{"product_id":"independent-people-9780679767923","title":"Independent People","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eFrom the Nobel Prize-winning Icelandic author, a magnificent, epic novel--\"funny, clever, sardonic and brilliant\" (Annie Proulx)--at last available to contemporary American readers.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eSet in the early twentieth century, \u003ci\u003eIndependent People\u003c\/i\u003e recalls both Iceland's medieval epics and such classics as Sigrid Undset's \u003ci\u003eKristin Lavransdatter\u003c\/i\u003e. 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. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eHaving spent eighteen 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 \u003ci\u003ehim\u003c\/i\u003e. 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, \u003ci\u003eIndependent People\u003c\/i\u003e is a masterpiece.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Vintage\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 01\/14\/1997\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780679767923\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 512\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.12lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.04h x 5.17w x 1.06d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eReview Citations: \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e 11\/25\/1996 pg. 68\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e 01\/01\/1997 pg. 21\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e 02\/02\/1997 pg. 28\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eNewsweek\u003c\/i\u003e 02\/18\/2008 pg. 17\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Halldor Laxness","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":36639909314716,"sku":"9780679767923","price":17.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0473\/0804\/6492\/products\/img_8509daf1-0f1f-4334-a2c7-ffce05c4f1cf.jpg?v=1603850893","url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/independent-people-9780679767923","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}