First published in 1946, this humane epic novel is set in rural Iceland in the early twentieth century. Bjartus is a sheep farmer determined to eke a living from a blighted patch of land. Nothing, not merciless weather, nor his family will come between him and his goal of financial independence. Only Asta Solillja, the child he brings up as his daughter, can pierce his stubborn heart. As she grows up, keen to make her own way in the world, Bjartus' obstinacy threatens to estrange them forever.
Independent People
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Review
"I love this book. It is an unfolding wonder of artistic vision and skill - one of the best books of the 20th century. I can't imagine any greater delight than coming to Independent People for the first time" (Jane Smiley)
"Laxness is a poet who writes to the edge of the pages, a visionary who allows a plot: he takes a Tolstoyan overview, he weaves in an Evelyn Waugh-like humour: It is not possible to be unimpressed" (Daily Telegraph)
"Marvellously fluent and unaffected... one of the most original and skilfully written novels of the 20th century" (Times Literary Supplement)
"There are good books and there are great books and there may be a book that is something still more: it is the book of your life" (New York Review of Books)
"Do yourself a favour and read Independent People. Opening this book is like opening a chest of treasures. Reading this book is like taking the treasures out and appreciating them, savouring them, one by one, sentence by sentence. This is the kind of novel that reminds you how glad you are that you learned to read in the first place" (Chicago Tribune)
"Laxness is a poet who writes to the edge of the pages, a visionary who allows a plot: he takes a Tolstoyan overview, he weaves in an Evelyn Waugh-like humour: It is not possible to be unimpressed" (Daily Telegraph)
"Marvellously fluent and unaffected... one of the most original and skilfully written novels of the 20th century" (Times Literary Supplement)
"There are good books and there are great books and there may be a book that is something still more: it is the book of your life" (New York Review of Books)
"Do yourself a favour and read Independent People. Opening this book is like opening a chest of treasures. Reading this book is like taking the treasures out and appreciating them, savouring them, one by one, sentence by sentence. This is the kind of novel that reminds you how glad you are that you learned to read in the first place" (Chicago Tribune)
Book Description
Icelandic Nobel Prize-winner, by the 'Tolstoy of the North'
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
39 of 40 people found the following review helpful
By Farfalla
VINE VOICE
Format:Paperback
This is probably my favorite book of all time, even though I have only managed to read it once. I was assigned to read this book for an Icelandic literature course when I was living in Reykjavik for the year. Every time I went to read it, I had to brace myself to withstand the onslaught, but when you are reading it, time passes quickly, and you can lose yourself in the words. It is only when you put the book down and have to think about what you have just read that the full scope of Bjartur of Summerhouses' life hits you. The detail that is contained in these pages makes for a depressing catalogue of deprivation.
The story contained here revolves around sheep, and the determination of Bjartur to accept no help, aid or loan. Bjartur manages to raise the money necessary to buy a piece of land and a flock of sheep. No-one has wanted this land, because it once belonged to a witch, and she still curses the land. (This may be difficult for the average person to accept who has not been in Iceland, but a more desolate and wind-scoured landlacape does not exist. When you are there, you can easily accept trolls, elf-mounds and witches.) Bjartur buys his land and marries a girl who has worked at the nearby prosperous farm, where he worked as well. She is already pregnant with the son of that family's child, and this starts the long and depressing marriage of Bjartur.
As the book continues, you can feel the great difference in their lives that a single cow makes, the prosperity that comes with world war one, and the return of poverty after the war. The rest of the world seems to move on, without touching the cold interior of Iceland.
I love this book, but warn anyone who goes to pick it up, that this book demands involvement, and it is NOT a piece of light reading.
The story contained here revolves around sheep, and the determination of Bjartur to accept no help, aid or loan. Bjartur manages to raise the money necessary to buy a piece of land and a flock of sheep. No-one has wanted this land, because it once belonged to a witch, and she still curses the land. (This may be difficult for the average person to accept who has not been in Iceland, but a more desolate and wind-scoured landlacape does not exist. When you are there, you can easily accept trolls, elf-mounds and witches.) Bjartur buys his land and marries a girl who has worked at the nearby prosperous farm, where he worked as well. She is already pregnant with the son of that family's child, and this starts the long and depressing marriage of Bjartur.
