Kristin Lavransdatter read-along | 2025

@CornishLizard I am in a similar place to you. Think I might be ch.2 and am alternating between audio and kindle and have basically not started anything new until I finish it.

Now I am coming to the end, I feel I have liked it, even though whilst reading I was sure I didn't. Isn't that weird.

I’m hopelessly behind still, but have just started the final ‘The Cross’ section of the third book. It’s become an audiobook read so I’m not as good at following it as I am with a print book.

As a Pride and Prejudice aficionado, I’m finding it interesting how having 7 sons is an economically precarious situation, with the estate to split. Would it have been a very different book if some of the children were girls?

I finished 'The Cross' last night. I nearly read it in one fell swoop. I thought it was very good; I was gripped.

I agree, CutFlowers, that there were lots of good episodes in the three books. Simon's death was very moving, for example. It was beautifully written.

I'm glad I read this, even if I struggled with it at times.

I have also now finished. I agree I liked the first book best but there were lots of readable parts for me.

I'm still behind at the part where Kristin has spotted Erlend in the church but they remain at loggerheads with each other. I'm going to go for it now and read to the end.

I found the trilogy a bit hard going at times. Maybe my own frame of mind coloured my view of it. I liked the first book best. Sometimes I've found it a bit of a slog.

I have now finished the book. The last chapter was gut-wrenching but also somewhat uplifting. Looking forward to the discussion!

(Somewhat random thoughts coming up with possible spoilers!)

I am very much enjoying these final chapters. Her relationship with Jofrid and the way that Jofrid and Gaute’s relationship is compared with her own marriage and how that came about is interesting. It gives her the opportunity to re-examine how she behaved and how she has judged herself for it. We really see now that her older sons are grown and make their own (sometimes bad) decisions.

I find Kristin’s relationship with her sons and her nostalgia and yearning for their childhoods and the loss of her youngest two very poignant. This week we follow her on her pilgrimage and she is following in the footsteps of her younger self - I really feel that she is both older and wiser but I also sympathise with her difficulty in accepting that other people now see her as old and expect her to be wiser! The pilgrimage itself sounds harsh (wasn’t it a lot easier the first time round?) I am not sure I could cope with camping in the open air in the mountains...in the rain. I would have actually liked more concrete details about how these sort of long treks were managed. I guess pilgrims expected to be respected as such and helped along the way?

I found it amusing that back at home she argued with her daughter-in-law when she wanted to refuse to let the travellers stay over for a night. At first our sympathies were very much with Kristin - then we find out what the travelling party are really like, we understand Jofrid’s reluctance!

(As an aside - I don’t have my book with me and I couldn’t remember Jofrid’s name so I googled it and got a lot of AI nonsense about Jofrid being married to Simon Andresson.... A bit late in the day but I also came across this blog which has synopses of all three books!)
https://www.sigridundset.com/post/synopsis-the-cross-kristin-lavransdatter

Hi all, I'm kind of interrupting here as I'm trying to catch up and haven't read everyone's comments yet. I've just got to the end of vol. 1 of Book 3 ('Honor Among Kin') and am reading the comments as I go along. Hopefully within the next day or so I'll be properly caught up!

So far I'm really enjoying Book 3, more than the other volumes I think. Perhaps it's because I've been with the characters for so long, but both Simon and Erlend are much more nuanced and complicated than I thought they were at the beginning. Virtuous Simon with his unrequited love for Kristin is a more sympathetic character than I ever thought he could be. And Erlend, as some of you have said in your posts, isn't ONLY immature and selfish. He has a code of honour. And he's not one to hold a grudge. In some ways he's endearing because of his transparency; if he's not interested in people, he doesn't pretend to be.

And I feel really sorry for Ramborg now that it's clear she's genuinely been in love with Simon for ages and he doesn't feel the same way. I've read the medieval French Tristan romances, where Tristan is saddled with a younger, second Isolde whom he doesn't love. It's fascinating the way Ramborg identifies with a minor character. Alas, the fate of minor characters!

Anyway I'm gripped again now.

