A lovely listen

This was very much in the vein of Dominique Loreau’s ‘L’art de la simplicite’, Marie Kondo’s ‘The life changing magic of tidying’ and Meik Weiking’s ‘The little book of hygge’. If you liked those books, it is worth giving this book a go. A good Christmas listen as you potter about the house.

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3 people found this helpful

nothing to get excited about!

I confess I do envy the Scandinavian way of life, outlook, politics, culture, but this book was everso dull. A bit like all the good intentions you had ever had rolled into one long pious narrative. And obviously targeted at a different demographic as chapters on raising young children not at all relevant to me. I dont think my teenager would be very interested in leaf rubbings, for example, but I would be interested to know about approaches with young adults and intergenerational care in Sweden. Dull as pleasantly scented dishwater, in my humble opinion.

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Inspiring listening

Really enjoyed learning about the Swedish lifestyle and this book covers just about all aspects of life. Especially liked the section on children. Highly recommended for everyone wanting positivity in their lives as there is an abundance of positive practices hat we can grow from in this book. . The narration was very easy to listen to but I do alway prefer to hear the author themselves , but it had no detriment on the book it’s just my preference x

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1 person found this helpful

instant feel good inspiration

love this book. narrator has easy on the ear British accent which is (personally) comforting. I am intently inspired to organise my life in a stress free way and am able to do so while the words of NB fill my thoughts. I recommend all the time.

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A rambling book of contradictions padded out with third-rate research of the Internet that has very little to do with the title

I was hoping for an intelligent take on the Swedish way of life and a view on how one could create balance. Instead I was subject to the ramblings of A housewife that could have have written this book out of boredom. Possibly the worst audiobook I’ve ever downloaded from Amazon, after 10 minutes of listening I realised I’d made a mistake, but decided to keep listening; Partly to see if I was wrong and partly because I had a long journey ahead, however after a further hour of listening frankly I wanted to drive my car off the edge of a cliff.... Definitely not one I would recommend.

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Disappointingly underwhelming and patronising.

I’m the first in line for a great and inspiring read about Scandinavian lifestyle and a huge fan of Helen Russell, Meik Wiking et al. But this was nothing in comparison to those.

It was, unfortunately, a terrible combination of condescending, smug, self indulgent and lacking in any real cultural insight into the Swedish lifestyle, or I must say, the British.

If it has taken a move abroad to appreciate that it’s nice to make your friends a cup of tea and drop off a meal to a family with a newborn, then I’m terribly sorry for the state of affairs of her former life.

Equally, I’m sorry to inform the author that we mere Brits here in Somerset at least have been eating local honey for a good few centuries now too. We also look after our wooded areas with care and bother to read stories to our children everyday, if it’s any comfort.

Overall, I’d say this is very much entry-level in the world of uplifting culturally inspired tomes - you already know everything she heralds as revelatory truths if you’re reading the blurb for this book - and I’d urge you to seek out something a little more engaging and a lot less patronising.

Old news and an unfortunate reading voice too. Dull as dishwater.

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Possibly the most boring book written

I'm sorry. It was impossible to listen to this for longer than 2 hours. The art of stating the blatantly obvious is taken to new heights and the droned voice is sedative. Aviloid this book.

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