As the book continues, you can feel the great difference in their lives that a single cow makes, the prosperity that comes with world war one, and the return of poverty after the war. The rest of the world seems to move on, without touching the cold interior of Iceland.
I love this book, but warn anyone who goes to pick it up, that this book demands involvement, and it is NOT a piece of light reading.
31 of 33 people found the following review helpful
By I. Viehoff
Format:Paperback
This novel acquaints the reader with the harshness of life in Icelandic farming communities, that persisted until quite recently. Much of the tragedy of the story is clear. Bjartur's stubborness and obsessive self-sufficiency cause terrible damage to his family and all who come in contact with him. But it becomes apparent that such qualities aid survival in the harsh conditions, for when he finally takes a more generous attitude, it leads to his downfall.
It is less obvious to the non-Icelander that this is actually a tragic comedy. Icelanders like black jokes. It incorporates a deeply satirical commentary on Icelandic history and social condition, and Icelandic speakers tell me that it is full of Icelandic "in-jokes". So perhaps we should compare this to Flann O'Brien's "The Poor Mouth".
One simple example of the difficulties we foreigners have. We might consider Bjartur's initial refusal to buy a cow a little miserly; in fact it is shocking. At the time, the Icelandic population obtained about 50% of their meagre calorific intake from dairy products, so he is condemning his family to malnutrition.
Icelanders have also told me that it is linguistically very rich, and Laxness was inclined to make up his own words and constructions, making it a tough read even for the locals.
Though it is unfashionable to say so, I find the translation rather annoying; the translator is attempting to give the reader a hint of the writer's style, but for me it comes out as a parody of Thomas Hardy. Magnusson's translations of Laxness's other books are less obtrusive.
To obtain full value from this extraordinary work, I would suggest that the reader invest the effort to read two other books first. One is Laxness's "The Fish Can Sing". Read more ›
It is less obvious to the non-Icelander that this is actually a tragic comedy. Icelanders like black jokes. It incorporates a deeply satirical commentary on Icelandic history and social condition, and Icelandic speakers tell me that it is full of Icelandic "in-jokes". So perhaps we should compare this to Flann O'Brien's "The Poor Mouth".
One simple example of the difficulties we foreigners have. We might consider Bjartur's initial refusal to buy a cow a little miserly; in fact it is shocking. At the time, the Icelandic population obtained about 50% of their meagre calorific intake from dairy products, so he is condemning his family to malnutrition.
Icelanders have also told me that it is linguistically very rich, and Laxness was inclined to make up his own words and constructions, making it a tough read even for the locals.
Though it is unfashionable to say so, I find the translation rather annoying; the translator is attempting to give the reader a hint of the writer's style, but for me it comes out as a parody of Thomas Hardy. Magnusson's translations of Laxness's other books are less obtrusive.
To obtain full value from this extraordinary work, I would suggest that the reader invest the effort to read two other books first. One is Laxness's "The Fish Can Sing". Read more ›
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I was never that fond of Laxness before I read Independent People, I had read a couple of his books when I was younger but I see now that I wasn't mature enough to grasp the brilliance of Laxness' writing. This book is probably the most memorable book I've ever read, and now I've re-read the books I had already read and found that Laxness fully deserved the Nobel prize he got in 1955.
This book is a definite must read for everyone.
