Rating: 
Summary: A truly remarkable book
Review: A friend of mine recommended this book years ago, and just recently I got around to reading it. What an experience! Smiley has managed to capture the essence of a Norse saga here in content and language; often the words seem a translation of some ancient text. It's simply enthralling, from the characters you watch grow and change over decades to the unchanging, foreign, and overwhelming landscape of Greenland. Highly recommended, especially for anyone who enjoys historical fiction. This strange and beautiful novel was the best book I've read in years.
Rating: 
Summary: Places you in a Lost World
Review: Engrossing if somewhat difficult reading, mainly due to the difficult, old Scandinavian names. However this masterpiece brings to life the experiences, stuggles and hardships of the viking settlers in Greenland in a way that blends compelling drama with history. Provides an ecellent window into the lives of newly Christianized people in decline, struggling with their new Christian identity and retained viking culture as their society approaches collapse in relative isolation from the rest of the world.
Rating: 
Summary: an investment of time--not sure it's worth it
Review: I am a huge Jane Smiley fan, and I couldn't wait to read this book--all 550 pages of it. Written in the style of a traditional nordic saga, the language is formal, the narrative sprawling and interspersed with (sidetracked by?) traditional legends. The tone is evenly stoical throughout; when main characters die there is no break in the story, which, I suppose, emphasizes the mercurial nature of life and death in those times. On the plus side, when Smiley is in full throttle her writing is gorgeous. I don 't know any other writer who could as successfully undertake such an ambitious challenge, especially when there is so little information available about this particular culture. If the book had been half as long, I would recommend it wholeheartedly, but I was overwhelmed by its heft (and I LIKE long novels). If you are wondering whether it is worth your time, I regret that I cannot give you a complete thumbs up. However, if you are curious about the range of Smiley's work--or, of course, about Greenland during the late 14th and early 15th centuries--then by all means give it a try. She's still my favorite writer.
Rating:
Summary: The book evokes the Sagas
Review: I enjoyed it immensely, but it is a tough read. The book has the feel of the Icelandic sagas. The plots intertwine beautifully. The characters are as unique and stark as Greenland. The characters stay with you long after you turn the last page.
Rating:
Summary: Richly Detailed and Chilling. Amazing Novel.
Review: I picked this book up at the store because of the attractive cover art. I had no idea that this story was written in the style of a Norse saga and it took a little getting used to. However, I was immediately drawn into the lives of Gunnar, his sister Margret, and their families as well as the details of daily life. Margret, whose emotional and physical needs are not met by her husband Olaf, dares to have a secret red dress that foreshadows events to come. She enters into an adulterous affair with a sailor who is working at the family's homestead. This illicit relationship leads to violence and tragedy. This happens about 80 pages into the novel and represented a turning point for me. Because I realized that this wasn't the kind of storytelling I am used to. I would never know as much as I wanted to about the characters feelings concerning life-changing events. At first, I was shocked at the detached recounting of major and often traumatic incidents. I could have put the book down, but I accepted this fact and continued to read because I wanted to find out more about Greenland. And that is the real story here, the story of the Greenland settlement and the forces that cause its decline. The story doesn't focus on Margret throughout, rather it introduces different characters and as they are introduced, the interactions and influence of each person manage to create a bigger picture of what citizens of this isolated and bleak society faced. New facets are exposed, physical, mental and spiritual. Different aspects of the story include the increasing conflict with the Eskimos encroaching on the settlement as the weather gets colder in the north, the need to hunt in forbidden fjords as game becomes less plentiful, the abandonment by Europe as visits from the mainland decline and cease, the mystique of the American paradise they cannot reach, the introspection and ravings of their religious leader...There are visions, love-affairs, accidents, murders, family-feuds, starvation, death, exile, departures and all the rich descriptions of a land totally foreign to me. At one point a young girl chooses to marry a virtual stranger who arrives on a ship. When she sails away into the unknown world, leaving her homeland forever, I felt fear and excitement. Was she brave to leave? Or would it be braver to stay? I understood the total isolation of these people, their madness, their courage, and their battle to survive. This was not a page-turner. It was a challenging read. But so well worth it. The simply stated feelings of the characters, which I was at first disappointed with, left me free to imagine what was going through their minds. And I did so vividly. When I finished this book I was awed at the web it had spun around me without my being aware. I had truly experienced a different time and place and I believed this story really happened. This is the best book I have read in a really long time.
Rating:
Summary: Spare and Chilling Writing
Review: Life was truly hard for these folk of the 15 century in Greenland. We can only imagine the harshness of the climate and the topography. Ms. Smiley does a very good job of portraying this with the minimialist style she uses for this book. As hard as life was for these folk, they still knew how to love, laugh and have fun sometimes. They were entirely fatalistic in their responses to everything that is thrown at them - starvation, death, killings and above all else - rumours. None expected life to be easy, and knew that death is as much a part of life as anything, so they determined to make the most of what time they had. I found the characters intriguing in this story. They are dour, yes, but they also display a great deal of empathy and humour. This is a very good tale, and it certainly gives a new look at another part of our great world.
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Summary: Great book, characters and setting!
Review: Not many people now know that, during the Medieval Warm Period, Viking explorers discovered an island with a belt of verdant green girdling sparklingly white glaciers. Two colonies were planted on this "green-land", and soon were exporting dairy products and other things to Europe. But, as the Little Ice Age began to grip the Earth, life became harder and harder, until a European lifestyle became untenable in the new, harsher Greenland. This is the story of the family of Asgeir Gunnarsson, a wealthy Greenlander farmer. As the world around them grows colder and darker, they go on about their lives: living and farming, competing and fighting, loving and singing. And each year, the winter comes earlier and life gets a little harder. I found this book quite by chance one day, and was intrigued by it. It is a healthy read at 558 pages, but well worth it! Jane Smiley paints a fascinating picture of life in Viking Greenland, one that seems so true to the history books, and one in which the character seem so alive. Indeed, by the time you finish the book, you will feel like the characters in it are alive and right around the corner somewhere. This is a great book, one that will appeal to anyone interested in the Vikings, and one that will appeal to anyone who loves good fiction. I highly recommend this book!
Rating:
Summary: If you love Icelandic Sagas, you will like The Greenlanders
Review: Smiley conceived of "The Greenlanders" while traveling in Iceland on a Fullbright scholarship and while the work is clearly derivative she has captured the subject matter and style of the Sagas very well and added some modern insights into the telling.
If you are not familiar with Icelandic Sagas you should definitely look at "The Sagas of the Icelanders", with a preface by Jane Smiley.
Rating:
Summary: If you love Icelandic Sagas, you will like The Greenlanders
Review: Smiley conceived of "The Greenlanders" while traveling in Iceland on a Fullbright scholarship and while the work is clearly derivative she has captured the subject matter and style of the Sagas very well and added some modern insights into the telling.
If you are not familiar with Icelandic Sagas you should definitely look at "The Sagas of the Icelanders", with a preface by Jane Smiley.
Rating:
Summary: Intriguing and Different
Review: This is not an ordinary novel. It is quite challenging, in fact. It is, however, very absorbing. It is the story of the Norse in Greenland and the hard lives that they lived in a very unforgiving land. It is an interesting insight into medieval times. It does not read like an easy historical novel, you have to work it at, and sometimes your attention strays. But then something dramatic occurs and the reader is sucked back in again. Since finishing the novel, I have been scouring the internet to find out more about the end of the Norse settlements in Greenland. To me, this is the sign of a enjoyable book - the fact that I want to discover more.
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