Burial Rites

Burial Rites by Hannah Kent is a fiction novel based on fact about the last woman to be executed in Iceland. After a lengthy time used for appeals, she was executed in 1828. There are no real surprises in the book as the case and result are a matter of historical record. The value of the book is in the character portrayals Kent provides. “A Note on Icelandic Names and Pronunciation” followed by a map prepares the reader for a presentation that is extremely well-researched. A reader will be able to make sense of the meaning in dialogues between main characters without the pronunciation guide but it is nice to have. Letters between government officials and religious functionaries are written in a complex style reflecting the times. Such letters written in the present time would be considered verbose and overly polite. Again, this gives the reader a sense of research well done.Agnes ( the main character), Sigridur (accomplice and sometimes rival of Agnes) and Fridrik (sometimes thief) killed Natan and Petur. No surprises here. The three were convicted of the crime of murder and sentenced to death. Much as in the present day, the convictions were referred to higher courts on appeal. The three murderers were confined in separate locations but not in jails or prisons familiar to the present-day reader. Instead, they were assigned to confinement in homes of officials based on their earlier employment or residency. This was not always welcomed by the officials and their families but it was a duty that could not be refused by local officials. This novel focuses on the family which had the responsibility for the confinement of Agnes.There seems to have been a lot of miserable childhoods in Iceland during this period. Children lost parents perhaps through death. Parents lost children through death or abandonment when the parents felt unable to economically support them. Children served periods of indenture which were followed by further periods of indenture. They were employed as servants and/or housekeepers. Agnes knew her mother but was abandoned at about the age of three. As she is facing imminent execution, she is over thirty years old and has worked as a servant or housekeeper in more than fifteen locations. This forced labor is not quite slavery. That is why Agnes served in so many locations. If a person was not in debt, the person was free to seek better conditions of employment. Based on the amount of work a person had to do; there was little time to seek better conditions.Agnes fell in love with Natan. It was a long process. Natan noticed her and was impressed with her level of literacy. Agnes did not know of or suspect Natan’s serious character flaws. Natan was a people manipulator. He played with them and provoked them for his amusement, not necessarily for any material gain. This did not become apparent until Agnes had moved into Natan’s home and was promised the job of housekeeper, a job which implied sexual duties along with the more mundane boot polishing. But Natan had another servant, Sigridur. She believed that Agnes would be employed as a servant and she, Sigridur, would take over the role requiring total service. So, we have the complete and open jealousy between the two women. As for Natan, he intends to, and does, have relations with both as he promises each of them the role of housekeeper. So how did the two become close enough to be convicted accomplices in the murder of Natan? The answer to that might be the only surprise, or spoiler, in the novel.All of this is the background to the main story of the novel. Agnes is confined with an official and his family at Kornsa. The main story is how she interacts with the family as she awaits either execution or pardon. For most of the novel, she is resigned to her fate of execution. She is with the family because she has requested the spiritual guidance of Assistant Reverend Thorvardur (later known as Reverend Toti). She had the right to request a church person of her choice to help prepare her for her meeting with God. Toti is not yet a full reverend; he is very young and has little confidence in himself. But he has been given the duty of frequent contact with Agnes to prepare her for her fate.Agnes does not find it easy to tell her full story to Toti; she is much older than him. She feels closer to Margret, wife of official Jon, and the mother of daughters Lauga and Steina. Marget is closer in age to Agnes and throughout the novel feels more and more empathy for Agnes. Daughter Lauga despises Agnes and frequently expresses her disgust with having Agnes in the house. Daughter Steina thinks Agnes is interesting and steals time away from chores to talk to Agnes whenever possible. This displeases her father who fears negative influence on the entire family.This is a great, brilliant novel for a variety of reasons. There is the depiction of language. There is the depiction of history. There is the depiction of the difficulties of daily life such as this:The family with Margret was not always as poverty stricken as they were when Agnes joined them. I years past their house, constructed from either mud, clay, or a composite had walls that did not crumble. Earlier, they were reinforced by planks of wood. But when the family fell on hard times, Jon had stripped the walls and sold for much-needed money to support the family. This type of cultural and economic awareness, supported by research, make this a valuable novel.For the eclectic reader, one who invites surprise, this is a great novel.

