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The Long Ships (New York Review Books Classics) Paperback – July 6, 2010

by Frans G. Bengtsson (Author), Michael Meyer (Translator), Michael Chabon (Introduction)
4.6 out of 5 stars 300 customer reviews
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Product Details

  • Series: New York Review Books Classics
  • Paperback: 528 pages
  • Publisher: NYRB Classics (July 6, 2010)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1590173465
  • ISBN-13: 978-1590173466
  • Product Dimensions: 5.3 x 1.1 x 8 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (300 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #135,453 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Top Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsFinally got it & read it!
By Stuart W. Mirsky on August 18, 1999
Format: Hardcover
Having heard so much about this saga-type novel I sought it eagerly & finally broke down & bought it via amazon uk (after a long & fruitless hunt stateside). Rather expensive for this paperback w/lots of typos & editing problems, I thought. But the book, I judge, was worth it in the end. The tale of Orm Tostesson & "friends", this book follows the adventures of this typical late tenth century viking through nearly all the high-points of vikingdom in the period. From raids & servitude on the coasts of Moorish Spain, to visits with Irish monks and dinner with the Danish King, Harald Bluetooth, and his assorted guests, including no less a worthy than Styrbiorn Olafsson, the Jomsviking and claimant to the Swedish throne about whom E. R. Eddison wrote so brilliantly in his own viking novel, Styrbiorn the Strong, this book takes us through all the paces. Orm ends up with a very noble wife living in a backwater part of Scandinavia (the borderlands between Sweden and medieval Denmark) but even there he gets no peace since his enemies and adventures pursue him. And in his maturity another and final adventure comes his way when he is summoned to the eastern reaches of far Gaardarike (the country that was to become Russia) to claim an "inheritance" of great value. Along the way, Orm makes some good friends, some bad enemies, participates in some (but by no means all) of the great events of viking history in that period, and finally mellows to become a better man who embraces the new way of thinking while yet feeling at home in the old.Read more ›
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5.0 out of 5 starsFunny and historically accurate
By isala on November 7, 2003
Format: Paperback
This book is an eternal classic. Set in the height of Viking Age it tells us how Orm (Snake) is kidnapped by a band of marauding vikings. He then serves as a slave on a moorish ship, he is a mercenary among the muslims, he is marauder in England. He marries royally, settles, and goes on a treasure hunt for stolen gold in Russia. Bengtson uses the laconic language of the vikings to hilarious effects. The translator manages to keep it, which is great. The book is historically accurate with many historical events and persons interwoven in the narrative.
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4.0 out of 5 starsRe-issue this book!!!
By Earl Merkel on March 13, 2002
Format: Hardcover
Every serious reader has had the experience: perhaps by accident --on a library shelf, or in a dusty box at a garage sale-- you stumble across an out-of-print book that seizes your imagination through its author's sheer mastery of the storytelling craft.
And you wonder: why, O why, doesn't the publisher re-issue this in lieu of one or another of the emminently forgettable titles in current release?
Such a book is THE LONG SHIPS by Frans Bengtssen, which crossed the Atlantic from Scandinavia to America in the early 1950s; like Leif Ericson, who made the same trip long before Columbus, this book lingered only briefly here before vanishing with scarcely a trace.
And that is a tragedy for anyone who craves an epic, lusty tale of Vikings and their travels-- told with a sophisticated humor that is both wry and understated and with a sense of historical perspective that blends so subtly into the narrative that one is staggered to later find it is painstakingly accurate. Thank you, History Channel-- but I heard it all first, and far more compellingly, from following Orm Tostesson's exciting voyages, enthusiastic plunderings and thrilling adventures in THE LONG SHIPS.
This book is a delight in every way: certainly, you can read simply for it for the lyrical use of language (it is, by the way, a translation from its original Swedish, and translator Michael Meyer deserves canonization for his masterful rendering of it into English). But it works well on so many other levels --as an action/adventure, or as a character-driven historical novel-- that to attempt to limit this book's sophisticated multi-layered appeal would be a disservice.Read more ›
2 Comments 53 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
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5.0 out of 5 starsA-Viking You Should Go
By Bill Slocum VINE VOICE on February 28, 2007
Format: Paperback
English literature began with a Viking story, "Beowulf," but have you ever tried reading it? My own "Beowulf" experience led me to believe Viking literature is right down there with Viking cuisine in terms of digestibility. Imagine my surprise when I discovered a novel about Vikings, written over half a century ago, to be as thrilling, fantastic, and engaging as "The Long Ships."

