Giants in the Earth: A Saga of the Prairie (Perennial Classics)

Great

I had always intended to read this so I am glad it was as good as I hoped it would be. The courage and persistence of the immigrants who settled the Plains is to be marveled at!

I thought this was one of the most excellent novels I've read in a long while. It starts off slow, but it's clear from the very beginning that this will be a tragedy in line and based on the same format as the great Greek tragedies. They chose a lot of land with an Indian burial mound on it. Those circular life-death-rebirth themes run throughout the book. And Rolvaag does an exquisite job of psychologically portraying the characters. He entwined Norse mythology with Christian religion and issues of pride. Per Hans is a Manifest Destiny type man in love with the concept of more and more and pushing further. His wife,Beret, is old world and in love with her guilt. Both of their false loves hinder them from ever becoming fully one in their marriage as they pioneer these brave new lands, and I do love how the land itself is a character in it's own right.The subplot foreshadowing their self undoing with the lost settlers whose child died is unnerving. But it was the way it was so for so many back then and central to the main plot. While others have critiqued the absurdity of Per Hans offering medical help to the Natives, it wasn't lost on me with the underlying message; they could be friends and could be civilized towards one another, the settlers and Natives, but so few in each of the tribes of both settlers and Natives, had an innate trust of the other...often more content to watch each other due off. And so while the realism isn't accurate, the potential for what could've been between the white settlers and natives is a fundamental historical fantasy of asking "what if?" Left on the reader when looking back.I additionally liked the shift or tension introduced into the story when Per takes the Irish claim stakes out. The reader is left wondering if he'd not taken that upon himself, would things turned out differently? Both for the ending and his marital undoing as this is when Beret lost faith in her husband. When the claim jumpers come to claim their land (though perhaps not legally filed, they seemed to have been there first and therefore it was a theft of sorts), the Norwegian settlers viewed the Irish as savages and uncivilized. Hans Ola accidentally kills one when they get into a fight. This is telling since the Irish in Europe have historically been viewed as 'low on the totem pole', but also telling in so far as why this is a great American tragedy story. The views of other people being civilized or uncivilized and selfish gain helped Per Hansa justify stealing & then justified Hans Ola murdering the uncivilized. It's very similar to how the Native Americans were treated...no legal land claims on their land but they were there first. Their ways were viewed as savage and so the settlers could be justified in using excessive force when things went bad....when diplomacy and friendship weren't the first thought in mind. So these two characters paved the way for their undoing here in taking land and taking life. The ending is appropriately linked to this turn of events and in a most poetic way b/c the land didn't appreciate it.Lastly, I've yet to hear in commentaries on this, and perhaps it is b/c those most interested in this book view it from their own Norwegian immigrant ancestry, but several Native tribes in the Americas have passed down oral stories of way back when of giant white men who once ruled the Americas. It ties back into the Christian Biblical quote as the title, but also interweaving the Norse mythology with the Native American people's tragic legacy. In that regard, Rolvaag is sheer brilliance in his poetic layering of meaning, story lines, plot and subplot as well as artistic lessons to ponder for some time even long after the story ends. Can't recommend this book enough.

I like books that are historical or historically accurate. This book is not that. The characters and stories are purely fictional. Historical events are mentioned but are not accurate. What this is is a tragedy and portrayed flawed and improbable pioneers fighting depression and the ever present Norske guilt and blame game. Since my great grandparents settled further North in much harsher conditions and prospered this story rings much too false and depressing. I could mention that 2 of my children graduated from St Olaf, where the author taught and many gifted students came out of there depressed, confused with no job skills and great debt. I can't recommend this book for any reason and pity anyone that thinks this book portrayed anything realistic in any way.

O. E. Rolvaag’s great psychological study of immigrants settling the Great Plains begins with Giants in the Earth, a powerful depiction of the fortunes of Norwegian families trying to conquer a deceptive, almost malevolent environment without being assimilated culturally into a new and potentially hostile nation. We follow these giants (and make no mistake about it: giants they were) as they feud and toil and suffer and praise God and fight to raise farms and families out of desperate straits. We cheer the Holm family, led by stoic, persevering Per Hansa and his homesick, devoutly religious wife Beret as they defiantly, taciturnly, and even grimly deal with the cruel set of problems facing every immigrant to a new world.Fewer people, however, go on to read Peder Victorious and Their Fathers’ God, the second and third books in this dark, thought-provoking trilogy. Peder Victorious, Per and Beret’s youngest son, is the protagonist (I won’t call him the hero) of the second volume where Rolvaag gives us a carefully wrought analysis of the displacement felt by first-generation immigrants who feel unrooted and torn between two cultures while secure in neither. Peder’s battle to separate himself from the dominance of his mother Beret and her strong Lutheran faith, his growing urge to be part of a new community with new ways and rules, and his determination to make something different of himself are palpable, and Beret’s equally powerful determination to hold fast to Norwegian customs and values provides much psychological tension and a few dramatic moments. Toward the end of Peder Victorious, I was held spellbound as Beret comes to the conclusion God wants her to burn down the schoolhouse where her son performs in a play, and I couldn’t stop reading as she set out to do just that.The most introspective, soul-searching part of this masterfully written trilogy is volume three, Their Fathers’ God, where the friction between new immigrants (in this case between the Norwegians and the Irish) produces social, political, and religious clashes that alter lives, families, and a nation. Secularist Peder Holm and his Irish Catholic wife Susie wrestle cunningly, viciously, and frustratingly over religion, and they aren’t helped by elder Beret Holm’s devout Lutheran outlook on life. Peder and Susie are strongly bound by their genuine love for each other while at the same time they are ripped apart by their views on religion. Peder sees Susie’s strong Roman Catholicism as superstition and hocus-pocus that priests use to hold power over the community while Susie fears her husband’s non-belief will damn his soul to hell, and she’ll have none of it.In his trilogy, Rolvaag beautifully captures the psychological ordeals facing immigrants to any new country and leaves readers with plenty to think about. When readers finish Their Fathers’ God, they can ask along with Peder Holm, “Where do we go from here?”Don’t stop reading after you finish Giants in the Earth! Continue the long trek of immigration through Peder Victorious and Their Fathers’ God to its ultimate consummation . . . and conundrum.

Superb evocation of pioneer life. Quality book.

Came quick in good secondhand order