I am usually a fast reader. When a book is interesting and the writer’s style appealing, it is no surprise to finish the book in a day. During the just-ended Christmas, I finished three books that I can only recommend to other readers – one by a Finnish, one by a Swedish, and one by a Czech author.
Anu Partanen is a Finnish journalist based in New York and the author of the book “Nordic Theory of Everything: In a Search of a Better Life.” Anu compares the various aspects of life in the United States and in Finland, focusing mostly on child care, education, health and social insurance, health care, taxes, and work-life balance. No surprise how well Finland comes out of it 🙂 Anu mixes in the book personal stories with the hard data, such as research findings and statistics. The book is therefore easy to comprehend.
But let’s be all aware – the book was published in 2016, and a lot has changed since then. Also, as a person who lived shorter or longer time in 3 different European countries, I would say that almost every European country will come out of the comparison in these areas better than the USA. Because this is Europe. We have very different mindsets, historical roots, and attitudes towards what we expect from the state. Differences among European countries are still significant, but the common ground is present. The health and social insurance that we expect to be available for us in the case of need, universal access to health care, or mostly free public education are no myths across Europe as well.
What was eye-opening for me was how Partanen described the Nordic theory of love – rising up a strong individual, who can be who they are alone, in relationships, in the community, without being a burden or relying on other people, e.g., the spouse, the parents, or the children. I still have to proceed with her explanations and correct my perspective on things. The social state I was part of from my childhood is very different – in the case of need, people should first try to solve things themselves. If they cannot, the closer family should help. If they still cannot solve the issues, there is a larger community, town, and just then the state. Yes, young people start living on their own much later than in Finland, and it is no surprise that many families take care of their ageing parents at home.
The biggest challenge is for all countries to find out where lies the line between “mama hotel” and lack of skills to live independently, or if and how to respect ageing parents’ wish to stay living surrounded by family members. Even if loneliness is on the rise everywhere, the Finnish young people and the elderly are particularly vulnerable. Is it then the individual strong person living alone by the financial support of the social state, or is it actually a lonely person who would rather have a different arrangement?
Gellert Tamas is a Swedish journalist and writer. In 2021, he published his most famous book, “The Laser Man: A Story about Sweden”. The book is a reportage. Gellert went through numerous written sources, as well as interviews with the witnesses, victims or police officers. The book is a bestseller and was adapted into a play, as well as into a mini TV series. The book describes Sweden at the beginning of 90-ties, during which racism and violence against migrants were at their peak. Gellert is not blind to Swedish nacist history. He explains well what legislative gaps, as well as gaps in the people’s mindset, were missing in Sweden at the beginning of 90.-ties when there were attempts to kill 11 people of immigrant backgrounds in Stockholm and Uppsala. Gellert describes in detail how the investigation was carried out, together with the lifeline and the profile of the killer.
Alena Mornštajnová is a Czech author who has become famous after her novel “Hana”. Hana was translated into many languages, including Finnish. Alena writes her story based on the real events from the small municipality in the south of the Czech Republic before, during, and after the holocaust.
In the book, the stories of three generations are described while the main character reminds Hana: the daughter, the older sister, the only family member who left to take care of a small Mira. While I do not want to spoil, I will just add that Hana was once a local beauty who dreamed of being married and having children. The destiny took her dad away, and then almost her whole family, including herself, to the concentration camp. She survived, but was never the same as before. The awkward aunt, who her closest family was afraid of, or at least ashamed of, was left the only caretaker of her niece. And despite everything, she took the challenge and did the best she could.
This book will hardly be set aside once you start reading. Many people think that everything has already been written about the Holocaust, but believe me, it has not. You will cry, you will be sad, and you will for sure start searching for more books from Mornštajnová.
