I’m reading this for the umpteenth time and for the umpteenth time I’d like to wring Kristin’s neck. Anyone else ever felt the same way?
One of my alltime favorite books. Yes, she makes some bad choices, but then don’t we all? It would be boring if it were the story of someone who never makes a mistake.* Master of Hestviken* is just as infuriating, and just as brilliant.
Yes, but it’s still a great book.
My sister is named after this book! My mom was reading it when she was pregnant in 1979. I believe it was my dad who saw the name on the cover and suggested it, though.
I gave up when a character died, but perhaps I’ll try again. Wiki is not encouraging. 
I was fine with Kristin’s behavior. Undsett made it understandable, as opposed to modern romances where women go against their nature as a plot device. Great book.
Who cares about Wiki, carnivorousplant - give the book another try. It is so great. Try the newer translation, maybe that will help.
Anyway - Kristin. A great character, but like Scarlet O’hara, infuriating. As with all the main characters in this trilogy, I feel I know them inside out. Rarely do you see such well drawn individuals in fiction. can’t recommend this strongly enough.
Wring her neck? Sure. Right after Erlend’s.
I’ve only read the books twice, once with the original English translation and once with the new one. I like the newer translation better, but some passages in the older one seem a bit more mystical.
I’m in agreement with others here that stand in awe of Sigrid Undset’s ability to develop a very large number of deep characters and to have them behave in reasonable and flawed ways. For example, while I don’t necessarily like the outcome, it’s uncanny how true to life Kristen’s sons turn out.
It can be a tough read, though. Undset’s commentary on the human condition can be more than a bit unsettling.
One of my wife’s great uncles was a professor of English, a writer, and a literary critic. Based on his library, I don’t know if there was any serious literature published up to the time of his death that he did not read. He believed that the Lavransdatter triology was the best work of fiction ever written. YMMV, of course.
Are we using spoilers in this thread? I quite reading after…er, a major plot change.
I think it’s great literature, don’t get me wrong. And because Kristin and Erlend are such well-written characters I feel as though they are real enough for me to get into their world and sort them out: “Look, you two. :dubious: Enough of . . etc., etc.”
One of my many favourite things is Kristin’s relationship with her father. Lavrans is one of the most lovable men in fiction.
One of my brothers-in-law is named Erlends, but he’s not Norwegian, he’s Latvian and like every Latt I ever met, he has an “s” on the end of his name. And one of my dearest friends is named Kristin for the character.
Well, as the books were written in the early 1920’s and won the Nobel prize in 1928, aren’t we a bit past the spoiler warning statute of limitations?