It's the story of Orm, a farmer's son in southern Sweden in the late 900s who one day finds himself a prisoner of a merry gang of Vikings. They quickly adopt him, and set out for adventures off the northern and southern coasts of Europe. Before the book is half over, Orm has found himself in courts from Spain to England, espoused three different religions, slain several dozen foemen, and found a princess to be his bride.

Frans G. Bengtsson's novel, originally published in Sweden in 1945, showcases two things I didn't expect from a Scandinavian academic, brevity and humor. Sure, the book is nearly 500 pages long, but Bengtsson crams a lot of incident in every page, describing events in broad strokes and letting the reader's imagination do the rest. Bengtsson's style, preserved marvelously by Michael Meyer's 1954 translation, is to consciously evoke the elliptical prose of ancient Viking sagas, but in such a way as to allow for a modern, tongue-in-cheek sensibility to come through, one that reflects a Viking world, however hard-bitten, of great wit and depth.

"The Long Ships" is marvelously quotable: "For no man complains of the weight of the cargo, when it is his own booty that is putting strain upon the oars." Or: "Only poets can win wealth with empty hands, but then they must make better songs than other poets, and competition spoils the pleasure of composition.Read more ›
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsGreat stort

Written differently than most adventure books but non the less this is easily one of my favorite books. Read more

Published 12 hours ago by forrest bronson
4.0 out of 5 starsTo Go A-Viking

This adventure tale of the Northmen and their world of exploration and marauding was terrific fun to read and educational to boot. Read more

Published 14 days ago by Miranda Good
5.0 out of 5 starsThis is an awesome story of swashbuckling Norsemen

This is an awesome story of swashbuckling Norsemen. There is nothing like it and you will read it more than once. Read more

Published 17 days ago by J. DeFord
5.0 out of 5 starsAmazing adventure story, full of both humor and substance

Far more than a literary/historical curiosity, this is a surprisingly readable, entertaining and informative work. Read more

Published 17 days ago by Tony Covatta
5.0 out of 5 starsgood reading.

Interesting history of that area and time- one of those books you can open and close and go back and continue. good reading.

Published 1 month ago by JEM
5.0 out of 5 starsGreat historical novel on Vikings.

''The long ships'' by F. G. Bengtsson is a really great historical novel on Vikings showing the European world at the turn of 1st and 2nd millennium AD. Read more

Published 1 month ago by mjare
4.0 out of 5 starsVikings on the Loose!

The story covers the life of one particular Viking - Orm. His adventures and attempts to gain riches, luck and his wife are an exciting read. Read more

Published 1 month ago by Tom
5.0 out of 5 starsAn excellent historical fiction account of the Vikings

I was a bit skeptical of this book as I usually find books written on the 19th century and early 20th to be clumsy and to badly need a heavy edit, and to have sluggish plots. Read more

Published 1 month ago by Phil Dolliff
5.0 out of 5 starsröde orm

Red Orm is the original title of the book. The protagonist is an entrepreneurial type who is lucky to escape death again and again, while dealing it out to get stuff. Read more

Published 1 month ago by Michael J
4.0 out of 5 starsEnjoyed reading the book

Interesting story and evidently a classic that few people know about. The writing style is easy to read and it tells the story of the various viking voyages and escapades in... Read more

Published 2 months ago by John F. Fisher

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