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Has anybody read this?

The Long Ships

Neil? Mo? Adrian? You're the obvious suspects on a book like this.

Just stumbled upon it accidentally cruising around Amazon and it looks like maybe the book I've been looking for.

Ben wrote: "Neil? Mo? Adrian? You're the obvious suspects on a book like this."

Haven't read this one yet, though I scribbled down the title & author years ago after reading a favorable review by Randall Jarrell. A good candidate for a group reading, but people here would probably prefer another few hundred gallons of Faulkner's metaphysical moonshine. {snore}

And this might be better than my other recent literary excursion into the tenth century -- Edna St. Vincent Millay's libretto for The King's Henchman. I need something to drown out the love songs of Aetholwold and Aelfrida.

did someone say group read? count me in, the book sounds awesome.

I added it to my Amazon List. I'm in.

isn't this a movie, too?

wow, russ tamblyn as a viking warrior... kinda hard to see it...

group read, eh?? i'd be in for that.

ya, i would be too. another faulkner and i'd likely jump off a cliff.

I've read it. Good adventure tale. Lots of it told rather than shown, so years of creative writing classes prejudiced me against the book at first. But slowly the book won me over. A good, grand sweeping tale. I'd be up for a group read of it.

Speaking of vikings, I can't tell if this looks great or just bloody:

my guess would be somewhere in the middle... but i'm going, definitely going...

This freakin' book is 520 pages long. Far too many pages for a group read. People will be dropping like fumigated Tsetse flies around page 200.

Couldn't we find a nice little brochure or, better yet, a coupon that we can all read and discuss?

Perhaps we could read one of the following sentences and discuss the literary merits or lack thereof.

I have not read the Long Ships, but I have seen the movie dozens of times. I might even own a copy . . . if it surfaces I could bring it to the Dork.

I might be up for a group read, but judging by prior experience I may very well become distracted by some other shiny object by the time the read comes around.

According to Wikipedia, the film version is "vaguely based" on the novel. But it has Richard Widmark and Sidney Poitier in it, so it can't be horrible.

It is a long book, but it's not a hard read. Bengtsson likes to use comic understatement, and the Vikings are mostly likable rogues who can be vicious killers when the need arises, which isn't infrequent.

The movie is very melodramatic, high cheese, but great fun nonetheless. I'm not remotely surprised to learn that it has only a passing resemblance to the novel.

That movie may feature Russ Tamblyn, but he's no Lee Majors. And there aren't any realistic scenes of Vikings fighting native Americans.

Heh. Deacon Jones looks very confused.

The Norseman makes The Long Ships & The Vikings (w/Kirk Douglas & Ernest Borgnine) look like masterpieces.

Having seen "Beowulf and Grendel," this is probably worse:



To say nothing of the "Beowulf" travesty with Angeline Jolie as a naked, golden monster whore:

yeah, no one has managed to do a good Beowulf movie. Sturla Gunnarson is an interesting director who has managed to do some really impressive adaptations of Icelandic sagas . . . I don't know what went awry with his Beowulf and Grendel.

As to the American animated thing, Neil Gaiman's screenplay was clever and held promise, but his "the Beowulf you know is a lie told to cover a secret" schtick only works if the audience is actually familiar with Beowulf. Of course, the execution of Gaiman's screenplay was faulty on any number of other levels.

Gunnarson's film has its moments, but then you've got Sarah Polley as some sort of witch/sex object for Beowulf, and Grendel's mother is almost laughable. The Icelandic setting is the best thing about that film.

I understand why screenwriters want to "update" the Beowulf story. It doesn't really have a traditional story arc, except that Beowulf is young at first and then old at the end with the dragon. So screenwriters cook up ways to make the story "work" by creating backstories, in both of these cases by making King Hrothgar the bad guy.

I'll add that after teaching "Beowulf" to a class of high-school seniors, I showed them the Robert Zemeckis film version. Some of them--all boys--loved the film, but one boy, the president of his class, looked at me when the lights came up and said, "That was a travesty."

Adrian wrote: "That movie may feature Russ Tamblyn, but he's no Lee Majors. And there aren't any realistic scenes of Vikings fighting native Americans.

"

that may well be the best trailer I've ever seen - netflix que is gonna get all kinds of shuffled now!

you think susie coelho is related to paulo coelho? i wonder how old she is now.

Well I just ordered the book, whether we read it as a group I'll be reading it in short order. It's nearly worth buying for the cover image alone.

I couldn't find the novelization of The Norseman, so I bought the movie poster instead. It's not exactly Frazetta, but I guess it's okay. Worth the fifty cents I paid for it.

who doesnt want to see this movie?

Dan wrote: "Well I just ordered the book, whether we read it as a group I'll be reading it in short order. It's nearly worth buying for the cover image alone."

I'm reading this now. The cover image is great, and the viking vocabulary is also pretty fun to toss around.

I just want to finish this Hans Fallada book, and then I'll try to catch up!

OK, I've got my copy. Hopefully, I'll be able to start tomorrow. :)

I'm not even to the 1st page of the prologue and I've already had to look up a word.

