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Macrobius's avatar

Thanks, Ted, for the review.

I never made it past the first volume of Kristin. Too painful to read.

I'm in a reading group working through each volume of what is usually translated as "The Master of Hestviken." The new translation by Tiina Nunnally restores the original title, "Olav Audunsson." The reading group keeps me going through the usual painful action. The third volume just came out, "Crossroads."

I liked your description of the characters:

" I’m tempted to call them hyperreal. They are as complicated and contradictory as the members of your own family, but in a turbocharged and amplified way. This heightening of lived experience is amplified by the deadly circumstances of their life and times, where dangers loom that hardly exist in the 21st century."

I'd add that they struggle with spiritual and religious conflict, which adds depth and additional hyperrealism to the characters.

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