Our Norwegian Roots: The Tolleiv (Tom) and Maria (Marie) Haakonson Story

A fabulous account of family history, combined with interesting and engaging facts about the culture and history of the people of Norway. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. What I loved most about it was that, even though genealogy is ultimately most interesting to those who form part of the family and extended family, the historical facts and the personal stories from within the family enabled me to feel engaged and also entertained. I laughed at the antics of intoxicated forebears, I felt sadness for those who died at birth or never got to live full lives, I was deeply touched by the story of Ole, and it was in this chapter that I actually shed some tears. Any book that can bring tears to an unbiased reader offers the gift of human experience and touching on the ‘human condition’ shared by all of us, whether related by blood or not. This opens nicely into one of the strongest points of this book for me, and that was the depth of exploration into the psychology of many of the characters who appear within these pages. The way the personal history of each person was explored and linked to the people they became, psychologically, emotionally, and behaviorally really pulled me into the book and kept me thinking and engaged. I also loved that there were contributions from different members of the family—memories, memorials, songs and artworks. This truly is a rich trove of contributions from a large, creative, and colorful family! Read more