themes as well.
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Read in January, 2004
This book was so interesting, so different from other Smiley favorites like 1000 Acres and Barn Blind, 2 other faves of mine. It's totally historically centered and accurate, talking about the day to day activities of the settlers to early Greenland, but it also conveys the dreaminess and mystery of living in a new world. And just living.
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Read in January, 1989
Jane Smiley has written not other book like this. I think this is an amazing book. I often remember parts of this book
it was written with such vividness. It's about the Norse civilization in Greenland how these people survived, lived and loved. It's a trip to a place I never knew existed and now feel I've visited if not lived a bit of.
it was written with such vividness. It's about the Norse civilization in Greenland how these people survived, lived and loved. It's a trip to a place I never knew existed and now feel I've visited if not lived a bit of.
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Read in January, 2004
I'm afraid to reread this book because the second time around can't possibly be as good as the first. The Greenlanders took took over my life while I was reading it. Getting into the writing style (Nordic saga) was difficult for the first few pages, but once I'd sorted that out I was hooked.
I love this book ferociously.
I love this book ferociously.
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Read in January, 2007
Smiley was another tutor for the omniscient point of view, which I have come to believe hinges on a cohesive narrative voice. Smiley's narrator is a medieval Greenlander, and I delight in the turns of phrase, the peculiarity, all the elements that tell me damn, this author did her homework. I heart Jane.
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Good,set in Greenland in the 1300's, while the society was dying from the increasing cold. Written in an intersting style, more a straight recording of events rather than a contemporary exploration of inner thoughts and feelings. I liked it very much.
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I LOVED this. I got so wrapped up in the characters, even though there was not the usual insight into their thoughts and emotions. I was sad when it ended. I'm going to check out her other books. Thanks Ging!
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