Customer Reviews

Emigrants: The Emigrant Novels Book 1 (The Emigrant Novels / Vilhelm Moberg, Book 1)

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Karl Oskar Nilsson grew up in Smaland, Sweden, determined to set his own course. Selecting his own wife, Kristina, he works his parents' farm, only to find that he simply can't get ahead (or even stay where he's at) in Sweden. Determined to emigrate to the United States, Karl Oskar soon finds himself leading a band of likeminded folk, all leaving for different reasons and with different expectations. This is the story of their experiences in Sweden, and during their dangerous crossing aboard an overcrowded schooner.

This book is the first in a quadrilogy that is now rightly considered a classic in Swedish literature. Vilhelm Moberg did considerable research into the subject, and this book certainly shows it. Also, I must say that I found his characters to be wholly lifelike and believable. If I heard that this was written from the diaries of the actual people, I would certainly believe it.

This is a wonderful book that drew me into the experience of my Swedish forebears, both informing and entertaining me. It is one of the most powerfully written books that I have ever read. If I could give it more than five stars, I would!

[For those of you with young children, I would like to recommend the Kirsten books in the American Girls series. Written for young readers (primarily girls), it tells the story of a Swedish family that emigrates to Minnesota in 1854.]

How wonderful to hear the story of our ancestors through the writing of one of Swedens best writers. We follow a group of emigrating Swedes closely as they make the enormous move from Sweden to America. This emigrant epic reminds you of how things have been, and who Americans are. I emigrated from Sweden to America like they did, only more than a hundred years later. Foremost, I feel that Moberg captures the torn inside of an emigrant fenomenally, many tears were shed while reading of the torment Kristina feels. It's as true today as it ever was, and the author tells exactly how I and many others feel having left one land to be part of another. The books are splendid reading, you can't put them down.

Very engaging. Makes you appreciate what people went through to get to America. Gives you a feel for what peoples experiences were in the Old World & how different things were. We take so many things for granted. I am Swedish & from Minnesota, but I think that the book has lessons to teach beyond Swedes & Minnesotans. This book gives a voice to ordinary people who make up the bulk of who our immigrant ancestors were. One word of caution - these books are addicting - I couldn't stop with the first. Two weeks after cracking open the first page of Book 1, I've finished Book IV.

Years ago I had seen the movie that was made based on the book "The Emmigrants." While I found the movie interesting then, I believe that reading the book now as a more mature adult really opened my eyes to what the very early immigrants struggled against as they came to America. My own grandparents came later, in 1909, and that trip would have seemed like a picnic compared to Karl Oscar and Kristina's voyage. Still though many things had not changed all that much. My grandfather, also named Carl, complained all the time of how they had been made to study the cathecism all the time. He longed for a broader education so that he really could have made something of himself. He always said that in Sweden when he was growing up, the church had a say in everything. Just like Karl Oscar. I found some of the same superstitions that were written about still lived on in the mind of my great aunt.

I felt that this was an extremely well researched, warmly written book. The characters came alive on the pages and I became so involved in their voyage that I felt that I too walked the decks of the Charlotta.

This book is not only for those os Swedish descent, but for anyone whose family came across in those early days of settling in America.

I read all four books in Swedish language and just couldn't put them down, although I am Austrian...my only connection to Sweden is that I lived there for one year. After having read this book I could understand much better the American society and how it developed, but also got a deeper insight into Swedish history. I am dying to see the musical "Kristina fran Duvemala"!!!

This book is must reading for anyone interested in genealogy who wants to understand why our ancestors came to America. I feel as if I now understand what life was like for my ancestors before they emigranted and how difficult the journey to America was. This book is extremely well written, easy to read, engaging and the character development makes you truly care about their fate. This is one of my favorite books. I recommend it most highly.

I was born in Sweden and grew up in France (Swedish mom, French dad). I now live in the US and finally decided to read this book. I am currently starting the 3rd one and can not get my hand of it.

The Emigrants is an amazing piece of art, a book with so many themes, characters and information! The book is at times very grim, but also shows some strong optimism regarding condition improvement.

I would recommend this book to everybody with a Swedish background, but also anybody whose ancestors immigrated to America during the 19th century, and more generally anybody interested in the subject and looking for a great read. You'll get so attached to the Nilsson family you won't be able to stop reading.

I finished the fourth book in this series about 30 min ago. What can i say, it was some of the best books i have ever read and i have read a LOT of books. The characters seems very real and it feels like you really know them, it felt so sad to finish the last book. It felt like loosing your friends, I actually cried a bit. (And I am a guy)
Moberg was a great author.
I highly recomend all four books.

In 1998, Swedish author Wilhelm Moberg's series of four fact-based novels about a poor farming family leaving Sweden in the mid-1800s for the new, promised land of the United States of America was chosen the best Swedish book/s of the 20the century. As someone who grew up in Sweden with a great interest in both literature and history, and who later emigrated to the United States in 1982, I couldn't agree more. Read it, particularly if your roots are Scandinavian!

I have just finished reading all four books in this series and loved them. Once in awhile we find books that are treasures to read and these are it! Whether Swedish or not, these books tell the story of the hardships and simple, poor live the immigrants to our country lived. Certainly worth the time to read. I have recommended them to many people.