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A review by erinnbatykefer
The Book of Hygge: The Danish Art of Contentment, Comfort, and Connection by Louisa Thomsen Brits
3.0
This little book was frustrating. I understand that Brits was approaching the subject of hygge from a cultural perspective, attempting to distill tightly woven threads of tradition, landscape, aesthetics, self-care, language, etc, but her articulation of subtleties felt more like repetition. It's obvious that she has a deep understanding of the concept, and since she great up between a Danish family and an English one, she might be the perfect person to expiate one people's customs in the language of the other. But ultimately, I felt like she was consistently grasping at the space between what she said and the concept.
The experience of reading was repetitious at best. I think perhaps a more effective approach would be to share practical examples and then do some poetic work to explain the resulting feeling-- for people and groups-- from the "space" created by various hyggelig objects and environments. This book seems to prove that the only truly effective way to articulate something ineffable is to share the experience.
The experience of reading was repetitious at best. I think perhaps a more effective approach would be to share practical examples and then do some poetic work to explain the resulting feeling-- for people and groups-- from the "space" created by various hyggelig objects and environments. This book seems to prove that the only truly effective way to articulate something ineffable is to share the experience.