Unto a Good Land (The Emigrants, Book II) (Bk. 2)
by Vilhelm Moberg
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Book Summary Information
Author: Vilhelm MobergTranslator: Gustaf Lannestock
Edition: Paperback
Audio: Swedish (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 1995-09-15
ISBN: 0873513207
Number of pages: 402
Publisher: Minnesota Historical Society Press
Book Reviews of Unto a Good Land (The Emigrants, Book II) (Bk. 2)
Book Review: Unto a Good Land - Vilhelm Moberg
Summary: 4 Stars
From Manhattan, it is 1500 miles to Minnesota. Before departing, Karl Oskar feeds his family, and Robert and Arvid walk the length of Broadway, amazed by what they see. The group travels up the Hudson River by steamboat, from Albany to Buffalo by train and across the Great Lakes. They are now immigrants rather than emigrants. You can not be one without being both.
Alienation is a theme of Unto A Good Land. The immigrants feel the limitations imposed upon them as foreigners. They do not know the geography and cannot speak the language. Dependence breeds suspicion and paranoia.
The tension between Kristina and Ulrika begins to subside. After an attack of conscience, Kristina shares a loaf of bread with her. Ulrika and Elin are caring for Danjel's children.
At a stopover in Detroit, Ulrika totally vindicates herself in Kristina's and Karl Oskar's eyes. She recovers Lill-Marta, their 3-year-old, from an orchard where she had gone to pick cherries. This is in the nick of time as the boat is about to leave. It is a touching scene where Karl Oskar takes the hand of the woman he ridiculed.
The immigrants cut across the prairie and head up the Mississippi River. Arvid remains funny and stupid, fearing alligators which he calls crocodiles.
The novels are virtually non-violent when compared with a Hamlet or a War and Peace. They are strong on character, simple, plain. We find people determining their own course, not swept up in events so overwhelming as to have their actions dictated for them.
There is an emphasis on nature, the necessity of eking a living from the earth. There is not so much of war or what man has done to man. It is unexpected when at one point Karl Oskar has to elude some would-be bandits. The possibility of evil always lurks in the background, but it is secondary to man's struggle against the harsher side of nature. The immigrants yearn for freedom without having to harm anyone.
Once in Minnesota territory, they walk to their final destination. In the lush forest, they feel at home for the first time, and Kristina and Ulrika laugh at the shaggy hair and beards of the men. Kristina uses wool shears on Karl Oskar, giving him the look of a sheep. Robert wants his hair short so he can not be scalped by Indians.
When Danjel and Jonas Petter stake their claims near Swedish settlers, the obstinate Karl Oskar keeps going. Only when he feasts his eyes on Lake Ki-Chi-Saga does he feel he has arrived.
Ki-Chi-Saga is an Indian name, but it is Karl Oskar's for the taking. It is all here: the lake, oak trees, a pine forest and three feet of topsoil.
There is an optimism in the books and in Karl Oskar, an assurance that if we go hard enough and long enough, we will have the things we need.
Domestic life resumes. The settlers build cabins, make furniture, plow and planet and hunt and fish. Kristina prepares meals and mends clothing. Moberg pulls us down to basic survival.
Making it through the first winter is crucial. They need a cow for milk and flour for bread. Returning one night in the snow with a sack of flour, Karl Oskar gets lost. He finds his way, but realizes he might have frozen to death.
The sense of mission in the first book dissipates into a narrative of day-to-day living, into a compilation of anecdotes and close calls.
Of all the immigrants, only Kristina misses Sweden. She hides it. She now considers Ulrika a friend and requests her as midwife when the baby is born. The birth is described in detail. So is Kristina's emotional attachment to her first child born in America.
The differences between the brothers quickly surface. Robert is no farmer. He wants to get rich. Karl Oskar considers him a liar, governed by his imagination. After the first winter, Robert and Arvid leave for the gold fields of California.
Having cleaned up her act, Ulrika begins getting proposals. Women are scarce. Amazingly, she marries a Baptist minister.
The book ends with Kristina confessing to Karl Oskar how much she misses Sweden. Karl Oskar shares his vision of the future with her, that their children and grandchildren will one day thank them for emigrating to America. The pair agree to call their new home Duvemala after the village Kristina grew up in.
Summary of Unto a Good Land (The Emigrants, Book II) (Bk. 2)
Book Two opens in the summer of 1850 as the emigrants disembark in New York City. Their journey to a new home in Minnesota Territory takes them by riverboat, steam wagon, Great Lakes steamship, and oxcart to Chisago County.Family Saga Books
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