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The Trouble with Happiness: And Other Stories
The Trouble with Happiness is a powerful new collection of short stories by Tove Ditlevsen, a terrifying talent (Parul Sehgal, New York Times).
A newly married woman longs, irrationally, for a silk umbrella; a husband chases away his wife's beloved cat; a betrayed mother impulsively sacks her housekeeper. Underneath the surface of these precisely observed tales of marriage and family life in mid-century Copenhagen pulse currents of desire, violence, and despair, as women and men struggle to escape from the roles assigned to them and dream of becoming free and happy--without ever truly understanding what that might mean.
Tove Ditlevsen is one of Denmark's most famous and beloved writers, and her autobiographical Copenhagen Trilogy was hailed as a masterpiece on re-publication in English, lauded for its wry humor, limpid prose, and powerful honesty. The poignant and understated stories in The Trouble with Happiness, written in the 1950s and 1960s and never before translated into English, offer readers a new chance to encounter the quietly devastating work of this essential twentieth-century writer.
A newly married woman longs, irrationally, for a silk umbrella; a husband chases away his wife's beloved cat; a betrayed mother impulsively sacks her housekeeper. Underneath the surface of these precisely observed tales of marriage and family life in mid-century Copenhagen pulse currents of desire, violence, and despair, as women and men struggle to escape from the roles assigned to them and dream of becoming free and happy--without ever truly understanding what that might mean.
Tove Ditlevsen is one of Denmark's most famous and beloved writers, and her autobiographical Copenhagen Trilogy was hailed as a masterpiece on re-publication in English, lauded for its wry humor, limpid prose, and powerful honesty. The poignant and understated stories in The Trouble with Happiness, written in the 1950s and 1960s and never before translated into English, offer readers a new chance to encounter the quietly devastating work of this essential twentieth-century writer.
192 pages, Hardcover
First published March 3, 2022
236 people are currently reading
8000 people want to read
About the author
Tove Ditlevsen
111books964followersTove Ditlevsen var en dansk forfatter, som hentede inspiration i sit eget liv som kvinde. I sin digtning og som yndet brevkasseredaktør i Familie Journalen udfoldede hun en dyb psykologisk indsigt i moderne kvinders splittede liv. Hendes evne til at udtrykke sammensatte følelser i et enkelt og smukt sprog fik betydning for flere generationer af læsere.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 309 reviews
February 22, 2022
Celebrated Danish writer, Tove Ditlevsen was known for mining her own life to fuel her creative work, from her novels to her poetry, and these newly-translated stories are no exception. This edition brings together her pieces from The Umbrella first published in 1952 and The Trouble with Happiness from 1963. They’re difficult to read, not because the style’s particularly challenging, but because her outlook’s so unrelentingly, convincingly, bleak. There’s an overwhelming sense of desolation running right through these: all focused on scenes and episodes from domestic life, families, parents and children enmeshed in forms of everyday, emotional destruction. Ditlevsen’s fascination with the minutiae of people’s relationships, and women’s inner worlds, made her popular with female readers but led to her dismissal by many of the prominent male critics of her time, not surprising I suppose, since men are by far the most dangerous creatures represented here: fathers who fantasize about emotionally tormenting their children; men who delight in casual cruelty or who blithely abandon their wives, mistresses or children to poverty and deprivation.
Ditlevsen’s ability to convey the full horrors of what it is to be isolated and disillusioned matches that of Jean Rhys’s, while her more abstract later stories, like The Method, resembled aspects of Anna Kavan’s troubled perspective. Ditlevsen’s prose’s remarkably disciplined, her style often understated, predominantly lucid, and her imagery’s sometimes marvellously vivid - even in the more sketch-like entries such as A Nice Boy one of a handful told from a child’s perspective, a beautifully-realised depiction of alienation and anxiety. Ditlevsen’s characters seem to fall into two camps the oppressed or the oppressive, people grappling with moments of realisation, confronted with their basest desires or slowly resigning themselves to the harsh realities of their suffocating existence. These are stories of petty tyranny, sudden betrayals, deceit, thwarted longings, and loss of love, all meticulously observed. Most are grounded in working-class Danish society or in middle-class families in crisis, reflecting Ditlevsen’s own background, although her occasional forays into exploring wealthier families show acute loneliness as present in all walks of life. There are entries that are a little slight, and others that overlap with each other too much and would’ve benefited from further editing, but these are essentially quibbles, overall, I thought this was an extremely impressive collection, although possibly best dipped into, than read straight through. Translated from the Danish by Michael Favala Goldman.
Thanks to Netgalley and publisher Penguin Classics for an ARC
Ditlevsen’s ability to convey the full horrors of what it is to be isolated and disillusioned matches that of Jean Rhys’s, while her more abstract later stories, like The Method, resembled aspects of Anna Kavan’s troubled perspective. Ditlevsen’s prose’s remarkably disciplined, her style often understated, predominantly lucid, and her imagery’s sometimes marvellously vivid - even in the more sketch-like entries such as A Nice Boy one of a handful told from a child’s perspective, a beautifully-realised depiction of alienation and anxiety. Ditlevsen’s characters seem to fall into two camps the oppressed or the oppressive, people grappling with moments of realisation, confronted with their basest desires or slowly resigning themselves to the harsh realities of their suffocating existence. These are stories of petty tyranny, sudden betrayals, deceit, thwarted longings, and loss of love, all meticulously observed. Most are grounded in working-class Danish society or in middle-class families in crisis, reflecting Ditlevsen’s own background, although her occasional forays into exploring wealthier families show acute loneliness as present in all walks of life. There are entries that are a little slight, and others that overlap with each other too much and would’ve benefited from further editing, but these are essentially quibbles, overall, I thought this was an extremely impressive collection, although possibly best dipped into, than read straight through. Translated from the Danish by Michael Favala Goldman.
Thanks to Netgalley and publisher Penguin Classics for an ARC
February 22, 2022
These modernist short stories have a melancholic, even depressive, air, shifting between domestic settings and a more figurative level where an umbrella, for example, becomes a stand-in for longed for desires.
I didn't always find it easy to enter the stories: something about the style or possibly the translation left me feeling like an observer rather than being on the inside of the tales - but that's personal preference, and these might speak more to other readers - I found them rather cold, I'm afraid.
Thanks to Penguin for an ARC via NetGalley
I didn't always find it easy to enter the stories: something about the style or possibly the translation left me feeling like an observer rather than being on the inside of the tales - but that's personal preference, and these might speak more to other readers - I found them rather cold, I'm afraid.
