Kristin Lavransdatter - The Cross | 
pickI can‘t talk about one without talking about all three, and warning, this will probably go long. After I finished the 3rd book, I read other people‘s thoughts to help me articulate my own. Of the many reviews, blog posts, YouTube videos about this book, the majority were from a Catholic (and one LDS) viewpoint, treating this trilogy as a cautionary tale against sin, specifically sexual sin. Had I read those before I read the books 👇🏻
Lcsmcat 👆🏻I wouldn‘t have read them. They are first of all so much more than that. But secondly, adultery wasn‘t a sexual sin in the 14th century, it was a property crime. Women were the property of their father, and then their husband. Sex outside of marriage was a property crime against the man. But I digress. Kristin is willful, or she follows her heart - pick your adjective- and in the end it doesn‘t make her content. She has moments of passion, 3y
Lcsmcat and moments of despair. And she is a fully formed three dimensional human, living in the constraints of her own time. Undset writes beautiful descriptions of the landscape and searching depictions of the human interior life. There are no cardboard cutout saints or sinners. Lavrans comes close, but even he is shown as a full human, just seen through the eyes of a daughter who adores him. K annoyed me with her bad decisions, and Erlend drove me 3y
Lcsmcat crazy with his clueless immaturity, but they live in my mind as real people, and that, to me, means the author succeeded. Thanks for joining me on this journey @TheBookHippie ! I look forward to your thoughts on this last section, and the book as a whole! #kristinl 3y
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Crazeedi Great review and thoughts. I have these books on my kindle, I must read 3y
vivastory I have been meaning to read this for years, but have been a bit intimidated by the length. Thanks for the thoughtful & honest review. When I finally decide to tackle it I think I will also look for a 3 volume set, rather than a bind up 3y
Lcsmcat @vivastory It was definitely good to have the separate volumes! And we took out time, reading 3-4 chapters per week. (We started in June.) I really appreciated the Tina Nunnally translation, although, full disclosure, I haven‘t read the Archer. (edited) 3y
Lcsmcat @Crazeedi This would be good to read on Kindle - much easier on the hands! 3y
vivastory Thanks! Will definitely note this down for future reference. I have the Penguin Classic Deluxe edition, but it's so unwieldy 3y
TheBookHippie I‘ve read no reviews now I‘m going to do that!!! Only thing I knew was one person wrote on IG they DNF due to the religiosity was too much. 3y
TheBookHippie Here‘s my short IG review I‘ve been posting all along but this is today as I read the last chapter https://www.instagram.com/p/CVGK3A3LuOs/?utm_medium=copy_link 3y
TheBookHippie @Crazeedi You would very much like this read. 3y
TheBookHippie @vivastory that‘s what I used and I loved it! 3y
TheBookHippie Had I read that I would not have read it either 😂. The characters are so whole and the prose so gorgeous I got lost everytime I picked the book up. I was so hoping for peace for Kristin. I think she got mind shifts and slivers of how her life truly was towards the end. I like how she realises the truth of Erlend and that God KNEW and loved him all along. (How I read it) Hopefully that gave her peace. 3y
TheBookHippie Regret and bitterness are awful things. I think that is shown here how it can encompass your vision and truth. 3y
TheBookHippie I imagine people come away from this book with different things that resonated with them. I think if I had read this earlier in my adult life I‘d have come away from it with different thoughts than now and a reread later would do the same. Lots of layers in all the stories told. 3y
Lindy @Lcsmcat @TheBookHippie I read this 20 years ago, when I was in my 40s, and I retain a vivid impression of the setting—cold, mud—as well as my overall impression of the message: life is hard and then you die. 🙃 3y
TheBookHippie @Lindy I was taught that at parochial school 😝 3y
Lindy @vivastory I read it in one massive volume that had to remain propped on my kitchen table during the whole time I was reading it because I happened to have carpal tunnel syndrome in my wrists then. 3y
Crazeedi @TheBookHippie that's really good to know, thank you! 3y
Crazeedi @Lindy oh wow what a memory! 3y
Crazeedi @Lcsmcat it's the 3 volumes too so that's why I got! 3y
Lcsmcat @Lindy I would have had to do the same! Arthritis, not carpal tunnel, but huge books are harder now. 3y
vivastory @Lindy The things that we do for books! 3y
Lcsmcat @Lindy “life is hard . . .” We talked earlier about the beauty that Kristin missed because she was so focused on her bitterness/guilt! 3y
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