Clif Hostetler's Reviews > Njal's Saga

Njáls saga is a 13th century Icelandic saga that describes events between the years 960 to 1020. It deserves respect because of its antiquity. But I found it be a challenge to get through.

It is a long collection of stories about "so-and-so" of "such-and-such" family killing "so-and-so" of "such-and-such" family. The names were all exotic to my English language ears; thus it all passed through my memory as a blur. In this regard it reminded me of my reaction to the Iliad. However this book is much longer than the Iliad. It seemed to go on forever.

The importance of vengeance as a defense of family honor is a prominent theme in the saga. One description I thought of for the book was "Hatfield-MaCoy with swords." Insults involving a character's manliness are especially prominent in the saga. Also, fate and omens figure prominently in the stories.

At the very end there is a description of reconciliation. But based on the earlier stories the reader has to wonder how long that will last.

In my opinion if you don't have a special interest in Icelandic history and literature, don't read this book. However, I can see some lessons of human nature in the stories, so perhaps a researcher of gang warfare in modern cities could find source material here.