Thanks to Penguin for an ARC via NetGalley
January 12, 2025
For all the struggling women out there even though we are not starving or begging or beaten or abused and everyone else thinks we have to be alive and be quiet and beautiful. Yes, we all struggle with life. Our conditions are just different as portrayed in these twenty short stories.
If you're not an adult, like an adult who hasn't faced midlife crisis or know anyone any of these characters reflects, this book is not for you. No hard feelings but the collection will make you feel tired.
And for the adults who knows what these characters feel, I don't think you won't find any other story collection as accurate as this.
I have come to realise now that no matter what we women struggle with the same things everywhere on this planet.
If you're not an adult, like an adult who hasn't faced midlife crisis or know anyone any of these characters reflects, this book is not for you. No hard feelings but the collection will make you feel tired.
And for the adults who knows what these characters feel, I don't think you won't find any other story collection as accurate as this.
I have come to realise now that no matter what we women struggle with the same things everywhere on this planet.
April 13, 2022
The first and last stories in this collection felt the most autobiographical, having read Ditlevsen's well loved (and rightfully so) Copenhagen Trilogy. Interestingly, those were two of my favorite stories in the collection as well.
Across these 21 short stories, translated from the Danish by Michael Favala Goldman, Ditlevsen explores the interiority of family life, particularly its more dark and secretive parts. But these aren't necessarily salacious or gossipy family stories. They often follow individuals hoarding secrets or struggling with anxiety around a particular scenario. And none of the characters seem to feel any kinship, with friends or family, in order to express their struggles and properly deal with them. Instead, they stew in their unhappiness and often leave their problems unresolved by the end of the story.
I enjoyed the stark prose and immediacy of Ditlevsen's writing. The stories are accessible, engaging and tell a short tale while often leaving things open-ended or not neatly concluded. However, I found many of them to feel very similar, that by the midway point of the collection, and having now finished it, many of them feel indistinguishable from one another.
I prefer my short stories to either have a bit more length to them (some of these are only 3-4 pages long, while the longest is about 14-15) or to be more varied in tone and theme, to give me more to examine and appreciate. There's no doubt Ditlevsen is a consistent writer, but reading a collection like this over the course of a week or so revealed that her consistency yields a rather repetitive reading experience. Perhaps other readers should spread their reading of these stories out over time, though I don't feel each story has enough meat to warrant chewing on it for very long.
Across these 21 short stories, translated from the Danish by Michael Favala Goldman, Ditlevsen explores the interiority of family life, particularly its more dark and secretive parts. But these aren't necessarily salacious or gossipy family stories. They often follow individuals hoarding secrets or struggling with anxiety around a particular scenario. And none of the characters seem to feel any kinship, with friends or family, in order to express their struggles and properly deal with them. Instead, they stew in their unhappiness and often leave their problems unresolved by the end of the story.
I enjoyed the stark prose and immediacy of Ditlevsen's writing. The stories are accessible, engaging and tell a short tale while often leaving things open-ended or not neatly concluded. However, I found many of them to feel very similar, that by the midway point of the collection, and having now finished it, many of them feel indistinguishable from one another.
I prefer my short stories to either have a bit more length to them (some of these are only 3-4 pages long, while the longest is about 14-15) or to be more varied in tone and theme, to give me more to examine and appreciate. There's no doubt Ditlevsen is a consistent writer, but reading a collection like this over the course of a week or so revealed that her consistency yields a rather repetitive reading experience. Perhaps other readers should spread their reading of these stories out over time, though I don't feel each story has enough meat to warrant chewing on it for very long.
February 15, 2023
A solemn collection of dashed dreams and words left unsaid. Each story, filled with sorrow and drawn from Ditlevsen’s own memories, the Trouble with Happiness is a prism of despair and the longing to escape the confines of domestic life and sparkles marriages. This collection is the haunting echo of fingertips against a window, looking out at the traces of another life.
May 14, 2022
Tove said: Men - TRASH; Domesticity - OVER; Marriage - A TRAP; Parenthood - CANCELLED.
Bleak! And a great companion to The Copenhagen Trilogy for some third-person counterbalancing. The stories do tend to blend together, but it works in the sense that Ditlevsen was preoccupied with the mundanity of everyday existence, and her stories reflect her struggles.
Read if you like your stories to end with a person staring out of a window, full of longing.
Bleak! And a great companion to The Copenhagen Trilogy for some third-person counterbalancing. The stories do tend to blend together, but it works in the sense that Ditlevsen was preoccupied with the mundanity of everyday existence, and her stories reflect her struggles.
Read if you like your stories to end with a person staring out of a window, full of longing.
October 19, 2022
This didn’t beat me up and leave me broken and bruised in the way The Copenhagen Trilogy did. And it’s not this collection’s fault that I kept wishing that it had. It’s a solid short story collection that centers on family life and secrets, however after a while many of the stories felt almost indistinguishable from one another. There’s no doubt that Ditlevsen was a major talent, but this didn’t slap as hard as I would’ve liked.
December 12, 2022
4.5*
Tovė Ditlevsen neturi odos. Ji čia skausmingai išjaučia vienišumo, liūdesio ir beviltiškumo atspalvius.
Rinkinys susideda iš dviejų dalių. Pirma: The Umbrella (10 apsakymų) ir antra: The Trouble With Happiness (11 apsakymų). Man pasirodė antrosios dalies apsakymai labiau autobiografiški, o pakutinis - The Trouble With Happiness tai tiesiog feagmentas iš jos autobiografijos "Kopenhagos trilogija".
Kaip suprantu, Tovės didžiausias dėmesys krypsta į santykius šeimoje - tiek tarp sutuoktinių, tiek tarp vaikų ir tėvų. Stipriai jaučiasi troškimas išsilaisvinti per pabėgimą/pasitraukimą (visokiom prasmėm).
Labai jautru ir liūdna.
Tovė Ditlevsen neturi odos. Ji čia skausmingai išjaučia vienišumo, liūdesio ir beviltiškumo atspalvius.
Rinkinys susideda iš dviejų dalių. Pirma: The Umbrella (10 apsakymų) ir antra: The Trouble With Happiness (11 apsakymų). Man pasirodė antrosios dalies apsakymai labiau autobiografiški, o pakutinis - The Trouble With Happiness tai tiesiog feagmentas iš jos autobiografijos "Kopenhagos trilogija".
