The cadence of the language caught me unawares. It is the sound of the old sagas. I found myself dreaming in the language of the story. The language is understated. Nuances of a gesture, a glance must be interpreted.
Nothing is blatant.
Jane Smiley sustains the tone throughout. The book reads like the old sagas. The Norse Discovery of America, translated and with an introduction by Magnus Magnusson and Hermann Palsson, is a small book wherein you may learn why Eric the Red left Iceland and came to Greenland. And how he came to name Greenland. And you may learn the story of Freydis, his kin, who killed eight men and five women for greed's sake, whose story is alluded to in The Greenlander's In scope, this book is like Kristin Lavransdottir Vol.