memelollars's review against another edition
4.0
This book is dark, even for Undset. I felt dread over some of the male characters and their inability to offer Jenny any kind of selfless love. (Very Tess of the D’Urbervilles in that way). They all wanted to crush her to themselves. Some of them felt very predatory. All of them were selfish.
While it is a heavy book, it is also very beautifully written and full of explorations of a young woman’s desire to uphold her ideals and pursue a purer form of love and a life dedicated to art. The big question is whether a woman artist’s relationship with her craft can exist alongside home making and having children and/or a family. It is certainly a challenge for the women in this novel.
One of the things I love about Undset is the atmosphere in her books, and Jenny is no exception. There are passages with truly exquisite writing- the descriptions of Italy are so painterly, which felt appropriate because Jenny and all her (tortured) friends are painters. I enjoyed reading it, but I also had to put it down at times just to give myself a break from the misery. I read it at the same time as East of Eden, which probably wasn’t a great decision!
Content warning: rape, suicide, infant death
While it is a heavy book, it is also very beautifully written and full of explorations of a young woman’s desire to uphold her ideals and pursue a purer form of love and a life dedicated to art. The big question is whether a woman artist’s relationship with her craft can exist alongside home making and having children and/or a family. It is certainly a challenge for the women in this novel.
One of the things I love about Undset is the atmosphere in her books, and Jenny is no exception. There are passages with truly exquisite writing- the descriptions of Italy are so painterly, which felt appropriate because Jenny and all her (tortured) friends are painters. I enjoyed reading it, but I also had to put it down at times just to give myself a break from the misery. I read it at the same time as East of Eden, which probably wasn’t a great decision!
Content warning: rape, suicide, infant death
lizouto's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
4.0
blackbird27's review against another edition
5.0
A bracing, clear-eyed novel that I've only just now learned I didn't get all of (the original English translation was apparently expurgated; I'll be hunting down a newer translation soon). But what I got was still excellent, and didn't leave much to the imagination: the unsentimental, non-moralizing way Undset tells her story of a woman betraying her principles (which only incidentally includes flouting conventional morality) would be hugely influential in the 1920s. The men in the novel are, to a one, revealed as laughable, self-absorbed sentimentalists: I found her portrait of the egotistic idealism of the older generation particularly cutting, after having learned a bit about the Scandinavian bohemian writers who broke taboos in the 1880s. But Jenny's own internal dilemmas struck me as consistent and true throughout: I even found echoes of despairing or self-critical thoughts I've had in her 1911-era dialogue.
The downer ending (following on the heels of Woolf's same) suggests that Undset might be at least in part criticizing a society which allows women to hope for more fulfillment than marriage and motherhood: so her later turn to Catholicism and historical fiction might be understood as a consistent rejection of modernity. But I'm too struck by the clarity of her insight, and the economical elegance of her prose, to consider her a distaff Norwegian Waugh.
The downer ending (following on the heels of Woolf's same) suggests that Undset might be at least in part criticizing a society which allows women to hope for more fulfillment than marriage and motherhood: so her later turn to Catholicism and historical fiction might be understood as a consistent rejection of modernity. But I'm too struck by the clarity of her insight, and the economical elegance of her prose, to consider her a distaff Norwegian Waugh.
livmari's review against another edition
challenging
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
millamajones's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
raluca_p's review against another edition
5.0
«Tror du den kilden, du snakker om — tror du den nogengang blir ren og klar igjen for en som vet, hun selv har grumset den op? Tror du, jeg har lettere for at resignere nu? — Jeg længtes efter det, som alle piker længtes efter. — Og jeg længes nu — efter det samme. Bare at jeg vet, nu har jeg en fortid bak mig som gjør, at jeg kan ikke ta mot den eneste lykke, jeg bryr mig om — for den skulde være frisk og sund og ren — og det er jeg ikke noget av nu mere —. Jeg skal bli ved at slæpe paa længsler, som jeg vet er umulige — mit liv skal det altsaa bety — det som jeg har oplevet disse sidste aarene —.»
«Jenny,» Gunnar reiste sig ogsaa. «Jeg sier allikevel, det kommer an paa dig selv — for det maa være slik. Om du vil, at disse minderne skal ødelægge dig. Eller om du vil ta dem som en lærepenge — saa grusomt haardt det høres —. At det maal, du hadde før dengang, mener jeg, var det rigtige — for dig.»
«Kan du da ikke skjønne, det er umulig, gut. Det er sunket ned i mig som en syre — det æter op det som var mit væsen engang — jeg føler selv, at jeg smuldrer op indvendig. — Aa. — Og jeg vil ikke, jeg vil ikke —. Og jeg faar lyst til — jeg vet ikke —. Faa alle tankerne til at holde op. Dø —. Eller leve — noget vanvittig, avskylig, — gaa tilbunds i en elendighet, som er endda dypere end denne —. La mig traakke ned i sølen saa grundig, at jeg vet, efter dette er slutten —. Eller —» hun talte lavt og vildt, som i kvalte skrik — «hive mig under et jernbanetog — vite i de sidste sekunder, at nu — nu straks — er hele min krop, nerver og hjerte og hjerne — altsammen — maset til en eneste skjælvende, blodig klump —.»
«Jenny,» Gunnar reiste sig ogsaa. «Jeg sier allikevel, det kommer an paa dig selv — for det maa være slik. Om du vil, at disse minderne skal ødelægge dig. Eller om du vil ta dem som en lærepenge — saa grusomt haardt det høres —. At det maal, du hadde før dengang, mener jeg, var det rigtige — for dig.»
«Kan du da ikke skjønne, det er umulig, gut. Det er sunket ned i mig som en syre — det æter op det som var mit væsen engang — jeg føler selv, at jeg smuldrer op indvendig. — Aa. — Og jeg vil ikke, jeg vil ikke —. Og jeg faar lyst til — jeg vet ikke —. Faa alle tankerne til at holde op. Dø —. Eller leve — noget vanvittig, avskylig, — gaa tilbunds i en elendighet, som er endda dypere end denne —. La mig traakke ned i sølen saa grundig, at jeg vet, efter dette er slutten —. Eller —» hun talte lavt og vildt, som i kvalte skrik — «hive mig under et jernbanetog — vite i de sidste sekunder, at nu — nu straks — er hele min krop, nerver og hjerte og hjerne — altsammen — maset til en eneste skjælvende, blodig klump —.»
mel_chan91's review against another edition
3.0
The writing was beautiful but the ending was soooo predictable
gurofl's review against another edition
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
anekk78's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- 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
For en fantastisk og trist historie! Sigrid Undset kunne skildre menneskelige skjebner på en fantastisk måte. Denne boken er helt annerledes enn hennes mesterverk Kristin Lavransdatter, men fortsatt hovedfokus på kvinner og kvinneskjebnen. Lydboken er litt treg (som ofte norske lydbøker er), men hjelper å spille av på 1.2 lyttehastighet.
Og det er jo Roma og den fantastiske skildringen av byen. Jeg leste boken før jeg dro, gjorde opplevelsen av byen enda bedre.
Når en ser tilbake er det sannsynlig at Jennylider av fødselsdepresjon etter at hennes spedbarn døde. Men en hadde kanskje ikke ordene for å forklare dette når boken ble skrevet.
Og det er jo Roma og den fantastiske skildringen av byen. Jeg leste boken før jeg dro, gjorde opplevelsen av byen enda bedre.
Når en ser tilbake er det sannsynlig at Jenny
Content Warnings
Moderate: Suicide, Rape, Child death, Death, Infidelity, and Pregnancy