The Cozy Life: Rediscover the Joy of the Simple Things Through the Danish Concept of Hygge by
Pia Edberg
My rating:
2 of 5 stars
Marketed as "the first ever book written about
hygge," I expected something quite a bit more...substantial. I suppose my expectations were a little too high and I probably shouldn't have assumed that just because it is, apparently, the FIRST one written (according to whom? Any evidence?), that it would be that much better compared to the loads of others that have been written since. I had a couple big issues with this book that in the end left me with more questions than answers.
The author is half-Danish, half-Filipino, and was born and raised in Denmark until she was 5 years old when at that time she and her family moved to Vancouver, Canada. One of the main issues I had with this book is that although she spent her first 5 years living in a Scandinavian country before moving to Canada, and was raised by a Danish father, in my opinion it's a little too obvious that she is more or less completely "Canadianized" and is in a way too far removed from her homeland to have a really solid grasp on what
hygge means. Now in no way do I mean to imply that she doesn't have any authority at all on the subject of being Danish or of their particular way of life - far be it for me to say that I'm the expert on who is or is not a true Scandinavian (I'm Canadian through and through, so no authority here) - but to me it does come across that her understanding of
hygge is secondary and perhaps as more of an idea or as an idealized way of life than anything else. To me, Danes and other Scandinavians just
live hygge, they don't have to try, and it's usually hard for them to explain it in such black-and-white terms as she does, almost like checking items off of a grocery list.
The other main issue I had is that the 'secrets' that are revealed throughout really don't feel like secrets at all; in fact, I would dare say that you could replace the word
hygge with just about any other buzz word of the moment, (mindfulness, minimalism, slow-living), and you would still find that the book makes sense. Each 'secret' or lesson is superficial and lacking depth so that it really just feels like a book full of common sense - for example, when the author explains the difference between drinking tea or coffee:
"Drinking tea reminds me of slowing down my body, mind and soul ... Coffee, on the other hand, is about speeding up, increasing energy to get you through the day with that quick caffeine hit ... Both beverages are hygge in their own way. Sitting in a coffee shop with a hot latte is just as cozy as sipping on herbal tea before bedtime."
Well yes, this is true, but did it need to be written down in a book? It seems a little like stating the obvious to me. I'm not sure why this sentence in particular irks me as much as it does, but trust me when I say that it represents the overall flow of the entire book, ie. a lot of super obvious blanket statements that don't seem to make sense to specifically living
hyggeligt in comparison to any other way of living 'mindfully,' or just living in general.
I'm being quite harsh, I know, and perhaps it's because I've read a handful of other awesome and informative books about
hygge and Scandinavian culture, (
The Year of Living Danishly and
The Little Book of Hygge are my two favourites), but regardless of this fact I know I'd have still felt that this book leaves much to desire even if I hadn't yet read anything on the subject beforehand.
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