My Review and Thoughts:Burial Rites is a complex character study of one women’s inner thoughts and the surroundings around her as she goes through her last days. You become sour in the realization of this tormented soul of a character. Her past is bleak and clouded with pain, suffering and the world seems to have beat her down. Hannah Kent has away with capturing the ordeal in a harsh, destructive emotional reality that makes the reader truly feel sorry for this person.The descriptive narrative by the main character of Agnes is by far the highlight of this book. Her personal thoughts, her storytelling in first person narrative at times truly bleeds off the page into the emotional heart strings of the reader. As you go about reading this brilliantly written novel you become like the fly in the room and you hear, see, watch and become apart of the ordeal in truly emotional and humble ways as Agnes truly becomes apart of your inner soul, mind, thoughts and most of your heart.The story is about the character of Agnes. She has been accused alongside two others in a brutal double murder. She has been sentenced to be beheaded. Her execution lingers throughout the story. She has been placed in the care of a farm until her coming death. There a Minister in training has been hired to see that Agnes comes about freeing her soul and comes to ask God for forgiveness for her brutal crimes. As the Minister Toti comes to know her, he realizes the story is more complex as it slowly unravels in vivid storytelling detail.Agnes is a brilliant character. A personal character. A complex character of mystery. Well weaved in written form. Agnes truly grows on you. You can’t help but want to save her, to listen to her, to comfort her even in her hard bitterness. She has such a past that the writer displays that you the reader can’t help but want to know everything about her and what happens to her. You want to listen to her past, her present her inner darkness.I think what truly stands out is this is based on a True Story and Hannah Kent displays that true story in vivid detail and truly an emotional ordeal that the reader follows along with until the very end. You can’t help but turn the page to see what unfolds in this graphic tale of a woman’s life in so many bitter filled ways.Hannah Kent is a is a flawless writer of detail. She captures the sadness. The torment. The dread. The love. The idea of suffering. Hannah takes the reader on a journal that never gives up in detail and emotional reality. What I love about Hannah’s writing is it’s so vivid. She displays the rough living reality of farm life in the 1800’s. The dirt and grime. The hard labor. The emotional happenings. The close minded people. The gossip and hatred. The ideas of women being lesser than man and treated horribly during the time periods displayed. Hannah captures it all vivid detail and that makes the book more complex, graphic and truly memorable page after page.I found myself very emotional toward the last pages of this book. I will not lie, I cried. The writing was so well down the emotional reality of this story gets to you and you can't help but shed a tear.Would I Return to: I think I would? This is going to become a movie I gather and so it will be interesting to see how they capture the darkness, dread and torment of this novel in movie form.Would I Recommend: In a heartbeat. I think this is a book that should be read, experienced and honored in all it’s wonderful written detail. As I have stated it’s a complex story with tight weaved and emotional realities in characters described in great detail on each page.Final Four Words: Complex. Emotional. Descriptive beauty.My Rating: 5 out of 5

I took a trip to Iceland. Our guide took us to the site of this story. I wanted to read the whole story and was quite satisfied. Interesting read!

"Cruel birds, ravens, but wise. And creatures should be loved for their wisdom if they cannot be loved for kindness."Sheesh. Just finished this and OOF! What a gut punch. I won't be spoiling the ending by telling you what happens as Burial Rites is about Agnes Magnúsdóttir, the last woman (and person) executed in Iceland in 1830.Hannah Kent took me on a journey back in time to a cold and merciless place. The harsh landscape of Iceland sets the tone within which the story unfolds. Agnes lived a hard life as a bastard, a foundling, and a farm servant to families who didn't themselves have much to offer in the way of time, comfort, or supplies.The writing is sublime. It is somehow poetic and fluid while remaining grounded and powerful. Kent's descriptions of the environment and the weather are stunning.Kent shifts between 3rd person and 1st person as Agnes herself. Although she uses third person, the narrator is not omniscient. She allows one to read into the characters rather then telling you exactly what they think and feel. It's such a generous and tender process getting to know the characters this way. It takes time and allowed me to warm to them and feel the bonds naturally instead of being told how to feel.Agnes' story, from her first person point of view, unwinds slowly and delicately. We learn about her past and hear her inner thoughts which are those of any strong, independent woman who has had to fend for herself. The theme of what people see and think of a person vs what that person knows themself to be is strong throughout and appealed to me greatly (as I'm sure most of my friends would understand).While based on a true case of a double murder, Burial Rites is a fictionalised account of Agnes' experience. But Kent gives an account that is so believeable, so dependent on the complexities of life and relationships, that it feels true to its core.Fair to say, I was struck by this book and I'd strongly recommend it.