Kaip suprantu, Tovės didžiausias dėmesys krypsta į santykius šeimoje - tiek tarp sutuoktinių, tiek tarp vaikų ir tėvų. Stipriai jaučiasi troškimas išsilaisvinti per pabėgimą/pasitraukimą (visokiom prasmėm).
Labai jautru ir liūdna.
March 31, 2022
it's an exceptionally lonely and sad book.
September 6, 2023
Danimarkalı kadın yazar Tove Ditlevsen’in (1917-1978) 1952’de ve 1963’de yayınlanmış iki öykü kitabının İngilizce çevirilerini bu başlıkla tek bir kitap olarak basmış Penguin. Öykler çok güçlü, çok yoğun, ama çok da acı. İşlemeyen aileler, yanlış ve mutsuz evlilikler, aldatılan veya terkedilen eşler, sevgisiz ortamlarda büyüyen çocukların dramı, ekonomik sıkıntıların yarattığı güçlükler tüm öykülerin dokusuna sızmış diyebiliriz. Böylesine iç karartıcı öyküleri peş peşe okumak pek kolay değil. Ama burada yazarın gücü ortaya çıkıyor. Duygu sömürüsüne çok kolay dönüşebilecek bu temaları Ditlevsen zaman zaman Çehov’u andıran bir şekilde, belli bir mesafeyi koruyarak ustaca işliyor, tuzağa düşmüyor. Öykülerde otobiyografik öğeler de bolca kullanılmış. Bunu Ditlevsen’in zorlu hayat hikayesine biraz aşinaysanız veya Monokl’un dilimize kazandırdığı o müthiş otobiyografik üçlemesini (Çocukluk, Gençlik ve Bağımlılık) okuduysanız rahatlıkla anlayabiliyor, paralellikler kurabiliyorsunuz.
March 18, 2022
An unsettling collection of Scandi-domestic-noir short stories, mainly featuring unhappy women and unfeeling men. Husbands and wives are strangers to each other, homes are minefields, children are screwed up, happiness is always beyond reach.
The characters are often not named or described, and there’s little sense of time or place, and indeed little action - it’s mostly interiors and interiority. Despite this semblance of intimacy, the reader is kept at a distance by the sparse dispassionate style. Ditlevsen doesn’t try to elicit sympathy, and oddly enough the stories are more powerful for her matter-of-fact presentation. It’s like a film with no background music to indicate how you’re meant to feel - which can be a more raw and confronting experience than when you’re being played by a soundtrack.
I’ll be honest, I didn’t enjoy this volume to start with. I found it too cold, stark, nihilistic. The stories are very short so it’s easy to race through them, but the unrelenting unhappiness left me feeling even more sad and hopeless than usual. I found that the secret was only to read only two or three at a time, and slowly. Then I started to appreciate the nuance and the author’s craft much more, and was glad I did.
Like Katherine Mansfield’s stories (which I love) they are mood pieces, glimpses of lives, snapshots - ie not much action or plot, just relationships and feelings. I say ‘just� but relationships and feelings are the fabric of life after all, so why should a scene from, for instance, the life of a woman who tiptoes around her house for fear of waking her irritable / tyrannical husband who works nights be considered an insignificant subject? Once I’d adjusted to the micro narrative level and flat tone, I found these stories richer and very poignant.
And then the final story, ‘The trouble with happiness�... Entirely different from what’s gone before, so just when you’ve got used to the clinical descriptions of nameless sorrowful others, there’s a very personal first person narrative, a complete tonal shift charged with huge emotional power that took this reader completely by surprise. The same themes of alienation and loss, but also a young woman taking charge of her life, becoming independent, succeeding as a writer - a master-stroke. I immediately wanted to go back and read the preceding stories again in this new context.
I knew nothing about Tove Ditlevsen, but from a quick scan of wikipedia, she was a prolific author and poet, very popular in Denmark in her lifetime, and something of a feminist icon, at a time when feminism was about shining a light on what women endure under patriarchy, rather than the gender woo / be kind / help men feel better about themselves that we have today. Married four times, she was in and out of psychiatric hospitals as an adult, had alcohol and drug issues and committed suicide by overdose aged 58, none of which comes as a huge surprise.
Life can be lonely, empty and joyless - best make it into art (note to self).
ARC courtesy of Netgalley
The characters are often not named or described, and there’s little sense of time or place, and indeed little action - it’s mostly interiors and interiority. Despite this semblance of intimacy, the reader is kept at a distance by the sparse dispassionate style. Ditlevsen doesn’t try to elicit sympathy, and oddly enough the stories are more powerful for her matter-of-fact presentation. It’s like a film with no background music to indicate how you’re meant to feel - which can be a more raw and confronting experience than when you’re being played by a soundtrack.
I’ll be honest, I didn’t enjoy this volume to start with. I found it too cold, stark, nihilistic. The stories are very short so it’s easy to race through them, but the unrelenting unhappiness left me feeling even more sad and hopeless than usual. I found that the secret was only to read only two or three at a time, and slowly. Then I started to appreciate the nuance and the author’s craft much more, and was glad I did.
Like Katherine Mansfield’s stories (which I love) they are mood pieces, glimpses of lives, snapshots - ie not much action or plot, just relationships and feelings. I say ‘just� but relationships and feelings are the fabric of life after all, so why should a scene from, for instance, the life of a woman who tiptoes around her house for fear of waking her irritable / tyrannical husband who works nights be considered an insignificant subject? Once I’d adjusted to the micro narrative level and flat tone, I found these stories richer and very poignant.
And then the final story, ‘The trouble with happiness�... Entirely different from what’s gone before, so just when you’ve got used to the clinical descriptions of nameless sorrowful others, there’s a very personal first person narrative, a complete tonal shift charged with huge emotional power that took this reader completely by surprise. The same themes of alienation and loss, but also a young woman taking charge of her life, becoming independent, succeeding as a writer - a master-stroke. I immediately wanted to go back and read the preceding stories again in this new context.
I knew nothing about Tove Ditlevsen, but from a quick scan of wikipedia, she was a prolific author and poet, very popular in Denmark in her lifetime, and something of a feminist icon, at a time when feminism was about shining a light on what women endure under patriarchy, rather than the gender woo / be kind / help men feel better about themselves that we have today. Married four times, she was in and out of psychiatric hospitals as an adult, had alcohol and drug issues and committed suicide by overdose aged 58, none of which comes as a huge surprise.
