rhganci's review against another edition
5.0
I've spent the past month reading many of the major sagas included in this edition, specifically, EGILS SAGA SKALLAGRIMMSON, HRAFNKEL'S SAGA FREYSGODI and LAXDAELA SAGA. I've done so with a great deal of enjoyment, as I'd really never read anything like this. They're essentially just stories about farmers in various degrees of conflict--none of them very complex, none of them very intrcate, all of them very good.
I really enjoyed both EGILS SAGA and LAXDAELA SAGA, because they were kind of connected by the character I found most interesting, a woman named Thorgerd. She's the daughter of Egil, and despite his manliness and love of violence and "man things," she was his favorite child, and her scenes in both sagas are really enjoyable, because you get the sense that she just doesn't care about the patriarchal system of medieval Iceland. What's really interesting his how the author seems to go out of his (or her, according to the introduction of LAXDAELA SAGA) way to make Thorgerd seem more similar in personality and demeanor to Egil than any of the sons. In EGILS SAGA, she's the only one who can talk to him after his sons die, and she convinces him to write a long poem called "Sonnatorrek" which bemoans the loss of the sons. It's an interesting paradigm, and I'm thinking of writing my midterm paper on this, somehow.
It's got some funny moments (Egil slams a dude up against a wall and pukes in his face) and some sad ones (broken hearted lover Kjartan dies never have made things work with lady love Gudrun), and all in all, for stories about farmers in the Middle Ages, it's a heck of a collection of stories, and of all of the things I've read in graduate school, these have been my favorite so far.
I really enjoyed both EGILS SAGA and LAXDAELA SAGA, because they were kind of connected by the character I found most interesting, a woman named Thorgerd. She's the daughter of Egil, and despite his manliness and love of violence and "man things," she was his favorite child, and her scenes in both sagas are really enjoyable, because you get the sense that she just doesn't care about the patriarchal system of medieval Iceland. What's really interesting his how the author seems to go out of his (or her, according to the introduction of LAXDAELA SAGA) way to make Thorgerd seem more similar in personality and demeanor to Egil than any of the sons. In EGILS SAGA, she's the only one who can talk to him after his sons die, and she convinces him to write a long poem called "Sonnatorrek" which bemoans the loss of the sons. It's an interesting paradigm, and I'm thinking of writing my midterm paper on this, somehow.
It's got some funny moments (Egil slams a dude up against a wall and pukes in his face) and some sad ones (broken hearted lover Kjartan dies never have made things work with lady love Gudrun), and all in all, for stories about farmers in the Middle Ages, it's a heck of a collection of stories, and of all of the things I've read in graduate school, these have been my favorite so far.
firerosearien's review
3.0
So the problem with an omnibus edition of Icelandic Sagas is that they get old pretty fast -- the action is often repetitive, and it doesn't help that many names sound alike and get confusing*.
I think here, as with any story collection, the key is to read just one or two -- as opposed to trying to make it through the entire thing at once.
That said it's pretty fascinating when you put it into the historical context. At a time most non-medieval scholars would still call the Dark Ages, the Icelanders (and Norse) were an extremely well developed society, with complex legal systems, women who had way more power (if not necessarily rights, though this is debatable) than others on the European continent of the time, and a code of honor that could rival the Pashtun or Albanian Kanun (one may debate if a code of honor is modern or medieval, of course).
I still think I enjoyed Njal's Saga the most (not included in this edition) since it reads the most like a novel, but I also particularly enjoyed the Saga of Hranfkel the Godi.
*I would imagine a non-native English speaker would have similar trouble separating James, Jimmy, Jon, John, etc as I, with no Icelandic knowledge other than pronunciation of a few letters and the patronymic, have with Thord, Thorolf, Thorstein, etc.
I think here, as with any story collection, the key is to read just one or two -- as opposed to trying to make it through the entire thing at once.
That said it's pretty fascinating when you put it into the historical context. At a time most non-medieval scholars would still call the Dark Ages, the Icelanders (and Norse) were an extremely well developed society, with complex legal systems, women who had way more power (if not necessarily rights, though this is debatable) than others on the European continent of the time, and a code of honor that could rival the Pashtun or Albanian Kanun (one may debate if a code of honor is modern or medieval, of course).
I still think I enjoyed Njal's Saga the most (not included in this edition) since it reads the most like a novel, but I also particularly enjoyed the Saga of Hranfkel the Godi.
*I would imagine a non-native English speaker would have similar trouble separating James, Jimmy, Jon, John, etc as I, with no Icelandic knowledge other than pronunciation of a few letters and the patronymic, have with Thord, Thorolf, Thorstein, etc.
spacestationtrustfund's review
3.0
This book does not, in fact, contain all of the Icelandic sagas—that would be ridiculous, for a single volume—but rather two of the major sagas, and a handful of minor ones. The supplementary materials are particularly excellent. The translations have adopted consistent gloss throughout, i.e., word x in Old Norse is always translated as word y in Modern English, which gives a rather deceptive sense of homogeneity, but otherwise the translation is similarly commendable.
ash_le_gris's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
funny
informative
relaxing
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This is a book to dip in and out of… but not always easy to put down. It is easy to get lost in the names (especially when they crop up more than one saga) if you are reading it in stints.
It is/ was my gateway to a world with a very different outlook - replete with unpleasant characters you cannot wait to fail… but they do not always fail.
It is/ was my gateway to a world with a very different outlook - replete with unpleasant characters you cannot wait to fail… but they do not always fail.
quoththegirl's review
5.0
Good gravy, what a doorstop of a book. At almost 800 pages, it took me more than two months to read. This is a phenomenal collection, though. The sagas are translated by different linguists but still have a cohesive tone, and I found them to be fascinating. Fair warning, there are about a zillion people with the same name, and I will admit that after the dozenth Thorkell or Thorstein showed up, I was a hopelessly lost as to which one was which, but fortunately the geneology complications didn't detract much from the stories. I had hoped to have seen a lot of the locations described in person by now, but our trip to Iceland will have to wait until next summer. At least the delay gave me a chance to finish all of the tales in the collection. Massive as this collection is, it by no means includes all of the Icelandic sagas; it doesn't even include all of the sagas of the Icelanders (one of the four categories of sagas, encompassing the family sagas or Íslendingasögur), although it does include all of the most well-known (and possibly best) ones. Since this collection doesn't touch on the legendary sagas, chivalric sagas, and sagas of saints' lives, I'll probably look into reading more of those one day...after I recover a bit from all the Thorkells.
jumbleread's review
3.0
We have come far from these times, yet we still have the same human issues regarding love and freedom.
rjtifft's review
adventurous
challenging
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
venirr's review
adventurous
dark
funny
informative
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
emmytheewok's review
challenging
funny
informative
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
racheeo's review
5.0
Then I spoke a verse:
Technically I was unable to finish this book because I physically don't have the copy which we read during our trip to Iceland in August. However, from what we were able to read, I found this book to be a fun, easy-to-read, ironic, historical account of one of my new favourite countries. It was also fun to boast about having read these sagas when visiting local museums in Iceland. Bonus points.
Technically I was unable to finish this book because I physically don't have the copy which we read during our trip to Iceland in August. However, from what we were able to read, I found this book to be a fun, easy-to-read, ironic, historical account of one of my new favourite countries. It was also fun to boast about having read these sagas when visiting local museums in Iceland. Bonus points.