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A review by rachelwilbury
Scandinavians: In Search of the Soul of the North by Robert Ferguson
2.0
Interesting information, horrible book. Chapters weave ideas together and Ferguson doesn't connect the dots. Too much of it is extraneous detail about what he was drinking and what the bar he was in looked like when some alcoholic friend of his told him a long, detailed (almost encyclopedic!) story about some Scandinavian figure from years gone by.
When I got to the middle of the book and there was a PLAY, I was disgusted. It felt like the final straw in a book that was already darting wildly around. But it actually turned out to be one of the better parts.
Most frustrating: the book is very male-centric, and the portrayals of women are flat. His partiality for Norway, especially over Sweden, is thinly veiled. Very difficult to get through.
When I got to the middle of the book and there was a PLAY, I was disgusted. It felt like the final straw in a book that was already darting wildly around. But it actually turned out to be one of the better parts.
Most frustrating: the book is very male-centric, and the portrayals of women are flat. His partiality for Norway, especially over Sweden, is thinly veiled. Very difficult to get through.