The Almost Nearly Perfect People

"Okay, first I will start off by saying the narrator is absolutely wonderful, and the writer is very very funny. I found myself even laughing a bit at my own Icelandic maternal heritage at certain points. That being said… I feel this book would have been even better if it weren’t for a few things, and hopefully if the author ever writes in the future he will graciously take some of these into consideration. 1) I feel there is a very “rose colored glasses” favoring view on the Danes in comparison to the rest of the Scandinavian people. Being that he openly admits he lives there and his wife is danish I kind of expected as much, but I feel he should’ve done a better job in his attempt to be unbiased if he wanted to offer a clearer, accurate, and more transparent view of each country respectively. 2) The politics. Good God, man, the politics. First off, I can’t speak for all conservative political parties, as I’m sure they mean different things in different countries, however as an American conservative in 2023 I can tell you that the views the author is stating conservatives have is highly inaccurate and even a bit draconian. At least in my country. Neither I nor any conservatives I know think some of the things we’re accused of thinking. I encourage the author to get to know some regular middle class American conservatives and I think he’d find that we’re not at all what he sees us as. 3) To further touch on the way the other Scandinavian countries were portrayed I must say as a woman who’s mother immigrated from Iceland and who’s whole maternal family is still there I found the sentiment toward Icelanders to be unfairly harsh and almost rude. Having spent a great deal or time in Iceland I’d been taught about how the Icelanders found liberation during WWII from danish rule, but let’s be fair: the reason for our liberty was mainly because the Danes couldn’t handle the stress of dealing with the war, Nazis, and maintaining its hold over some of its colonies. Something had to give, and thankfully we were it. Saying that the Nazis freed us however is insulting. I did learn of the slight still carried by Danes against Icelanders because of us obtaining our autonomy when actually in Denmark but I think portraying our freedom as “hey we got our big brother the Nazis who we love to go beat up the Danes for us” is not only inaccurate but offensive. These items aside, I did find the book to be a humorous read that does poke fun at everyone (albeit some way more than others) and is worth the good laugh. I also have to say I admire what seems to be the time and diligence the writer put into his research when learning the material for his book, and I respect that. Overall I recommend, just don’t take it to seriously lol. "

"Actual: 3.75 stars<br/><br/>I learned so much more about the Nordic or so called Scandinavian region than I ever thought I would learn. Firstly, Iceland and Finland are not technically apart of Scandinavia; Denmark is one of the world’s biggest pork producers. Sweden was so called “neutral” during the Second World War, while being aligned with the Nazi’s. Iceland was extremely financially negligent for an island of around 300,000 people (they make Wall Street in 2007/8 look like they were going to kindergarten), Norway has one of the largest oil and gas reserves in the world (again they make Saudi Arabia look like they are going to kindergarten). I also learned that Finland is one of the most competitive places to become a teacher (be it a nursery assistant or a professor at their top university).<br/><br/>All of this and more I learned and most importantly enjoyed about this book. The author examined and deconstructed a lot of the stereotypes that people who don’t live in this region have. From the outside, it looks like a socialist, community based paradise on earth, but as with any paradise, it doesn’t take long to find a few cracks in the shiny facade (i.e. Sweden and the Nazi’s). <br/><br/>If you are either sceptical and excited by this so called Utopia, I highly recommend checking this book out. This has now spurred me to try and find more books about this topic because there were parts (and more specifically countries) that I felt could have been explored more."

"As I listen to news reports about America's growing inequality and polarization, failing schools, out of control gun violence, and bloated health care; bland, homogeneous Scandinavia looks better and better. Yet as Booth points out, the Nordic wonderlands are not as homogeneous as we assume: all are dealing with large numbers of ethnically and culturally diverse immigrants, (with varying degrees of success) and the cultural and economic differences within the Scandinavian region are notable (fun loving, arty Danes; morose, alcoholic Finns; efficient outdoorsy Norwegians and bossy yet dull Swedes.). Although the subtitle suggests some kind of epic myth-busting, Bloom generally agrees that Scandinavia is a pretty great place to live, and that creating a more egalitarian society really is healthier and happier for everyone."