I am not sure if this is a spoiler, but wait until you discover that "berserk" is a wide variety of parts of speech this book.

I am reading the Michael Meyer translation. Are you?

Happy trails a-viking, Patty. -- E.

No, I don't think that counts as a spoiler, I'm just more intrigued.

Margaret, are you still reading this, too?

Yes It's really funny. I Like Orm already. And the narrator.

So it looks like it's Elizabeth, Margaret, Swanny, and me reading this at the moment. Anyone else joining us?

Margaret points that it's broken up into 4 sections and suggests that's how we break up the discussion. I'm cool with that, or with just randomness.

My big question so far is, "funny? really? why?" :)

I may join in a week or so. I have the book here, but I am currently in the middle of two others.

my copy's in the mail, but i'll be joining when it gets here.

if there's berserk, is there evil otto?

No SPoilers!! I just finished part one. It was good fun. (Like hanging out with my middle grandsons.) Lots of brag and swagger. Talk of women, battles (Girls and video games), adventures! A good read!

Margaret wrote: "No SPoilers!! I just finished part one."

I have a "no spoilers" - no "last page first" - even no "table of contents" personal philosophy.

It didn't occur to me that you guys might divide and discuss the book. Now I know. I'll get in on the discussion when everyone is done.

Row, row, row the boats!

my favorite line so far:

"any man who could not understand poetry would be regarded as a poor specimen of a warrior"

", and a great shout filled the hall as the bearded head flew from its shoulders, bounced on the edge of the table, and fell with a splash into the butt of ale that stood at its foot."

I don't know how we are going to manage a sensible discussion of this book, but I love it.

Part two - I love this book!

"Brother Willibald was not so young as the others; nevertheless, he sprinted along nimbly, with his cassock lifted high above his knees."

"The stone struck King Sven full on the mouth with a loud smack."

wow. i am so out of the loop as to what is going on over here.

anyway, i am so glad you are doing a group read of this -- i haven't read it before but based on what patty said about it, and what i'm hearing here, it reminds me of how much i loved egil's saga, and i am surprised that none of you (aside from neil, and abby) seem to have read that-- though adrian may not have bothered to add it to his list. so if you do end up loving this one, i highly recommend reading my favourite viking saga. :)

anyway, i'm going to get at this soon, and hopefully you won't all be done talking about it by then. :)

and also, i have a strong desire to listen to the theme of the fall guy right now -- i can't think why. :)

Maureen wrote: "reminds me of how much i loved egil's saga..."

Yeah, yeah, this broad is always pushing her Icelandic saga agenda.

Maureen's cameo appearance in the upcoming Thor movie:

(I heard she gets trampled by an aardvark during the first battle sequence.)

Incidentally, I just learned that my Viking name is Eidr Stronghawk. Grrrrrrrrrrr!!!!

Ni6bjorg Swiftgoat...Ahahahahaha I'd make a terrible viking!

Your Viking Personality: The tougher Vikings might let you on the boat, but generally only when they need ballast. You have a thirst for battle -- unfortunately, you're not terribly good at it. You probably know which end of a sword to hold, but you're not a fearsome fighter by any stretch of the imagination.

You would have a very tough time making a long sea voyage in a Viking longboat. Vikings make fun of you all the time. Not always behind your back, either.

You have a fairly pragmatic attitude towards life, and tend not to expend effort in areas where it would be wasted. You sometimes come off as a bit of a snob. Vikings are not snobbish people -- they either like you, or they kill you. Try to be more like a Viking.

Bjollok Leafslayer! (Thanks Adrian) I would also make a terrible viking.

Although, to bring it back to the book, our Red Orm really doesn't fit the stereotype presented on the viking name finder. He's a pretty generous, thoughtful, pragmatic sort of guy.

So far, this is the only review I've found that doesn't just regurgitate the publisher's blurbs.

Orm is a great buddy criminal. All the power and determination of a mafia don mixed with Lancelot style chivalry and swish.

I can't agree with Chabon about Dickens, but I loved the story.

Adrian, I love it that you embellish topics with images. Right on! My Viking name is Alof Elkgrabber.

Part three "Then, at Father Willibald's bidding,he helped to gather grass and leafy branches, with which they stuffed the bag. Among these, with great care, they placed the two heads, after which they refastened the strings."

Kori Thickjaw here. (Thanks for the Viking name generator, Adrian.) The narration really makes this book. At times I want a little more dramatization, but Bengtsson was very good at telling a tale. The Vikings come across as twelve-year-old boys on the cusp of adolescence--they can be serious and sober, or they can be impulsive and at times feral. And when Vikings speak to each other in terms of formal challenge, it's like a parody of The Lord of the Rings.

I love the understatements, too, and the brief glimpses of characterization, like this nugget about King Ethelred the Unready of England, who has just heard of Viking invaders: "But King Ethelred yawned at his table and offered up prayers against the Northmen, and lay cheerfully with his chieftans' women." That last part, casually tossed in, is the kind of thing Bengtsson does so well.