This book is a definite must read for everyone.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
Bjartur is an independent man, an Icelandic sheep farmer, broad of chest and strong in mind. Above all else he values his freedom and after years of farm labouring he buys a farm and becomes even more of his own master. It isn't just any farm though, locals believe the place to be horribly cursed. Not Bjartur. Superstition and the religion are for the unfree. This is how the book begins and to say more might spoil your read. I add only that Laxness' writing is like poetry with muddy boots on. And how he is able to inhabit the world's of his book; the sheep dog, the old woman, the boy child, the lover, the father, the fells. Passages of this book stay with me and I defy readers not to be impacted in way a similar elemental way.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
Every year, I try to read at least one classic work of fiction, whether I need to or not. So far in 1998, my choice has been Halldor Laxness' 1946 Nobel Prize winning novel Independent People. This is a book which I had never heard of until it was re-issued in English (the original is in Icelandic) in 1997. Laxness, who subtitles his work "An Epic," tells the tale of sheep-farmer Bjartur of Summerhouses, and his life-long, monomaniacal struggle for financial independence. In the process, he loses two wives, a son leaves him, and his dearest child -- Asta Sollilja ("Beloved Sun-Lily") -- is disowned. Only by losing all of his wealth does he find what he truly values. While styled "an epic," this is also a whimsical and lyrical work. Bjatur, in addition to farming, is a bit of a poet, and the most remarkable extended scene is Bjatur's desperate struggle with bitter cold in the wilderness while trying to find a strayed sheep. In the middle of the night, to keep his senses and way, he returns to his muse:
'Seldom had he recited so much poetry in any one night; he had recited all his father's poetry, all the ballads he could remember, all his own palindromes backwards and forwards in forty-eight different ways, whole processions of dirty poems, one hymn he learned from his mother, and all the lampoons that had been known in the Fourthing from time immemorial about baliffs, merchants, and sheriffs.'
Ultimately, the poetry keeps him alive as he finally crawls his way on all fours to safety. I found myself reading this book in short doses so that I could savor the language, and so it would not end too soon. Read more ›
'Seldom had he recited so much poetry in any one night; he had recited all his father's poetry, all the ballads he could remember, all his own palindromes backwards and forwards in forty-eight different ways, whole processions of dirty poems, one hymn he learned from his mother, and all the lampoons that had been known in the Fourthing from time immemorial about baliffs, merchants, and sheriffs.'
Ultimately, the poetry keeps him alive as he finally crawls his way on all fours to safety. I found myself reading this book in short doses so that I could savor the language, and so it would not end too soon. Read more ›
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Icelandic peoples
Ordered this in an attempt to find out the history of the Icelandic people following a trip to their country. Laxness won a Nobel prize for literature. Read more
Published 28 days ago by Newscot
5.0 out of 5 stars
Could not put it down
A really great family saga. I have been to Iceland and visited the Norwegian Museum of Country life in Lillehammer so I have seen what it was like to live in a hut with a turf roof... Read more
Published 2 months ago by B00Tee
5.0 out of 5 stars
Almost impossible to read, then impossible to forget.
I had to struggle to keep picking up this book up to about the halfway mark. It's utterly, unrelentingly miserable. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Josh
5.0 out of 5 stars
A real feel-good novel
Sometimes all you need to boost your mood is several hundred pages of death, starvation, chauvinistic belligerence, more death, animal cruelty, poverty, narrow-mindedness, death,... Read more
Published 4 months ago by RonanF
4.0 out of 5 stars
Brilliant -and challenging
I bought the e book edition in Iceland, which is of course the best place to savour this atmospheric book but sadly my enjoyment was impaired by the extremely poor quality of the... Read more
Published 10 months ago by Margot Male
4.0 out of 5 stars
The more things change, the more they stay the same
Independent People is the story of Iceland 's shift from an agrarian culture to a modern world of fashion and motor cars, told through the life of one family. Read more
Published 10 months ago by Mr N D Willis
5.0 out of 5 stars
Epic tale of Humanity, Iceland and Sheep
This is a truly great novel, with its beautifully bleak, strangely myth-laden Icelandic setting, and the stubborn impertubability of Bjartur the sheep farmer. Read more
Published 11 months ago by Sabina
5.0 out of 5 stars
A daily life that we do not see, asking eerily relevant questions that...
In 2008 I visited Iceland. I never have the habit of reading up about the holiday destination before the trip; I always learn about a place by experiencing it and find the surprise... Read more
Published 12 months ago by Penguin
5.0 out of 5 stars
Epic
This is truly an epic piece of writing, well deserving the praise it has received. The story of Bjatur and his stubborn desire to remain independent, as he sees it, is woven... Read more
Published 12 months ago by Howellsey
5.0 out of 5 stars
Independent People
Independent People
Halldor Laxness has produced a worthy book. . It is set in Iceland at a time which does not become apparent until near the end of the book, but... Read more
Halldor Laxness has produced a worthy book. . It is set in Iceland at a time which does not become apparent until near the end of the book, but... Read more
Published 22 months ago by A.O'Connell
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