Life can be lonely, empty and joyless - best make it into art (note to self).
ARC courtesy of Netgalley
October 16, 2022
(4.5 Stars)
These stories � many of which are superb � explore the suffocating nature of family life predominantly from the female perspective, the overwhelming sense of loneliness and anxiety that many women (and children) feel due to various constraints. Here we have stories of petty jealousies, unfulfilled desires, deliberate cruelty and the sudden realisation of deceit, brilliantly conveyed by the author with insight and sensitivity.
While some of the women in Ditlevsen’s stories are actively seeking an escape from their abusive husbands or the mundanity of a domestic existence, others have cause to question their sense of happiness, suddenly realising that they have been living a lie. In My Wife Doesn’t Dance, one of my favourites in this collection, a woman has been lulled into a false sense of security by her husband’s apparent acceptance of a physical limitation � a childhood paralysis that left her with a limp. It is only when she overhears him talking to someone on the phone that she realises the true nature of his duplicity � it’s as if someone has opened a door, exposing her to ‘an invisible, […] icy cold wind� of betrayal.
He has no idea, she told herself. He doesn’t have any idea what I’m going through. And suddenly she perceived him as a complete stranger, a person she just happened coincidentally to be in the room with, and she was able to feel disconnected from him, from her love for him, her solidarity with him, and she decided again from her profound loneliness to ask who had called� (p. 32)
There is deceit of another kind in His Mother, a particularly creepy story in which Asger, a young man in his late twenties, pays a visit to his elderly mother with his new girlfriend in tow. As the mother shows the girlfriend some old family photographs, a striking resemblance is revealed, calling into question the true nature of Asger’s relationship to his Aunt Agnes � a woman who experienced a complete mental breakdown and suffered terribly during her life.
The writing is terrific here, fill of vivid imagery that adds to the unsettling feel. Asger’s mother is a morose, sardonic woman, someone who actively sniffs out others� misfortunes and nurses them as her own; and as Asger’s girlfriend acclimatises herself to this oppressive environment, something of the mother’s aura seems to penetrate her soul.
A reflection from the eyes across from her, so filled with misery, reached her own open and questioning gaze, and a speck of invisible dust settled on her features, as if for a moment she had merged with the silent horde of photographs which spent their shadowy lives here on the furniture and the windowsills, where no flowers seemed to thrive. (p. 39)
To read the rest of my review, please visit:
and:
These stories � many of which are superb � explore the suffocating nature of family life predominantly from the female perspective, the overwhelming sense of loneliness and anxiety that many women (and children) feel due to various constraints. Here we have stories of petty jealousies, unfulfilled desires, deliberate cruelty and the sudden realisation of deceit, brilliantly conveyed by the author with insight and sensitivity.
While some of the women in Ditlevsen’s stories are actively seeking an escape from their abusive husbands or the mundanity of a domestic existence, others have cause to question their sense of happiness, suddenly realising that they have been living a lie. In My Wife Doesn’t Dance, one of my favourites in this collection, a woman has been lulled into a false sense of security by her husband’s apparent acceptance of a physical limitation � a childhood paralysis that left her with a limp. It is only when she overhears him talking to someone on the phone that she realises the true nature of his duplicity � it’s as if someone has opened a door, exposing her to ‘an invisible, […] icy cold wind� of betrayal.
He has no idea, she told herself. He doesn’t have any idea what I’m going through. And suddenly she perceived him as a complete stranger, a person she just happened coincidentally to be in the room with, and she was able to feel disconnected from him, from her love for him, her solidarity with him, and she decided again from her profound loneliness to ask who had called� (p. 32)
There is deceit of another kind in His Mother, a particularly creepy story in which Asger, a young man in his late twenties, pays a visit to his elderly mother with his new girlfriend in tow. As the mother shows the girlfriend some old family photographs, a striking resemblance is revealed, calling into question the true nature of Asger’s relationship to his Aunt Agnes � a woman who experienced a complete mental breakdown and suffered terribly during her life.
The writing is terrific here, fill of vivid imagery that adds to the unsettling feel. Asger’s mother is a morose, sardonic woman, someone who actively sniffs out others� misfortunes and nurses them as her own; and as Asger’s girlfriend acclimatises herself to this oppressive environment, something of the mother’s aura seems to penetrate her soul.
A reflection from the eyes across from her, so filled with misery, reached her own open and questioning gaze, and a speck of invisible dust settled on her features, as if for a moment she had merged with the silent horde of photographs which spent their shadowy lives here on the furniture and the windowsills, where no flowers seemed to thrive. (p. 39)
To read the rest of my review, please visit:
and:
February 19, 2022
Before starting to read these two collections of short stories, first published in 1952 and 1963, I rather wish I hadn’t researched the life of Tove Ditlevsen and had come to them ‘blind�. The title story, The Trouble with Happiness, is narrated in the first person and reads like a memoir but reading the others told in the third person I had Tove’s face in my mind’s eye too. Not that that is really a criticism. For the most part, they are sad, sad, emotionally engaging snapshots of women’s relationships (and children’s whole worlds) breaking down or about to break down. The characters pinpoint the exact moment they realise it is over for them and there is such poignancy in that.
She shouldn’t have gone. By constantly staying home, she warded off something terrible that was always just about to happen, something she was expecting, something that she, every day, minute by minute, pushed back into place like a wall that would topple if you didn’t press against it with all your might.
His eyes took on a sudden snake-like expression, as if he were evaluating how much he had wounded her. He hates me, she thought, dumbfounded.
From ‘Perpetuation�, a story of family break-up that I found especially moving:
What had he felt? It was strange she didn’t ask. The fact that we are so incredibly uninterested in what is happening inside the person closest to us is probably the source of many problems.
Why doesn’t it dawn on a person that their parents had their own lives separate from their children, until it’s too late to ask them how it was? And without knowing that, the whole thing is hidden, the most important thing in the world eternally inaccessible.
…maybe it is always too late by the time the heart is ready for reconcilation.
Not uplifting reading by any means, but heartbreaking moments exquisitely portrayed, the sheer quality of the writing here encourages me to seek out the author’s other work - memoirs, novels, poetry. Recommended.
With thanks to Penguin Classics via NetGalley for the opportunity to read an ARC.
She shouldn’t have gone. By constantly staying home, she warded off something terrible that was always just about to happen, something she was expecting, something that she, every day, minute by minute, pushed back into place like a wall that would topple if you didn’t press against it with all your might.