I wasn’t too far off with the prediction of a « stupid death » for Erlend then, which was completely in character. I was torn between frustration at his raising his axe, the act that started the chain of violence, exasperation at Kristin’s angry words, indignant anger at the townspeople who had decided they should be involved, and real pity for the sons who had to watch. Awful. Both Kristin and Erlend never seemed to be able to be responsible when it mattered most and the manner of his death reflected their life together. I was still sorrowful at their parting though because they did truly love each other, often to the exclusion and detriment of everyone else.

Now the aftermath is playing out. One estate cannot support six adult men; although Erlend saw to it that their futures were largely ruined anyway, with the loss of Husaby.

I really felt for Bjorgulf, and Naakkve. We forget how important the church was for taking in those who had no alternative in life.

Erlend’s death is very much in keeping with the rest of his life. He evades his responsibilities, then a situation occurs that he could have prevented by being at home, he rides back heroically and totally fails to save the situation. The effect of his behaviour on both Kristin and the boys’ future is devastating.

I am finding it a bit hard to catch up at the moment but now onto the last of this week's chapters. Kristin has had an awful year. I didn't think Erlend's death was quite as moving as Lavran's or Simon's but I suppose he had sort of checked himself out of the story a while ago. Very sad for Kristin that she lost her second youngest son as well as the baby and she seems to be struggling with the others too.

I did have a lot of sympathy for Ramborg on her swift remarriage with her determination to grab someone who will put her first.

@TonTonMacouteI wasn’t bothered about the descriptions, but I also can’t remember what the different boys look like other than Gaute who looks like Lavrans but has bowlegs (although looks impressive on a horse). Having 7 boys seems to be a challenge for the author as well as for Kristin as it is quite a lot of characterisation.

I have to say that I am finding the long very detailed descriptions of how handsome her sons are a bit wearisome. She describes them as having darker eyes than Erlend, hair the same colour as hers, looking like Lavrans - like we know what all these people look like!

SPOILER

I haven't read the third chapter yet (very long chapters this week) but I'm feeling very sorry for Kristin. Now she has lost Erlend, and her sons are growing up it feels like she's losing everything. Then Ulf leaves too!

It will be interesting to see how she rebuilds hers life now and finds a new sense of purpose. The consensus is that she needs a new husband to do this. Will she defy the odds and manage on her own?

Has everyone read this week yet? Don't want to post spoilers!

Lots of drama this week!

I agree @Benvenuto

Kristin is the only one holding it all together at home and he expects her to leave everything to some teenage boys and go and look after him.

Now she is in a fix, interesting that the Bishop believes her implicitly but doesn't trust Erlend to back her up! Yikes.

This has shades of the Ridley Scott film The Last Duel

There’s another parallel with the first book with Erlend and Kristin being close and then Erlend disappearing. Only this time, Kristin is actually pregnant.

I still think Erlend is the one being more irresponsible expecting Kristin to leave their your children to live in a remote farmstead.

I really felt for Kristin in this week’s chapters, not knowing what all her neighbours were saying about her, and her poor baby’s failure to thrive. How awful. At the same time, I want to knock her and Erlend’s heads

together - they are so stubborn with each other that even their sons are exasperated with them!

Might have to watch that.

It's been fun watching you all go through the highs and lows of the three books. Agree The Wife is the weakest of the trilogy but overall love how complex the characters.

This is a Kindle deal atm. Before Kristin's time but might be interesting about the earlier Norwegian history and background.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Heimskringla-History-Norway-Snorri-Sturluson-ebook/dp/B00992AOT2/ref=books_amz-books_desktop_mfs_uk_a_academ_6?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_w=C70U0&content-id=amzn1.sym.ec37203f-53fb-4bbc-ba6a-fc3e10661d39&pf_rd_p=ec37203f-53fb-4bbc-ba6a-fc3e10661d39&pf_rd_r=F3T5HK7W9ETZM4FPZ6BY&pd_rd_wg=gKJWM&pd_rd_r=beb2fbed-57f1-49f1-80b5-4ec991fcbaa4