Helen Russell (1)

One British woman moves to Denmark for a year when her husband is hired by LEGO and she researches their claim to be the happiest nation on earth. She delves into a fascinating mix of unemployment rates, government provided childcare and maternity leave, a nationwide month-long holiday, shorter work days, more hobbies, alcohol, and rules, holiday traditions, and trust. I appreciated her skepticism and research and each of the claims as she uncovered “the Danish way” and revealed a whole show more different culture than what I am accustomed to. It was written with such wit and humor and is such a fun read.

“It’s as though the trust allows the welfare state to exist and not the other way around Danes accept that they must pay high taxes because they trust that the government will use their money wisely and do the right thing.”

“It is a truth universally acknowledged that being told to relax makes the action itself impossible.”

“Yes, even wishes have rules in Denmark.”

“But once I got the role I’ve been striving towards, I realized I wasn’t actually any happier – just busier.”

“One of the benefits of being a journalist is that I get to be nosy for a living.” show less

Helen Russell is a London-based journalist working long hours to further her career, but finding herself feeling more stressed than satisfied. When her husband is offered a job working for a Danish company, they decide to take a leap into the unknown for a year and see how it works out. Helen turns to freelance journalism focused largely on Danish culture and lifestyle, seeking to understand what is behind the studies showing Danes to be the happiest people on earth. Each chapter of this show more memoir looks at one aspect of Danish living, from home life and weather to government, from traditions and food to gender roles and parenting. The insights to Danish culture and happiness are interesting and thought-provoking.

In parallel to her cultural analysis, Russell candidly shares their immigrant/expat experience, which goes well beyond the obvious language issues to very real differences in mindset and social norms which are not obvious and can easily be violated. Russell’s writing style is breezy, with plenty of humor even when writing about hard times. It’s clear the experience changed Russell and her husband for the better, and the book ends on a positive and hopeful note. show less

8 years ago, I was working in the American office of a Danish company, waiting for the paperwork to go through on my transfer to Denmark, when I met my (now) husband and ended up moving to Australia instead. I have a fair few friends there in Denmark and that decision was the sliding doors moment of my life in very significant ways. No regrets, just a nagging suspicion that I'd like living in Europe a lot.

Dashing through the bookstore the other day (I was playing roulette with the parking show more meter) this book caught my eye from the bottom shelf of the recessed nook it was relegated to and I snatched it up - this might be a great way of finding out what it might have been like for me (from a cultural perspective) had I continued on through door #1.

The book is told from the perspective of a UK journalist who agreed to move to Denmark for one year so her husband could take a job with Lego and is split into 13 chapters, one for each month and one for Christmas. Knowing nothing about the culture or the language, they transplant themselves to the wilds of Jutland (Billund, to be exact - I'd have lived in Aalborg, about 2 hours north) and the author decides to view the whole thing as an experiment: could living "Danishly" help her find a more centered, balanced, and less stressful lifestyle? Help her re-arrange her priorities?

A funny, sometimes laugh-out-loud read that includes a deceptive amount of research and statistics - I enjoyed the whole thing. It's longer than one might expect from a humorous memoir, but it's never boring. Overall, the author is fair, relying on stats to make her comparisons, although she often makes Denmark sound rather cultish, with her numerous references to "The Danish Way" and there's a touch or two of demonising the good old USA but I'm coming to expect that anyway, and there's a lot less of it than there could be.

Entertaining and informative, at the end, I was left with the certainty that I could live there (they "overheat" their houses, so I'd actually stand a chance of being comfortable!) but I'd struggle with their level of faith and trust in their government (it's not wrong!, just dramatically different than the "challenge everything" ethos I was raised with). But then again, I'd have 5 weeks of paid holiday to get over it... show less

I just can't recommend this one. I was looking for a cultural review of the concept of happiness, and instead got a bunch of unsubstantiated stereotypes. There are some cute anecdotes? Continuing to portray Bhutan as happy in tandem with their massive ethic cleansing is a no-go. That's just one example- other reviewers have pointed out harmful and inaccurate narratives in other sections of the book.