His eyes took on a sudden snake-like expression, as if he were evaluating how much he had wounded her. He hates me, she thought, dumbfounded.
From ‘Perpetuation�, a story of family break-up that I found especially moving:
What had he felt? It was strange she didn’t ask. The fact that we are so incredibly uninterested in what is happening inside the person closest to us is probably the source of many problems.
Why doesn’t it dawn on a person that their parents had their own lives separate from their children, until it’s too late to ask them how it was? And without knowing that, the whole thing is hidden, the most important thing in the world eternally inaccessible.
…maybe it is always too late by the time the heart is ready for reconcilation.
Not uplifting reading by any means, but heartbreaking moments exquisitely portrayed, the sheer quality of the writing here encourages me to seek out the author’s other work - memoirs, novels, poetry. Recommended.
With thanks to Penguin Classics via NetGalley for the opportunity to read an ARC.
April 18, 2022
2.5 rounded down
I discovered through the recent Penguin editions of her autobiography (). I read the three sections separately and all three would feature on a top 10 memoirs of all time list if I was to put one together. I enjoyed too, so it was disappointing to find that this collection of her short stories was, whilst well written, unrelentingly miserable and bleak. Perhaps inspiration for some of the characters and plots were taken from her own tragic life (The Copenhagen Trilogy gives a broader picture of this, including the author's drug addiction and marital problems), and whilst I'm certainly not averse to reading sad or upsetting stories there was little light at the end of the tunnel for any of these characters and maybe I read it at the wrong time. I'd still suggest giving this a go if you have enjoyed her writing previously, as I imagine many other readers will have a different reaction to this collection than I did.
Thank you Netgalley and Penguin for the advance copy, which was provided in exchange for an honest review.
I discovered through the recent Penguin editions of her autobiography (). I read the three sections separately and all three would feature on a top 10 memoirs of all time list if I was to put one together. I enjoyed too, so it was disappointing to find that this collection of her short stories was, whilst well written, unrelentingly miserable and bleak. Perhaps inspiration for some of the characters and plots were taken from her own tragic life (The Copenhagen Trilogy gives a broader picture of this, including the author's drug addiction and marital problems), and whilst I'm certainly not averse to reading sad or upsetting stories there was little light at the end of the tunnel for any of these characters and maybe I read it at the wrong time. I'd still suggest giving this a go if you have enjoyed her writing previously, as I imagine many other readers will have a different reaction to this collection than I did.
Thank you Netgalley and Penguin for the advance copy, which was provided in exchange for an honest review.
November 5, 2022
stories varied between 3 and 4 stars. I like her tone.
I'm more interested in reading her poetry though.
I'm more interested in reading her poetry though.
November 5, 2024
�Fight for all you hold dear, plays the worn old music maker, and an unnamed sadness swells inside my mind, because they are all dead or disappeared, and my brother and I no longer communicate.�
January 26, 2025
Pamilau Tove Ditlevsen po „Kopenhagos trilogijos� � šis romanas neabejotinai buvo vienas ryškiausių praėjusių metų (ir tikriausiai ilgesnio laikotarpio) skaitinių, dūręs tiesiai į širdį, pavergęs savo melancholija, nepretenzingumu ir nuoširdumu. Neabejojau, kad skaitysiu viską, ką pavyks gauti iš šios autorės kūrybos, nes ji tvirtai stoja į mano mėgstamiausių lentyną.
Šis apsakymų rinkinys, nors ir neprilygo pirmajam skaitytam autorės romanui, vis vien turėjo labai panašią atmosferą ir nešė panašias žinutes. Trumpas istorijas jungė daug bendrų temų (į pabaigą tai kiek pabodo ir net kiek susilpnino įspūdį) � Ditlevsen dažnai vaizduoja nelaimingas, pasimetusias moteris, keliančias daug klausimų, neapsisprendžiančias, kuriuo gyvenimo keliu sukti, suklydusias arba nerandančias savęs, nemylimas ir apleistas. Akivaizdu, kad daug šių emocijų ji yra patyrusi ir pati, nes pasakojimai trykšta atvirumu ir skausmu, su jais labai nesunku tapatintis. Labai patiko tie itin trumpi apsakymai, kurių centre sukosi kokia nors įsimintina metafora � „My Wife Doesn’t Dance�, „The Umbrella�, „The Knife�. Tik, kaip jau minėjau, į pabaigą istorijos man darėsi per daug panašios ir susiliejo į vieną, kas galbūt ir buvo autorės noras, bet man pritrūko kažko ryškesnio, vos kelių išskirtinesnių momentų.
Tik dar kartą supratau, kad skaityti vertimus į anglų man kur kas mažiau patinka nei vertimus į lietuvių � pastarųjų kalba kur kas gyvesnė ir artimesnė, angliški vertimai man dažnai pasirodo ne tokie sklandūs ir artimi. Bet kokiu atveju, šis rinkinys tik užtvirtino, kad autorė be galo talentinga, be galo sava ir viena tų, kurios kūrybos pro akis nepraleisiu.
Šis apsakymų rinkinys, nors ir neprilygo pirmajam skaitytam autorės romanui, vis vien turėjo labai panašią atmosferą ir nešė panašias žinutes. Trumpas istorijas jungė daug bendrų temų (į pabaigą tai kiek pabodo ir net kiek susilpnino įspūdį) � Ditlevsen dažnai vaizduoja nelaimingas, pasimetusias moteris, keliančias daug klausimų, neapsisprendžiančias, kuriuo gyvenimo keliu sukti, suklydusias arba nerandančias savęs, nemylimas ir apleistas. Akivaizdu, kad daug šių emocijų ji yra patyrusi ir pati, nes pasakojimai trykšta atvirumu ir skausmu, su jais labai nesunku tapatintis. Labai patiko tie itin trumpi apsakymai, kurių centre sukosi kokia nors įsimintina metafora � „My Wife Doesn’t Dance�, „The Umbrella�, „The Knife�. Tik, kaip jau minėjau, į pabaigą istorijos man darėsi per daug panašios ir susiliejo į vieną, kas galbūt ir buvo autorės noras, bet man pritrūko kažko ryškesnio, vos kelių išskirtinesnių momentų.
