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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🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹

6 likes

vivastory

The Trouble with Happiness: And Other Stories | Tove Ditlevsen

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“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.“
Ditlevsen's stories are remarkable for conveying a quiet terror in a short space. Her stories are not scenes of dramatic moments; rather of apprehension, dread & self-doubt. As in the disturbing ambiguity of a work like The Best Joke which is barely over 2 pages, the uneasiness of the tension in Anxiety

vivastory or the emotional manipulation at play in The Knife. They are wonders of compression, relayed in deceptively simple language.
2y

LeahBergen You have me intrigued about this collection. 👍 2y

Tamra Stacked! 2y

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vivastory @LeahBergen I think you'd like it! If interested here's a link to the opening (& one of my favorites) that was pub in The New Yorker:
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/10/25/the-umbrella 2y

vivastory @Tamra If interested, see The New Yorker story 2y

vivastory Are you a fan @megabooks ? 2y

Tamra @vivastory thank you! 2y

LeahBergen Thanks! 2y

jlhammar I just got The Copenhagen Trilogy. Really excited to read her! 2y

Megabooks I have not read her before, but I have bookmarked the New Yorker story to start and I will stack this book. Thanks for the tag! 2y

vivastory @jlhammar I've been curious about that one. I think I will read Faces next, but I do plan on eventually reading The Copenhagen Trilogy 2y

vivastory @Megabooks I'll be curious to see what you think since you read so many short stories. Speaking of stories, did you see the trailer for the adaptation of Saunders' Escape From Spiderhead? I think I'm going to sit it out unless convinced otherwise 2y

Megabooks No I didn‘t, but I‘m terrible about watching adaptations. I‘m so far behind ones I‘m interested in that like you, I‘ll likely skip. 2y

73 likes8 stack adds13 comments

vivastory

The Trouble with Happiness: And Other Stories | Tove Ditlevsen

Jesus Christ, this story really lived up to the title

Leftcoastzen 😁 2y

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vivastory

The Trouble with Happiness: And Other Stories | Tove Ditlevsen

This 6 page story is a miracle 💙💔

Megabooks Sometimes shorter ones are the best! 2y

vivastory @Megabooks It's so difficult to manage! 2y

56 likes1 stack add2 comments

merelybookish

The Trouble with Happiness: And Other Stories | Tove Ditlevsen

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

Chelsea.Poole I can relate! 😬 it‘s a good problem to have though! 😊 2y

sarahbarnes I feel like it‘s a full time job to manage my library holds list these days! 😬 2y

Leftcoastzen Seems like they all come at once sometimes.🙄 2y

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LeahBergen I‘ll keep an eye out for your thoughts on the Monica Ali. I loved Brick Lane. 👍 2y

Bookwormjillk Oh my gosh, same. I need a month off to get my library hold manageable again. 2y

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! 2y

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! 2y

merelybookish @Chelsea.Poole Definitely not the worst problem. 🙂 2y

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. 🤦 2y

merelybookish @Leftcoastzen Feast or famine. 2y

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! 2y

merelybookish @Leftcoastzen Two more just became available today. 😬 2y

merelybookish @LeahBergen I loved Brick Lane too and this one seems to be getting good reviews. 2y

Bookwormjillk @merelybookish haha yeah. And then I ask people did you tell me to read this? 2y

Leftcoastzen 😱😁 2y

Centique Oh I know what you mean! Also I loved Brick Lane too so interested on your thoughts on her new one 2y

69 likes16 comments

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?