The Year of Living Danishly
My Twelve Months Unearthing the Secrets of the World's Happiest Country
Ratings14
Average rating3.9
15
My Twelve Months Unearthing the Secrets of the World's Happiest Country
Ratings14
Average rating3.9
When she was suddenly given the opportunity of a new life in rural Jutland, journalist and archetypal Londoner Helen Russell discovered a startling statistic: the happiest place on earth isn't Disneyland, but Denmark, a land often thought of by foreigners as consisting entirely of long dark winters, cured herring, Lego and pastries. What is the secret to their success? Are happy Danes born, or made? Helen decides there is only one way to find out: she will give herself a year, trying to uncover the formula for Danish happiness. From childcare, education, food and interior design to SAD, taxes, sexism and an unfortunate predilection for burning witches, The Year of Living Danishly is a funny, poignant record of a journey that shows us where the Danes get it right, where they get it wrong, and how we might just benefit from living a little more Danishly ourselves.
Reviews with the most likes.
The Year of Living Danishly is a memoir of Helen Russell's move to Denmark for a year. Russell used the year to take a close look at why Danish people report themselves to be the happiest people in the world. I am happy to have learned more about happiness from this book.
This book is really funny and filled with dry British humour, it made me laugh out loud many times. It could be because in some sense, it's similar to Sweden, a country I've lived previously. Being married to a Swede and living in the UK, it was easy to relate to it to a certain degree. Having said that, it appears that Danes are so much more free and in a certain way, they seem to have an attitude of “as long as you're happy, anything is allowed”. That part of their life, I did not enjoy, nor reading about how free they are to express themselves sexually. Therefore, I would not recommend the book as there is almost a whole chapter talking about that. If you really want to read the book, go ahead but it's not worth spending the time unless you are actually listening to the book so you can actually do something else in the meantime. Also, the last few sentences of the book summarise the whole book pretty well.
A surprising little nugget of awesome.
Ok, I'm impressed with this book for many reasons. The author was relateable and her situation was epathtically lamentable. In the end, this is upper-class writing.
As non-fiction goes, an author's voice is often dull and mechanical, unless you are Helen Russell. She was witty, glib, and completely normal from start to finish. As I do, she assigned nicknames to most of those she interacted with. Examples include “Judgy Face” or “Lego Man.”
Her research was neither tediously academic nor jeuvenile. The majority of her research is based on interviews, jotted notes, and humerous internal monologue.
From start to finish the reader loves the story woven around her main goal to identify what makes Danes so happy. The project is broken up into 12 months, with each month ending in a summary of her findings. The best of her observations, interviews, and internet research are highlighted throughout. The reader stands to learn more about rural Danish life and tradition than you thought possible. Certainly more than you previously thought interesting.
In summary, well done Helen. Please write more so I can read all of your work.
