The Trouble with Happiness

The Trouble with Happiness: And Other Stories | Tove Ditlevsen

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A wonderful collection of short stories first published in Danish in the 1950s portraying ordinary events of everyday life in a disturbingly realistic light and dealing with transgenerational perpetuation of failed marriage trauma, mother-child intimacy inaccessible to men, the illusion of love and happiness.
Despair seems to haunt most of the characters, while small details trigger an avalanche of familiar and terribly intense emotions.

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she.hearts.horror

The Trouble with Happiness: And Other Stories | Tove Ditlevsen

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merelybookish

The Trouble with Happiness: And Other Stories | Tove Ditlevsen

Library holds keep coming in, and it's stressing me out. š¬

Chelsea.Poole I can relate! š¬ it‘s a good problem to have though! š 3y

sarahbarnes I feel like it‘s a full time job to manage my library holds list these days! š¬ 3y

Leftcoastzen Seems like they all come at once sometimes.š™„ 3y

See All 16 Comments

LeahBergen I‘ll keep an eye out for your thoughts on the Monica Ali. I loved Brick Lane. š‘¨ 3y

Bookwormjillk Oh my gosh, same. I need a month off to get my library hold manageable again. 3y

marleed Same here. I finally decided to give priority to my library holds and treat them as though they are sitting on my own physical shelves. I‘m realizing books published in the spring of the year call to me, and maybe I should just enjoy what the library presents to me! 3y

marleed @Bookwormjillk I‘ve been prioritizing my library holds this whole month, but I‘m still juggling 16 holds with more to come. It really is a good problem - why couldn‘t all my problems be like this!? And why do I bother paying for television services because my library has all my attention! 3y

merelybookish @Chelsea.Poole Definitely not the worst problem. š™‚ 3y

merelybookish @sarahbarnes @Bookwormjillk So true! It's a lot of effort to keep on top of what you reserved. And why! Sometimes I forget why I reserved a book in the first place. š¤¦ 3y

merelybookish @Leftcoastzen Feast or famine. 3y

merelybookish @marleed That's s good approach! I have also started to borrow several at once because...who knows what one will strike my fancy! 3y

merelybookish @Leftcoastzen Two more just became available today. š¬ 3y

merelybookish @LeahBergen I loved Brick Lane too and this one seems to be getting good reviews. 3y

Bookwormjillk @merelybookish haha yeah. And then I ask people did you tell me to read this? 3y

Leftcoastzen š±š 3y

Centique Oh I know what you mean! Also I loved Brick Lane too so interested on your thoughts on her new one 3y

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merelybookish

The Trouble with Happiness: And Other Stories | Tove Ditlevsen

Next up! I've loved her nonfiction and poetry, so excited to read some of her fiction. Opening sentence of 1st story bodes well: "Helga had always, unreasonably, expected more from life than it could deliver."

ManyWordsLater Is this the same woman on the cover as the Daisy Johnson book?