A review by jadeyen
The Copenhagen Trilogy: Childhood; Youth; Dependency by Tove Ditlevsen

dark emotional reflective fast-paced

4.25

A rich and complex story that also feels so rooted in a familiar reality. Tove bares her whole messy beautiful person-vulnerabilities, weaknesses, loves, warts and all in these stories and also paints a rounder picture of a Copenhagen that seems on the surface different from the one of 2024’s cool girl social safety net hygge design, but also very accessibly has “modern” touches (hard to think the context is a century ago) that you can trace the through-lines of modern Denmark to. The book makes more sense as a triptych of complete novellas, as something slightly lacks some fluency between them, but she has an incredible knack for explaining complex things so matter of factly it feels like we’re there with her- through loves and loves lost, through rich and poor, sickness and health, luck and downfall.