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Independent People
- Narrated by: Michael Page
- Length: 20 hrs and 56 mins
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Publisher's summary
This magnificent novel - which secured for its author the 1955 Nobel Prize in Literature - is now available to contemporary American audiences. Although it is set in the early 20th century, it recalls both Iceland's medieval epics and such classics as Sigrid Undset's Kristin Lavransdatter. And if Bjartur of Summerhouses, the book's protagonist, is an ordinary sheep farmer, his flinty determination to achieve independence is genuinely heroic and, at the same time, terrifying and bleakly comic.
Having spent 18 years in humiliating servitude, Bjartur wants nothing more than to raise his flocks unbeholden to any man. But Bjartur's spirited daughter wants to live unbeholden to him. What ensues is a battle of wills that is by turns harsh and touching, elemental in its emotional intensity, and intimate in its homely detail. Vast in scope and deeply rewarding, Independent People is a masterpiece.
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In this rich and memorable evocation of the fictional South Riding of Yorkshire are the lives, loves and sorrows of the central characters. There is Sarah Burton, fiery young headmistress; Robert Carne of Maythorpe Hall, a councillor tormented by his own disastrous marriage; Jo Astell, a socialist fighting poverty and his own illness; and Mrs Beddows, the first woman Alderman of the district (like Winifred's own mother).
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Worth Revisiting
- By Ilana on 11-04-12
By: Winifred Holtby
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Good Poems
- Selected and Introduced by Garrison Keillor
- By: Emily Dickinson, Walt Whitman, Robert Frost, and others
- Narrated by: Garrison Keillor
- Length: 4 hrs and 23 mins
- Abridged
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Good Poems includes poems about lovers, children, failure, everyday life, death, and transcendence. It features the work of classic poets, such as Emily Dickinson, Walt Whitman, and Robert Frost, as well as the work of contemporary greats such as Howard Nemerov, Charles Bukowski, Donald Hall, Billy Collins, Robert Bly, and Sharon Olds Good Poems includes poems about lovers, children, failure, everyday life, death, and transcendence.
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Very good, but. . .
- By KSmith on 01-27-11
By: Emily Dickinson, and others
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Birds Without Wings
- By: Louis de Bernieres
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 23 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Birds Without Wings is the story of a small town in Anatolia in the dying days of the Ottoman Empire told in the richly varied voices of the men and women (Armenians, Christians, and Muslims) whose lives are intertwined and rooted there: Iskander, the potter and local fount of wisdom; Philotei, the Christian girl of legendary beauty, courted almost from infancy by Ibrahim the goatherd, a great love that culminates in tragedy and madness; and many more.
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Not for the faint of heart
- By a on 01-03-05
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The Unreal and the Real
- Selected Stories of Ursula K. Le Guin, Volume One: Where on Earth
- By: Ursula K. Le Guin
- Narrated by: Tandy Cronyn
- Length: 11 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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The Unreal and the Real is a major event not to be missed. In this two-volume selection of Ursula K. Le Guin's best short stories--as selected by the National Book Award winning author herself--the reader will be delighted, provoked, amused, and faced with the sharp, satirical voice of one of the best short story writers of the present day. Where on Earth explores Le Guin's earthbound stories which range around the world, from small town Oregon to middle Europe in the middle of revolution to summer camp.
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Shame on you, Audible
- By Audrey McCombs on 07-03-20
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Look Homeward, Angel
- By: Thomas Wolfe
- Narrated by: Scott Sowers
- Length: 26 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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The works of Thomas Wolfe cemented his legacy as one of the very best of the American Southern writers. Wolfe's largely autobiographical novel features Eugene Gant, who pines for a more expansive life after being born to a father whose bouts of maniacal raving are fueled by a prodigious appetite for drink.
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One Of The Gret Novels Of The 20th Century
- By Eric on 02-22-09
By: Thomas Wolfe
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Mirror Mirror
- By: Gregory Maguire
- Narrated by: John McDonough, Kate Forbes, Barbara Rosenblat, and others
- Length: 9 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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It is 1502, and seven-year-old Bianca de Nevada lives at Montefiore, the farm of her father, Don Vicente. But one day a noble entourage makes its way up to the farm. In the presence of Cesare Borgia and his sister, the lovely and vain Lucrezia, no one can claim innocence for very long. When Borgia sends Don Vicente on a quest, he leaves Bianca under the care of Lucrezia. She plots a dire fate for the young girl in the woods below the farm, but salvation can be found in the dark forest as well.
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Interesting re-telling of the fairy tale.
- By Patricia on 03-04-10
By: Gregory Maguire
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The Passion
- By: Jeanette Winterson
- Narrated by: Tania Rodrigues, Daniel Pirrie
- Length: 5 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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Set during the tumultuous years of the Napoleonic Wars, The Passion intertwines the destinies of two remarkable people: Henri, a simple French soldier, who follows Napoleon from glory to Russian ruin; and Villanelle, the red-haired, web-footed daughter of a Venetian boatman, whose husband has gambled away her heart. In Venice’s compound of carnival, chance, and darkness, the pair meets their singular destiny.
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Excellence.
