I paid all my debts: A Norwegian-American Immigrant Saga of Life on the Prairie of North Dakota Perfect Paperback – September 22, 2009

With North Dakota pretty much branded as "flyover country", even among its neighboring states so often lumped into the same category by the "more sophisticated" residents of the East and West coasts, this was an eye-opening read. I hesitated before ordering the book, fearing it might end up a disjointed memoir of a struggling North Dakota family fresh off the boat from Norway. I wasn't far off the mark as far as the book's talking points: hardship, strife, success, failure, birth, death, infinity. But come on, we're talking about North Dakota, the families who settled it, and those who have survived and remain there. This book examines a culture that has withstood everything Mother Nature has hurled in its residents' paths. Politics, economics, education, science, society...they're all covered, and they're all intertwined. Ultimately, this is a story of determination. Do they all live happily ever after? Of course not. One might say the story is still unfolding. I have roots in North Dakota. My dad was raised there, but after World War Two ended he would up in the state of Washington. Like many North Dakotans, he said it was a good place to be from. Though my family was German-American, the tracings of the Svendsbye family of Norwegian descent echo many of the chapters from my dad's early days in North Dakota. I'm glad I read it.

There is enormous distance entailed in moving from Europe to America. There is even greater distance traveled from the beginning of the 20th century to today. The certainty is that those who make such a transition will encounter strangeness and trouble while it occurs. The Svendsbye family makes the (real) journey with unmistakable dignity and integrity that give courage and hope to those who follow them on their own journeys of change.

I bought this book because my ancestors also lived in N Dakota and had immigrated there from Norway. Mine settled on the east side of N. Dakota. Reading it was like listening to my dad telling his story. Alot alike. Was a very interesting book. Hard to believe the hardships they faced, but my dad said there was alot of hunger and bad growing land. Good book for anybody w/ Norwegian ancestry.

very refreshing to read this immigrant from norway-worked so hard to pay back what he owed is a lesson to all of us i think and i enjoyed this book. his son wrote it and i applaud his efforts.

I am very interested in this subject area and really wanted to like this book, being a descendant of Norwegian-American immigrants and having grown up in North Dakota. I started reading this book with great expectations. But after laboriously working my way through the first few chapters, I just could not convince myself to continue with it. I even had my wife look at it to see if it was just me, but she had the same problem. Lots of facts and information, but not told in a way that made it at all easy to read. I was disappointed.

A good review of Norwegian settlers.

So good!!! I used google to read more about the author and really enjoying learning about his contribution to society.

I was very disappointed in this book. It was not a story, first hand of the struggles of immigrates, it was more of a detailed genealogy of these families. It would be interesting if you were a relative, but otherwise it was boring to read. I finally gave up because it was more and more the same thing.