Based in 1829 Iceland, Agnes has been sentenced to death, for her part in the brutal murders of two men.Whilst awaiting the day of her beheading, Agnes is kept in custody at a local farm belonging to a district officer Jón Jónsson, his wife and their two daughters. They are horrified to have to keep a murderer in their home for what could be weeks or even months.Agnes has an assistant priest who has been charged with helping Agnes return to God after she is executed. As time passes, we learn more about Agnes’ story. Her childhood, her life and what happened in the lead up to the murder.This book is brilliant. It is extremely character based so can feel slow-moving, especially if you like very action-based books. The descriptive on the landscape of Iceland is phenomenal and the country itself is almost like a character in itself.Even though this book is so very character-led, the story is fantastic too. So very moving and surprising in a way I didn’t expect.I found that after reading this book, it really haunted me. In my dreams I was reading the book, in other dreams characters from the book made appearances and one night, as I was waking from my dream and still half asleep, I was aware of a movement in my room and felt someone walking past me and I believed it was Agnes. Of course, when I awoke fully there was no one there but to say this book left an impression on me is an understatement.Interestingly, Burial Rites is a fictional story based on true events. Agnes Magnúsdóttir was the last person to be executed in Iceland. The author spent a lot of time researching her story, both through traditional routes and more personal ones to undercover who the real Agnes may have been.

I’d heard about this novel on a book recommendations Facebook page and then had a colleague mention it to me as well as I was about to jet off on honeymoon to Iceland, where the story is set.It’s based on a real life crime in the early 1800s where three people in Iceland were convicted of murder and sent to live with different families whilst awaiting their fate: death by beheading. This crime has apparently been written about before but all the previous tellings painted Agnes, the main character in Burial Rites, as pure evil. Kent wanted to show a more balanced possibility and add some humanity to the character in her fictionalised account of Agnes’s months with the family tasked with keeping her a prisoner until her execution.This was really well written and the characters were very believable. Kent has given them depth and the slow revelation of aspects of the story through the use of interspersed flashback worked really well for me. I’d definitely recommend it to others, even if you’re not usually into historical/period novels (which I’m not!)

Absolutely loved this book. Yes it's dark, yes it's not uplifting or happy or heart-warming. It's about a woman sentenced to death for murder in Iceland.What it is is beautiful, captivating, immersive and intriguing. Kent's writing style pulls you in and holds you there to the point where her description of the wild Icelandic landscape will leave you feeling chilly. Protagonist Agnes is a hard nut to crack, but as her story absorbs you more and more it's easy to forget why she is in the position she's in...Look forward to reading more from this author. A wonderful debut.

In 1828 in rural Iceland, three people are convicted of murdering two others. As Agnes Magnusdottir waits to be executed, she is given into the reluctant care of a faing family until sentence can be carried out. A young assistant minister is assigned as her spiritual mentor.Based on real events and much research, the novel paints a vivid picture of a farming community in Iceland in 1828. Work is hard, unremitting, and at the mercy of the northern climate. Social strictures can be as unforgiving as the long, dark winters, with a casual cruelty that is too often disguised as religious respectability. Farms may be isolated but privacy is hard to come by with families and visitors sharing the communal living and sleeping space of the badstofa.In this land of sagas, the stories people tell about others are not always true to actual life. The stories surrounding Agnes slowly unfold in third person supplemented with extracts from documents of the time. Agnes intersperses her thoughts in first person and her reflections add a depth of feeling and understanding to the narrative.The story is definitely not 'feel-good’, but I would not describe it as miserable; fate may be cruel but humans can, and do, learn kindness. And the evocative writing is a pleasure to read, conjuring with almost physical intensity the sounds, smells, colours and textures of life at close quarters in this beautiful, harsh landscape. I found myself pulling an extra duvet over me, I was so convinced by the depiction of the cold.If you don’t already know the end and want to keep the suspense, then don’t look up the actual case until after you’ve read it. Hannah Kent weaves an engrossing story of how it might have been.