The Axe: The Master of Hestviken, Vol. 1 [Paperback]

Sigrid Undset (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 29, 1994

An Amazon Kindle eBook.

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Norwegian

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Vintage; 1st Vintage Books edition (November 29, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0679752730
• ISBN-13: 978-0679752738
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #702,276 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

42 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Memorable Saga, March 2, 2000

By 

Roberto T Helguera - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Axe: The Master of Hestviken, Vol. 1 (Paperback)

To understand The Axe one has to read the entire tetralogy of the Master of Hestviken. Therefore this review applies to the whole, as well as the part. A memorable saga, not only of a good man gone wrong (not gone bad) in the incredibly harsh times of medieval Norway, but also of his soul through the various stages of Catholic spirituality and redemption. Sigrid Undset is a master of both historical and spiritual fiction, as well as a deserving Nobel prize winner in literature. A must read for serious soul searchers, but above all for serious Catholics. I felt I had insights into my own nature as a person as I read about Olav Audunsson and participated in his thoughts, troubles and dilemmas. A masterful work of literature. Norway is beautifully described together with its medieval traditions and beliefs. If you enjoy good and serious historical fiction from a Christian perspective, you must read Sigrid Undset.

32 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Powerful, Luminous Stuff, December 17, 2003

By 

John (United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Axe: The Master of Hestviken, Vol. 1 (Paperback)

I had never read anything by Sigrid Undset until I read this novel, though I had wanted to for a while. Reading Undset sounded like a reading experience that couldn't be replicated, Who else is a female, Nobel-Prize-winning, Norwegian, historic novelist whose work is compared to Tolstoy's. Anyway, after reading The Axe (not even considered her best work), I would say she certainly lived up to my expectations.

The basic plot follows Olav Audunsson and Ingunn Steinfinnsdatter (don't be scared away by the names). They were betrothed as children under rather mysterious circumstances and were then raised together. Eventually, the two fall in love, and want to finally get married, seeing as they were betrothed to one another anyway. Times have changed, though, and the powers that be have decided to marry them off elsewhere. Olav and Ingunn vow to fight for their marriage, and the remainder of the action is this intense struggle.

The novel is superb. The writing at some moments, particularly the early love scenes, is truly sublime, with the lush imagery set up against the unique medieval Norwegian backdrop. I had to read a number of passages over and over just to reexperience their beauty. The moral scope of the novel also strikes me as particularly powerful and certainly invites comparison to Tolstoy. The events of the novel are all marked by a sin early in the novel which sends everyone into a moral tailspin. The characters are trapped in a moral maelstrom of their own making and in their struggle to find some sort of redemption is the ultimate meaning of the novel.

The Axe is one of the best novels I have ever read. Sigrid Undset cannot be forgotten. I can scarcely wait to read the rest of the Hestviken saga.

26 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A powerful saga of medieval times, March 15, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (Milwaukee, Wisconsin) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Axe: The Master of Hestviken, Vol. 1 (Paperback)

Sigrid Undset favored this work over her more popular Kristin Lavransdatter. But I found it more difficult to relate to the lives of Olav Audunsson and his lover Ingunn Steinfinnsdatter, and had to read the book several times before I remembered it as well as Kristin. There is an overall atmosphere of hopelessness and depression that makes reading the book somewhat agonizing. Yet, the characters, plot and setting are conveyed so realistically, that one feels as if one knows the characters. There is no doubt in my mind that this is truly a literary masterwork.