'The Year of Living Danishly' by Helen Russell

Another book I would never have picked up had I not been a member of a reading group. This is non-fiction and is a light-hearted account of a year in the author's life that was spent living in provincial Denmark when her husband got a job working there with Lego.

It proceeds month by month through the seasons, dealing in a bewildered-comic kind of way with expatriate culture-shock.

Most of what she says about the Danes is pretty positive, but there is a lot that is not so flattering too, and while it is reasonably entertaining to read, I was not too sure how wholly accurate a portrayal it really was. I think a fair amount of comic license creeps in, but as I have never been to Denmark, I may be being unfair here.

The other observation I think it is worth mentioning is that Helen Russell was moving from a very urban existence in London to a much more rural / small town one in Denmark. I suspect that she might have encountered similar culture shock had she moved to live down here in Devon and had her husband got himself a job at the University of Exeter where I work. A lot of what she writes about a supposed uniquely Danish business and lifestyle culture actually all seemed pretty familiar to me. Living Devonishly is not so different from living Danishly quite frankly - although with fewer orgies (at least in my experience).

I also found her description of a typical Danish Christmas to be almost identical to those I have experienced all my life in the UK. So, on balance, I enjoyed this.

I found a bit too much reliance being placed on news stories and opinion polls at times to make serious points about Denmark. Some underpinning of the story with more robust research could have made this a book that educated me further while also being just as entertaining.