Tik dar kartą supratau, kad skaityti vertimus į anglų man kur kas mažiau patinka nei vertimus į lietuvių � pastarųjų kalba kur kas gyvesnė ir artimesnė, angliški vertimai man dažnai pasirodo ne tokie sklandūs ir artimi. Bet kokiu atveju, šis rinkinys tik užtvirtino, kad autorė be galo talentinga, be galo sava ir viena tų, kurios kūrybos pro akis nepraleisiu.
August 29, 2022
قصص توفا قريبة من القلب وحميمية وأظن أن قراءتي لثلاثيتها الشهيرة في بداية العام والتي تحوي سيرتها، قد قربني من عالمها أكثر .
November 19, 2022
Excellent, dreary stories about working-class women wasting away in normal modern marriages. The tensions in family dynamics are not Dramatic nor exagerrated but, rather, carried by microagressions, willful blindness and self-blame. Children bear the brunt of life's brutal reality, since they don't know any better and dare to hope. Well, time will take care of that.
Wouldn't have expected anything less from Ditlevsen. Every story wears you down, chisels at you from a slightly different angle, making life in that period and place (postwar Denmark) appear totally unbearable. Headache indusing, in a good way.
Wouldn't have expected anything less from Ditlevsen. Every story wears you down, chisels at you from a slightly different angle, making life in that period and place (postwar Denmark) appear totally unbearable. Headache indusing, in a good way.
April 4, 2022
It took me a long time to read these stories, mainly because I found them to be unremittingly bleak. They are all set around the home, and frankly make family life seem horrific. The husbands or fathers bully, abandon, or at best simply don't understand their wives and children. The wives for the most part simply accept this as their lot in life. I failed to connect with anyone in these stories. The writing is good, perhaps I simply read this at the wrong time.
*Many thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for a review copy in exchange for an honest opinion.*
*Many thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for a review copy in exchange for an honest opinion.*
May 26, 2022
tove has literally never written a man who isn't The Worst
May 5, 2022
Taken individually, not all of these stories shine, but they do evidence � in accrual � the kind of talent I saw at work in The Copenhagen Trilogy and are very much worth reading. "The Umbrella," the story that opens the collection, is especially good.
September 27, 2023
The Trouble With Happiness Ditlevsen seems to say is that for women it is constantly out of reach. In these gloomy stories, portraits of domestic life in Denmark, women are anxious and teetering on the edge. There is no solace to be found and it's a perpetual battle against insanity.
�
Having read this after The Copenhagen Trilogy, it was a familiar foray into Ditlevsen's universe with its layered and unfailing writing beautifully translated by Michael Favala Goldman.
�
This collection reminded me of two other by Danish author Ida Jessen, A Postcard for Annie and A Change of Time.
�
A fave passage from the collection:
�
" Everyone could see it for themselves, so why should it make any difference that they never talked about it? It followed her everywhere, every day, every minute: on the bus, on the trolley, in the stores, and in the long, long streets, where it was almost impossible to slip unnoticed through an open square or� even worse� past those groups of young people standing on corners after work, whose revealing, watchful eyes tormented her more than anything� but not so much after she had gotten married and therefore was generally recognized as a woman who could be desired and loved, and be someone’s partner like anyone else. Did he think about it when they were out together? All the time? Had she lulled herself into a false sense of security here, inside the walls of the home they had created together? Her childhood dream of being like everyone else or just having any other kind of bodily problem, something that wasn’t noticed at first glance� an unhealthy complexion, spindly legs, ugly hands� returned to her."
�
�
Having read this after The Copenhagen Trilogy, it was a familiar foray into Ditlevsen's universe with its layered and unfailing writing beautifully translated by Michael Favala Goldman.
�
This collection reminded me of two other by Danish author Ida Jessen, A Postcard for Annie and A Change of Time.
�
A fave passage from the collection:
�
" Everyone could see it for themselves, so why should it make any difference that they never talked about it? It followed her everywhere, every day, every minute: on the bus, on the trolley, in the stores, and in the long, long streets, where it was almost impossible to slip unnoticed through an open square or� even worse� past those groups of young people standing on corners after work, whose revealing, watchful eyes tormented her more than anything� but not so much after she had gotten married and therefore was generally recognized as a woman who could be desired and loved, and be someone’s partner like anyone else. Did he think about it when they were out together? All the time? Had she lulled herself into a false sense of security here, inside the walls of the home they had created together? Her childhood dream of being like everyone else or just having any other kind of bodily problem, something that wasn’t noticed at first glance� an unhealthy complexion, spindly legs, ugly hands� returned to her."
�
March 22, 2022
6 gut-wrenching stars!
The Trouble with Happinessby Tove Ditlevsen presents a cast of ordinary characters standing at the precipice of emotional events surrounding marriage, divorce, and domesticity and finding it fiendishly impossible to express themselves.
I was particularly taken by “The Method,� a story that opens with, “Being married to an entire person was too much,� in which our narrator describes how she has learned to manage their union. I loved this story so much I read it three consecutive times. My heart throbbed when reading “A Fine Business,� where a woman is pained with sympathy for a single mother who, desperate for cash, considers a cruelly low offer on her house.
Some of the very best stories here, though, are those that explore the perspective of a child. In “A Nice Boy,� the adopted son of a couple who’ve just had a new baby battles with his bad conscience, which grows within him “like a heavy, thick substance.� His parents aren’t unkind, yet the knowledge that “he owed a debt to these people� who have taken him in hangs over him oppressively.
This collection is simple, subtle, and immensely human. I found consolation and news of how others live. The Trouble with Happiness is a profoundly humbling read full of reminders that life’s mysteries have no keys. Tove Ditlevsen was indeed a master of short fiction.
The Trouble with Happinessby Tove Ditlevsen presents a cast of ordinary characters standing at the precipice of emotional events surrounding marriage, divorce, and domesticity and finding it fiendishly impossible to express themselves.
I was particularly taken by “The Method,� a story that opens with, “Being married to an entire person was too much,� in which our narrator describes how she has learned to manage their union. I loved this story so much I read it three consecutive times. My heart throbbed when reading “A Fine Business,� where a woman is pained with sympathy for a single mother who, desperate for cash, considers a cruelly low offer on her house.
Some of the very best stories here, though, are those that explore the perspective of a child. In “A Nice Boy,� the adopted son of a couple who’ve just had a new baby battles with his bad conscience, which grows within him “like a heavy, thick substance.� His parents aren’t unkind, yet the knowledge that “he owed a debt to these people� who have taken him in hangs over him oppressively.
