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Tuesday, January 23, 2018

The Greenlanders by Jane Smiley, 558 pages

  Until I read this book, I wasn’t even aware that I had never spent any time wondering anything at all about Greenland. Now I have.
  Yes, the book contains ice, snow, details about the geography of Greenland, and hardship. It also contains tales about ships with people visiting from the European continent, bringing goods to trade and news from their world. But mostly, the book kept me engrossed in the drama between rival families over the course of a few generations, the escapades of Roman Catholic priests in all their imperfect humanity being transplanted to a foreign land, and the story of a woman who earned a life-sentence of exile because she followed her heart rather than custom.  
    I enjoyed the adventure of reading about people living in 14th Century Greenland. The personalities and actions of Asgeir Gunnarsson and his family and the Catholic priests in-residence were memorable and have come to mind every now and then for the last four months or so since I reached the end of this story.

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