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harrietannreads's review against another edition
5.0
Me rating a short story collection 5 stars!? What is happening in this world?
myyearofreadingandrelaxation's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
terranovanz's review
3.0
I find it hard to review The Trouble with Happiness because it's so freaking depressing. Parents hate their kids, children resent the parents. Husbands cheat, women are pathetic. I suppose perhaps this is real life, but god, I don't want to read about it.
That being said, it is sharply written, evocative, quite beautiful and at points I even found myself empathising with the characters.
Don't read if you're at all depressed.
That being said, it is sharply written, evocative, quite beautiful and at points I even found myself empathising with the characters.
Don't read if you're at all depressed.
e_z's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.0
So cutting, but lots of very short stories that are completely depressing. Very put down-able.
hannepuype's review against another edition
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
harryhas29's review
The Trouble with Happiness is that it appears to have only been legalized in Denmark sometime in the 1980s, long after these stories were written
kybrz's review
2.0
So very dreary and sad. The moroseness and casual cruelty of domesticity present in every story was just a bit too much for my taste.
sundays7child's review
5.0
Het eerste verhaal begin gelijk al zo goed ik zou iedereen aanraden om “umbrella” te lezen.
Dit is een van de weinige collecties waarin er geen verhaal zit dat ik niet goed vind. Ze hebben allemaal een duidelijk thema en het geheel maakt dat ik er geen een had willen missen.
Het is wel een boek waar je je tijd mee moet nemen. Uiteindelijk kwam ik aan het einde van ieder verhaal tot dezelfde conclusie.
Alles gaat over alledaagse problemen waar vrouwen mee te maken hebben. Als je alles achter elkaar leest voelt het misschien als overkill terwijl alle characters een verhaal hebben wat er toe doet.
Dit is een van de weinige collecties waarin er geen verhaal zit dat ik niet goed vind. Ze hebben allemaal een duidelijk thema en het geheel maakt dat ik er geen een had willen missen.
Het is wel een boek waar je je tijd mee moet nemen. Uiteindelijk kwam ik aan het einde van ieder verhaal tot dezelfde conclusie.
Alles gaat over alledaagse problemen waar vrouwen mee te maken hebben. Als je alles achter elkaar leest voelt het misschien als overkill terwijl alle characters een verhaal hebben wat er toe doet.
hetauuu's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 stars
The Trouble With Happiness is a combination of two short story collections Ditlevsen originally released in the 50s and 60s. Translated and compilated together in English, this short story collection truly lives up to the name of short story collection - I think there is maybe one story in here that is longer than 10 pages. These stories are very compact, short slices of life set mainly in mid-century Copenhagen, and the vast majority of these stories center the lived experiences of women.
I found this short story collection to be solid, but nothing really stood out for me here. In fairness, nothing stood out to me negatively either. I think the stories here do not necessarily provide anything new to the table if you look at them from the context of the current day, but in the 50s and 60s, writing so openly about women's roles and positions in society, delving into themes such as divorce and abortion, was certainly a much more impressive and scandalous thing to do than nowadays. For that reason, I think these stories need to be appreciated, because it's women like Ditlevsen whose bravery in writing about taboo topics and womanhood has paved the way for the literary landscape of feminist fiction in the 21st century.
While no story amazed me the way a truly brilliant short story often does, I still truly appreciated reading about the experiences of women in a time and place that seems both distant and near. These stories were written and published sixty to seventy years ago, which seems like a long time, but in the grand scheme of things, it is a short time. The way that issues of domestic servitude, lower wages, bodily autonomy and domestic violence persist in today's society goes to show that for equality, sixty to seventy years is a blink of an eye.
I know many people rave about Ditlevsen's Copenhagen trilogy, and The Trouble With Happiness definitely piqued my interest to read those books.
The Trouble With Happiness is a combination of two short story collections Ditlevsen originally released in the 50s and 60s. Translated and compilated together in English, this short story collection truly lives up to the name of short story collection - I think there is maybe one story in here that is longer than 10 pages. These stories are very compact, short slices of life set mainly in mid-century Copenhagen, and the vast majority of these stories center the lived experiences of women.
I found this short story collection to be solid, but nothing really stood out for me here. In fairness, nothing stood out to me negatively either. I think the stories here do not necessarily provide anything new to the table if you look at them from the context of the current day, but in the 50s and 60s, writing so openly about women's roles and positions in society, delving into themes such as divorce and abortion, was certainly a much more impressive and scandalous thing to do than nowadays. For that reason, I think these stories need to be appreciated, because it's women like Ditlevsen whose bravery in writing about taboo topics and womanhood has paved the way for the literary landscape of feminist fiction in the 21st century.
While no story amazed me the way a truly brilliant short story often does, I still truly appreciated reading about the experiences of women in a time and place that seems both distant and near. These stories were written and published sixty to seventy years ago, which seems like a long time, but in the grand scheme of things, it is a short time. The way that issues of domestic servitude, lower wages, bodily autonomy and domestic violence persist in today's society goes to show that for equality, sixty to seventy years is a blink of an eye.
I know many people rave about Ditlevsen's Copenhagen trilogy, and The Trouble With Happiness definitely piqued my interest to read those books.