This collection is simple, subtle, and immensely human. I found consolation and news of how others live. The Trouble with Happiness is a profoundly humbling read full of reminders that life’s mysteries have no keys. Tove Ditlevsen was indeed a master of short fiction.
September 20, 2024
არ მჯერ�, რო� სრულია� შემთხვევით ვიპოვე და არსა� არავის უხსენები� ეს ავტორი. თუმც� ასეთ მოულოდნე� და დაუგეგმა� შეხვედრასა� აქვს თავისი ხიბლ�.
ამ კრებულის ყველ� მოთხრობა ერთმანეთ� ჰგავ�: სიუჟეტებ� ყოველთვი� ბანალური, მარტივ� და მსგავსია - პატარა ან საშუალ� ზომი� სახლში ცხოვრობს წყვილი შვილთა�/შვილებთა� ერთა�. მა� ცხოვრებაში არაფერ� დრამატულ� არ ხდებ� (ერთი შეხედვით). წყვილი, რა თქმა უნდა, უბედურია. ავტორი, ძირითადა�, ამ წყვილი� ცხოვრები� მოკლ� ეპიზოდ� ირჩევს, ჩანს, რო� სრულია� შემთხვევით, რადგან შერჩეული ეპიზოდებ� მოსაწყენ� და არაფრი� გამორჩეული�. თუმც� ყველ� ეს ეპიზოდ� ცხადყოფს, რო� წყვილი� ცხოვრებაში სხვა, უკეთეს� ეპიზოდებ� არ� არის. მთელ� მათი ყოფა მხოლოდ გაბმულ� მოწყენილობ� და უბედურებაა. ამ დახასიათებამ რომელი მკითხველ� უნდა მიიზიდოს, მაგრამ აუცილებლად წასაკითხია რა წყნარა�, ლაკონიურად და ზუსტად ჰყვება ქალები� ჩუ� და გაუმხელე� ტანჯვაზე და როგო� იმსხვრევია� პერსონაჟებ� მკითხველის თვალწი� უცერემონიო�. ყველაზ� მომხიბვლელ� ჩემთვი� ისაა, რო� აქ უბედურებას არ აქვს აშკარა და ხელშესახებ� მიზეზები. ფიზიკურა� არავინ არავისზე ძალადობს და ხშირად არ� ღალატობე� ხოლმ� ერთმანეთ�, მაგრამ ურთიერთობები მაინ� ფუჭდებ�, თვალებში ნაპერწკლებ� ქრებ�, ემოციები ნელდებ�... მოკლედ, ყველაფერ� უარესობისკენ მიდი� და ვერც პერსონაჟებ� და ვერც მკითხველ� ვე� გაუგია, რა დაემართა ურთიერთობა�, რომელი� ოდესღა� მშვენივრად დაიწყო.
ეს განცდა, რა� ამ წიგნმა დამიტოვა, წლების წი� მქონდა პირველად, როცა ფრანსუაზ საგანი წავიკითხ�. მერე ზუსტად ეს ემოციები ვერავისთვი� ვიპოვე და მიხარი�, რო� მეორ� წყაროსაც მივაგენი. სალამი, სევდავ!
ამ კრებულის ყველ� მოთხრობა ერთმანეთ� ჰგავ�: სიუჟეტებ� ყოველთვი� ბანალური, მარტივ� და მსგავსია - პატარა ან საშუალ� ზომი� სახლში ცხოვრობს წყვილი შვილთა�/შვილებთა� ერთა�. მა� ცხოვრებაში არაფერ� დრამატულ� არ ხდებ� (ერთი შეხედვით). წყვილი, რა თქმა უნდა, უბედურია. ავტორი, ძირითადა�, ამ წყვილი� ცხოვრები� მოკლ� ეპიზოდ� ირჩევს, ჩანს, რო� სრულია� შემთხვევით, რადგან შერჩეული ეპიზოდებ� მოსაწყენ� და არაფრი� გამორჩეული�. თუმც� ყველ� ეს ეპიზოდ� ცხადყოფს, რო� წყვილი� ცხოვრებაში სხვა, უკეთეს� ეპიზოდებ� არ� არის. მთელ� მათი ყოფა მხოლოდ გაბმულ� მოწყენილობ� და უბედურებაა. ამ დახასიათებამ რომელი მკითხველ� უნდა მიიზიდოს, მაგრამ აუცილებლად წასაკითხია რა წყნარა�, ლაკონიურად და ზუსტად ჰყვება ქალები� ჩუ� და გაუმხელე� ტანჯვაზე და როგო� იმსხვრევია� პერსონაჟებ� მკითხველის თვალწი� უცერემონიო�. ყველაზ� მომხიბვლელ� ჩემთვი� ისაა, რო� აქ უბედურებას არ აქვს აშკარა და ხელშესახებ� მიზეზები. ფიზიკურა� არავინ არავისზე ძალადობს და ხშირად არ� ღალატობე� ხოლმ� ერთმანეთ�, მაგრამ ურთიერთობები მაინ� ფუჭდებ�, თვალებში ნაპერწკლებ� ქრებ�, ემოციები ნელდებ�... მოკლედ, ყველაფერ� უარესობისკენ მიდი� და ვერც პერსონაჟებ� და ვერც მკითხველ� ვე� გაუგია, რა დაემართა ურთიერთობა�, რომელი� ოდესღა� მშვენივრად დაიწყო.
ეს განცდა, რა� ამ წიგნმა დამიტოვა, წლების წი� მქონდა პირველად, როცა ფრანსუაზ საგანი წავიკითხ�. მერე ზუსტად ეს ემოციები ვერავისთვი� ვიპოვე და მიხარი�, რო� მეორ� წყაროსაც მივაგენი. სალამი, სევდავ!
March 25, 2022
Having read Tove Ditlevsen's recently translated metafictional account of her own life, I was familiar with her style and her themes. In these beautifully written if very grim realistic stories, the reader can recognize her chilly view of the world as she experienced it in mid-century Denmark. In these stories, she addresses married life with power and grim reality, and whether it is thanks to the translator or not, they flow even if the material is grim.
