They say I must die.
They said that I stole the breath from men, and now they must steal mine. I imagine, then, that we are all candle flames, greasy-bright, fluttering in the darkness and the bowl of the wind, and in the stillness of the room I hear footsteps, awful coming fo0tsteps, coming to blow me out and send my life up away from me in a gray wreath of smoke. I will vanish into the air and the night.
Description:
What a narrative voice! Again, the first sentences make me hungry to know more of this person, how she "stole the breath from men," and what her future holds. Anyone who can describe human life as "candle flames, greasy-bright, fluttering in the darkness" has my complete attention.
In her debut novel, Burial Rites, Hannah Kent shows herself to be a captivating storyteller with solid skills of description and dialogue. Written in a spare, somber style, Kent tells the saga of Agnes Magnusdottir, an historic Icelandic woman of the 1820s, sentenced to die for her hand in the murder of two men and the subsequent burning down of their farmhouse (with the bodies inside).
Sounds a bit grisly, but in Burial Rites the crime itself takes a back place to the characters and action which occurs after that murder. For reasons of economy (the city does not want to pay to ship a prisoner to a jail in Copenhagen), Agnes Magnusdottir, already convicted of murder in a local court, is sent to an isolated village to await the final verdict from the Supreme Court. If the initial decision is upheld, she will be beheaded in this village bringing, according to the District Commissioner" an opportunity for our community to witness the consequences for grave misdemeanor."
Unfortunately, the village is too small to have a jail, so Agnes must live with the family of a local government official, "upright Christians who would inspire repentance by good example, and who would benefit from the work these prisoners do as they await their judgment." The family will receive monetary compensation and in Agnes another set of unpaid hands for help on the farm - albeit that those hands belong to a violent criminal who allegedly stabbed her former employer.
The family, living in very close quarters on their tiny farm, are fearful of their new housemate and keep as much distance from Agnes as possible as the weeks pass waiting for the final sentence. They use Agnes as a household servant and field worker, but isolate her from all conversation except instructions and orders. Agnes, for her part, is a silent but hard worker, seemingly content to spend her final weeks in her own thoughts, thoughts we readers share in her snippets of narration.
But what really happened that night when two men died and their farm burned? And what will happen to Agnes and the family with whom she is now a lodger/prisoner?
Told through the voices of the family, curious neighbors, a priest sent to provide comfort, and Agnes herself, this bleak Icelandic landscape and its people slowly, slowly unfold as the days pass. Their world is made up of their acreage, livestock, bone-chilling weather, and a smoky, cramped single room sod farmhouse where it is impossible not to overhearing private whispered conversations. Over the weeks, each character slowly reveals their fears and beliefs along with their personal stories as they struggle to survive in this harsh environment with a criminal in their midst.
And author Kent is definitely up to the task of describing this world and its people. She has an exquisite way with descriptions, particularly those emerging from Agnes' thoughts:
Highly recommended. Grab it and settle in by a very warm fire for a very high quality read. You cannot put it down until you hear the truth about Agnes and the other characters.
Sounds a bit grisly, but in Burial Rites the crime itself takes a back place to the characters and action which occurs after that murder. For reasons of economy (the city does not want to pay to ship a prisoner to a jail in Copenhagen), Agnes Magnusdottir, already convicted of murder in a local court, is sent to an isolated village to await the final verdict from the Supreme Court. If the initial decision is upheld, she will be beheaded in this village bringing, according to the District Commissioner" an opportunity for our community to witness the consequences for grave misdemeanor."
Unfortunately, the village is too small to have a jail, so Agnes must live with the family of a local government official, "upright Christians who would inspire repentance by good example, and who would benefit from the work these prisoners do as they await their judgment." The family will receive monetary compensation and in Agnes another set of unpaid hands for help on the farm - albeit that those hands belong to a violent criminal who allegedly stabbed her former employer.
The family, living in very close quarters on their tiny farm, are fearful of their new housemate and keep as much distance from Agnes as possible as the weeks pass waiting for the final sentence. They use Agnes as a household servant and field worker, but isolate her from all conversation except instructions and orders. Agnes, for her part, is a silent but hard worker, seemingly content to spend her final weeks in her own thoughts, thoughts we readers share in her snippets of narration.
But what really happened that night when two men died and their farm burned? And what will happen to Agnes and the family with whom she is now a lodger/prisoner?
Told through the voices of the family, curious neighbors, a priest sent to provide comfort, and Agnes herself, this bleak Icelandic landscape and its people slowly, slowly unfold as the days pass. Their world is made up of their acreage, livestock, bone-chilling weather, and a smoky, cramped single room sod farmhouse where it is impossible not to overhearing private whispered conversations. Over the weeks, each character slowly reveals their fears and beliefs along with their personal stories as they struggle to survive in this harsh environment with a criminal in their midst.
And author Kent is definitely up to the task of describing this world and its people. She has an exquisite way with descriptions, particularly those emerging from Agnes' thoughts:
"At Hvammur, during the trial, they plucked at my words like birds. Dreadful birds, dressed in red with breast of silver buttons, and cocked heads and sharp mouths, looking for guilt like berries on a bush....Everything I said was taken from me and altered until the story wasn't my own."On the house where the two men died:
"The shore is of pebbles, and huge tangles of seaweed float in the bay and look like the hair of the drowned....On a clear day it's beautiful, and on others it's as miserable as grave-digging in the rain."On one of her fellow murderers:
"She is a terrible reader. It's like trying to make a cow talk."On the ever present bad weather:
"Autumn fell upon the valley like a gasp."It is a quiet book, set in a bleak, impoverished landscape populated by simple people who live on gossip, fears, religion, and hard work. The entrance of Agnes into their lives brings questions for all these people concerning relationships, human nature, faith, redemption, truth, and love.
Highly recommended. Grab it and settle in by a very warm fire for a very high quality read. You cannot put it down until you hear the truth about Agnes and the other characters.
Happy reading.
Fred
www.firstsentencereader.blogspot.com
If this book interests you, be sure to check out:
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If this book interests you, be sure to check out:
Hamsun, Knut. Growth of the Soil
One man and his family trying to create a life on their farm in an isolated section of Norway in the early 1900s. Quiet, spare novel that depicts this difficult life and the strength of determined, ordinary people.
Rolvaag, O.E. Giants in the Earth: A Saga of the Prairie
Norwegian farmer and his family try to resettle and tame the land in the Dakota Territory in the late 1800s. A classic account of people, families, and neighbors eking out a living and a life in unforgiving land.