- By Scottie V. on 10-07-19
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Ramona
- The Heart and Conscience of Early California
- By: Helent Hunt Jackson
- Narrated by: Boots Martin
- Length: 5 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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Termed the Uncle Tom's Cabin of the southwestern Indians and the first protest novel of California, Ramona is the story of 3 cultures - Indian, Mexican, and Anglo - locked in combat. The upheaval and injustice are humanized through the romance of a beautiful half-Indian orphan who grow up as the ward of Señora Moreno in privileged surroundings, then falls in love with an Indian and joins him in a life of poverty and tragedy. The Ramona Pageant in Hemet, California, based on this romance, has played each year since 1923, reenacting the transition period between Mexican traditions and the new U.S. and state governments.
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Not The Full Book
- By Kimberley on 03-23-16
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Shadows on the Rock
- By: Willa Cather
- Narrated by: Ann Marie Lee
- Length: 8 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1697, Quebec is an island of French civilization perched on a bare gray rock amid a wilderness of trackless forests. For many of its settlers, Quebec is a place of exile, so remote that an entire winter passes without a word from home. But to 12-year-old Cécile Auclair, the rock is home, where even the formidable Governor Frontenac entertains children in his palace and beavers lie beside the lambs in a Christmas créche.
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wonderful
- By carol perez on 05-18-21
By: Willa Cather
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The Little Book of the Icelanders
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Succinct and interesting
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Am Gletscher
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Am Fuße des Snaefellsgletschers im Westen Islands versieht Pfarrer Jon Primus sein Amt. Doch die Art seiner Seelsorge gibt Anlass zur Besorgnis...
By: Halldór Laxness
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The Children Of The New Forest
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Captain Marryat's The Children of the New Forest is a wonderful tale in narrative, historically rich and quite fascinating. This story of adventure, treachery, and love takes place during the English Civil War, when fellow countrymen are found enemies, and are set against each other, Roundhead and Cavalier, Parliament and the King. Many hoped for the same thing: justice. But, for a long time, neither could find it. In the midst of all were the Beverlies, the family of a faithful Cavalier, who died in service of the king.
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Plucky Kids in the English Civil War
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What listeners say about Independent People
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- DWR
- 09-21-17
How one man can make many so miserable...
Nowadays the main character, Bjartur would be diagnosed as a Sociopath; self-righteous, egotistical and with no conscience. He is so self centered that he makes the lives of those close to him miserable. Of course in the end--out of character--he shows some compassion; but one wonders if this is probably self-serving too.
So from the point of view that he is a memorable character, I assume that is the reason the book has been given rave reviews and awards. But for me it was arduous to get through.
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16 people found this helpful
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- Brumby McLeod
- 05-24-23
Útligangur
Svooo Gött, a novel about a human journey of what an Icelandic horse might experience in their life from a perspective of a stubborn Icelandic father, spouse, and widow. Almost reminds me of Leppaluði’s great escape from Gringle Peace on earth. No wonder the Halldór received the Nobel Prize in Literature. The narrator and translators should get one too for their graceful and humorous translation. Hopefully Icelandic school children can recover from the 1970 - 2010 torture of Icelandic school children across the country.
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Astounding
This book is one of the greats in literature. It manages to be both heartbreaking and incredibly humorous (in a dry, offhand manner that is even funnier for being so understated.) Both major and minor characters are vividly realized, some delicately and others in all their eccentric and idiosyncratic glory. Laxness also deftly interweaves the political and social exploitation of crofters and peasants everywhere in his precise portrayal of their hard scrabble existence. Michael Page is excellent as well. Listen to it - you will be full of gratitude as it breaks your heart.
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1 person found this helpful
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- mlc2002
- 06-02-21
Pre-trip reading assignment
I'm going to Iceland and wanted to know more about the culture and artists. So now I know. It was interesting and I loved the details about farm life and politics. Laxness is a Nobel Prize Lit hero and this book is considered his gold standard. It is very real and some might think it is depressing. I found it interesting - not sure why wo many think it is a knock out - but it is gritty and depicts a harsh slice of life.
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- Candice Gawne
- 09-30-22
An empathic voyage in poetic verse and philosophic breadth
In a wonderful theatrical varied voice & quiet countenance the reader carrie’s us a voyage of
Of witness of Human character In the Education of a soul through a voyage Of a life.
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- Mack Sweeney
- 06-12-17
Insight into Iceland's Culture and History
Great narration, compelling story. A bit depressing but also an insightful glimpse into Icelandic culture and history.
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10 people found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 12-19-22
Exceptional
This book was even better second time listening. Would highly recommend this book. Still relevant today.
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- gkrabbe
- 01-24-18
bleak and resilient
the main character was extremely difficult to swallow. Yet you couldn't help but admire his boldness and his independence. the reindeer scene! beautiful blend of mysticism, superstition, realism, strength, hardship, mule headed Independence. the scene with the youngest son imagining the kitchen implements as live characters was splendid. probably the most memorable scene was the Slaughter of the ewe
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7 people found this helpful
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- MiteyMo
- 07-15-18
absorbing story, great narration
Absorbing story, and the narrator was an amazing performer. And I still need fifteen words words words...
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- anonymous
- 04-23-19
superb
what a great storyteller! reminiscent of Tolkien with humor and sagacity. although the protagonist was pretty exasperating, the story was worth sticking it out .
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