October 24, 2023
I am soooo torn on this collection. As with any short stories, it’s generally expected you’ll enjoy some more than others. They’re always so hard to rate and review. But this one I found particularly peculiar
Not sure if my mindset shifted - I became more receptive/the topic of the stories simply resonated with me more - or if the quality in writing just improved towards the end (or a combination I guess), but once I reached ‘Depression,� I was starting to become drawn in. That story hit a point very deep in my psyche
Will hopefully expand when I find the words ~ 3.75 ⭐️
Not sure if my mindset shifted - I became more receptive/the topic of the stories simply resonated with me more - or if the quality in writing just improved towards the end (or a combination I guess), but once I reached ‘Depression,� I was starting to become drawn in. That story hit a point very deep in my psyche
Will hopefully expand when I find the words ~ 3.75 ⭐️
July 8, 2022
This is everything I love in literature. Sad, trapped women, floundering because of the patriarchy. Everything I love. Translate it all. I would read this author’s grocery lists.
September 15, 2022
God, this was wonderfully depressing.
November 7, 2022
Coming to this short story collection after reading , I came to like Tove Ditlevsen’s style. Dark, grim, and pessimistic, yet her stories resonate with the reality of lonely urban life and its exploitation of individuals. Aside from the titular The Trouble with Happiness, the short stories featured in this collection are fictional. Mostly, they deal with stories of unhappy families, often at the expense of the women who get disadvantaged in their situations due to sudden divorces or inabilities to voice their opinions against their husbands.
The book opens with a short story entitled The Umbrella. Helga, the heroine, is described as 'expected more from life than it could deliver.' But Helga is not far from our reality. Often, we’re unhappy because our expectations are higher than what happens in real-life situations. Happiness is about managing expectations, to be content with what we have. And that’s the heart of the matter with Tove’s characters. As the title suggests, what Helga wants is not a luxury item to have. She wants an umbrella, for the simple reason that it reminds her to a woman with an umbrella that she remembered from her childhood. Yet the simple desire is rejected by her husband. Sometimes it’s not that we have unrealistic expectations. Perhaps we asked the wrong people, or we asked them at the wrong time, or we were just unlucky.
Another story, The Knife tells about a father who entrusted a knife that has been passed from his father to his son, an inter-generational inheritance. His son frequently loses his belongings, but the father insists that the knife is a special item. When his son loses the knife, the father tells him to find it by night, asserting his dominance over his family. Leaving his office, he was prepared to scold the boy for losing the knife. Yet he was appalled by the fact that the boy found the knife. He was unhappy with the development. Like in some other stories in this collection too, Tove also guides her readers to analyse our unhappiness as something intergenerational. Sometimes the problems didn’t begin with us, unfinished problems in childhood might resurface in adulthood � and perhaps, in the next generation � as desires to show dominance in our households, for no apparent reason.
There’s also a story that shows women's exploitation by men in A Fine Business. A woman has just been divorced and quickly ran into debt to cover daily expenses for her three children. Her husband told her to sell their house to cover the expenses. She was prepared to sell the house for 25,000 kroner. A real estate agent helps a new couple looking for a house to acquire the house for only 20,000 kroner, knowing the woman is desperate to earn money, while the couple is willing to pay the original price. The woman owning the house is looking for the wife of the man who is buying the house, hoping for their sisterhood to help bring a fair transaction. Yet she was left dumbfounded. ‘You don’t even know the person you’re married to,� she repeats. There are times when we thought we know someone who has been accompanying us for years, only to be confronted by the fact that we don’t really know the person. People change, feelings aren’t permanent, and there’s simply no consolation or solution for the hurt (and by extension, economic problems for divorced women), which is a sad fact in life.
Tove’s stories, unique for the time they were published, bring about the message about the unfairness of modern life and the women marginalised by it. Through her stories, she questions the sustainability of a nuclear family, with the rising rates of divorces and the inability of women in her stories to support their children and themselves with their working-class backgrounds, something close to Tove’s personal experience. But sometimes humans are just numb to situations after getting “comfortable�. We begin to take things for granted, in what Tove says, ‘The fact that we are so incredibly uninterested in what is happening inside the person closest to us is probably the source of many problems.�
The book opens with a short story entitled The Umbrella. Helga, the heroine, is described as 'expected more from life than it could deliver.' But Helga is not far from our reality. Often, we’re unhappy because our expectations are higher than what happens in real-life situations. Happiness is about managing expectations, to be content with what we have. And that’s the heart of the matter with Tove’s characters. As the title suggests, what Helga wants is not a luxury item to have. She wants an umbrella, for the simple reason that it reminds her to a woman with an umbrella that she remembered from her childhood. Yet the simple desire is rejected by her husband. Sometimes it’s not that we have unrealistic expectations. Perhaps we asked the wrong people, or we asked them at the wrong time, or we were just unlucky.
Another story, The Knife tells about a father who entrusted a knife that has been passed from his father to his son, an inter-generational inheritance. His son frequently loses his belongings, but the father insists that the knife is a special item. When his son loses the knife, the father tells him to find it by night, asserting his dominance over his family. Leaving his office, he was prepared to scold the boy for losing the knife. Yet he was appalled by the fact that the boy found the knife. He was unhappy with the development. Like in some other stories in this collection too, Tove also guides her readers to analyse our unhappiness as something intergenerational. Sometimes the problems didn’t begin with us, unfinished problems in childhood might resurface in adulthood � and perhaps, in the next generation � as desires to show dominance in our households, for no apparent reason.
There’s also a story that shows women's exploitation by men in A Fine Business. A woman has just been divorced and quickly ran into debt to cover daily expenses for her three children. Her husband told her to sell their house to cover the expenses. She was prepared to sell the house for 25,000 kroner. A real estate agent helps a new couple looking for a house to acquire the house for only 20,000 kroner, knowing the woman is desperate to earn money, while the couple is willing to pay the original price. The woman owning the house is looking for the wife of the man who is buying the house, hoping for their sisterhood to help bring a fair transaction. Yet she was left dumbfounded. ‘You don’t even know the person you’re married to,� she repeats. There are times when we thought we know someone who has been accompanying us for years, only to be confronted by the fact that we don’t really know the person. People change, feelings aren’t permanent, and there’s simply no consolation or solution for the hurt (and by extension, economic problems for divorced women), which is a sad fact in life.
Tove’s stories, unique for the time they were published, bring about the message about the unfairness of modern life and the women marginalised by it. Through her stories, she questions the sustainability of a nuclear family, with the rising rates of divorces and the inability of women in her stories to support their children and themselves with their working-class backgrounds, something close to Tove’s personal experience. But sometimes humans are just numb to situations after getting “comfortable�. We begin to take things for granted, in what Tove says, ‘The fact that we are so incredibly uninterested in what is happening inside the person closest to us is probably the source of many problems.�
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