The Greenlanders

The Greenlanders
by Jane Smiley

3 1/2 of 5 stars

How many chances am I going to give Jane Smiley?

I had to drag myself through this 700 page epic about 14th century Norse people in Greenland. The first few hundred pages were utterly confusing - with dozens of significant and insignificant characters (and no way to distinguish the two) with similar names. If I had only kept a cheat sheet, I'd have done a lot better.

There were moments in this rambling book that were really interesting. The story spans generations of an unlucky family and the core story works. The descriptions of the lifestyle and culture of the Greenlanders also captured my attention. Then the story would crawl all over the place and lose me completely.

Smiley really tried to capture the feel of a Norse epic and lost alot of the readability. I feel like it was an actual accomplishment to finish this book.