The History of Danish Dreams

Rating:
Summary: Drags too much
Review: This book has glimpses of greatness, but such glimpses are too few. Much of the book makes reference to situations that are too hard for the reader to grasp or are not very well described. Taken as a whole, the book has some great characters and some interesting dialog and points. However, it drags too much and some of the storylines lose the reader's interest.

Rating:
Summary: A dreamy read
Review: This book is a stunning literary accomplishment that should be much more widely known than it is. Peter Hoeg weaves this tale in a way that marries the magical realism of García Márquez with philosophical ruminations reminiscent of Kundera.

This is the history of Danish dreams in the sense of hopes, of aspirations: of discussing what Danes of different classes and generations have wanted in the past two hundred years, and how these aspirations contributed to building the Danish society of today. Hoeg achieves a rare and seemingly contradictory feat: he criticizes a great many aspects of his country and its society, yet does so in a way that makes his Denmark captivating to non-Danish readers. Hoeg tells his story in a series of seven segments which relate to each other, through the lives of a cast of recurring characters and their children and grandchildren, paradigmatic of Denmark's different social classes. Hoeg brings to life the foolish 18th-century Count of Morkhoj, who one day decrees that on his estate time shall stand still forever; he gives us the Teander Rabow family, owners of a provincial newspaper whose power over their fellow townspeople is such that they print the news first and the events actually happen later, precisely at the time and in the fashion dictated by the influential journal. In one segment, Hoeg includes a recurring device in which several of the most influential figures of 19th-century Denmark --- a business tycoon, an architect, a Socialist rabble-rouser --- are secretly all siblings who have conspired to obscure their shared past as the sons of a small-time crook and a circus performer. And at the beginning and end of the story he introduces us to the devious Carl Laurids, the millionaire rogue whose underhanded schemes and shady dealings so perfectly epitomize the financial world of the twentieth century.

The wisdom in Hoeg's book is not exclusive to Denmark: he speaks of the nature of "the twentieth century, where things change so rapidly that parents' experiences are totally and hopelessly outdated by the time their children have need of them." This book works on two levels, both as an entertaining family saga of men and women in their times, and as an embroidered parable of the forces behind national conscience. This is a dreamy read that will please anyone who's looking for unusual philosophical storytelling and who welcomes a book that fully engages one's mind.

Rating:
Summary: A dreamy read
Review: This book is a stunning literary accomplishment that should be much more widely known than it is. Peter Hoeg weaves this tale in a way that marries the magical realism of García Márquez with philosophical ruminations reminiscent of Kundera.

This is the history of Danish dreams in the sense of hopes, of aspirations: of discussing what Danes of different classes and generations have wanted in the past two hundred years, and how these aspirations contributed to building the Danish society of today. Hoeg achieves a rare and seemingly contradictory feat: he criticizes a great many aspects of his country and its society, yet does so in a way that makes his Denmark captivating to non-Danish readers. Hoeg tells his story in a series of seven segments which relate to each other, through the lives of a cast of recurring characters and their children and grandchildren, paradigmatic of Denmark's different social classes. Hoeg brings to life the foolish 18th-century Count of Morkhoj, who one day decrees that on his estate time shall stand still forever; he gives us the Teander Rabow family, owners of a provincial newspaper whose power over their fellow townspeople is such that they print the news first and the events actually happen later, precisely at the time and in the fashion dictated by the influential journal. In one segment, Hoeg includes a recurring device in which several of the most influential figures of 19th-century Denmark --- a business tycoon, an architect, a Socialist rabble-rouser --- are secretly all siblings who have conspired to obscure their shared past as the sons of a small-time crook and a circus performer. And at the beginning and end of the story he introduces us to the devious Carl Laurids, the millionaire rogue whose underhanded schemes and shady dealings so perfectly epitomize the financial world of the twentieth century.

The wisdom in Hoeg's book is not exclusive to Denmark: he speaks of the nature of "the twentieth century, where things change so rapidly that parents' experiences are totally and hopelessly outdated by the time their children have need of them." This book works on two levels, both as an entertaining family saga of men and women in their times, and as an embroidered parable of the forces behind national conscience. This is a dreamy read that will please anyone who's looking for unusual philosophical storytelling and who welcomes a book that fully engages one's mind.

Rating:
Summary: Some of us are looking up at the stars
Review: This book is entirely different from Hoeg's other works, in the same way that Borderliners is a world away from Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow. However, elements of that essential Hoeg charm we know and love surface continually throughout the novel. We are continually amazed at that ability of his to disregard reality and to enter his own strange world of twisted time, obsessive compulsives and the Danish social consience. This book takes longer than most to get your teeth into, but it's worth the effort. You finish feeling as if you've just enjoyed a long and fascinating stroll through turn of the century Denmark with a chatty and just a little bit mad child by your side, whispering things and occasionally sending you jolts of misery. Read the book and revel in his microcosim

Rating:
Summary: Narrative Disorientation
Review: This is an exceptionally well-written book, and a well-told story. The shifting narratives add to the depth of the picture of Danish society that Hoeg is trying to draw. We see a large cross-section of social classes and psychological states as well as historical periods. This tapestry of life is often tragic and occassionally inspiring. Hoeg is assembling a collage here, so readers should not expect the gripping suspense narrative of Smilla's Sense of Snow. But readers searching for an innovative and thought-provoking novel with shifting narrative will be richly rewarded.

Rating:
Summary: Narrative Disorientation
Review: This is an exceptionally well-written book, and a well-told story. The shifting narratives add to the depth of the picture of Danish society that Hoeg is trying to draw. We see a large cross-section of social classes and psychological states as well as historical periods. This tapestry of life is often tragic and occassionally inspiring. Hoeg is assembling a collage here, so readers should not expect the gripping suspense narrative of Smilla's Sense of Snow. But readers searching for an innovative and thought-provoking novel with shifting narrative will be richly rewarded.

Rating:
Summary: Imaginative funny dreamlike tour of the twentieth century
Review: When I finished this book, I suddenly realised that it was 3AM, and I had been reading solidly for about 6 hours. That's how good this book is. Characters like Amalie are so lifelike, that you can love them on one page and hate them on the next, without seeing any contradiction in their characters. The book starts off in the realms of fantastic myth and dream, but as the 20th century progresses, history creeps in and memories become more reliable. The dreams of the title are the "memes" (the cultural equivalent of genes) of the characters, passed on from generation to generation,hybridised and mutated. They are also the symbolic visions of sleep. One reviewer said that the characters are "too heavily laden with symbolic baggage". I think this misses the point. Hoeg is saying that everyone's personality is shaped by the dreams or memes of those who have come before, through family, religion and society. The symbols aren't baggage, Hoeg has seen through the twentieth century and found the underlying myth.

Rating:
Summary: A little hard going, but worth the effort.
Review: When I was reading this book, I was thinking "will this ever end?". I am glad I persevered with it. More than six months after I finished it, characters are popping back into my head and making me smile. I think that is the highest recommendation that you can give a novel. The way all the threads of the story were interconnected and in particular how they were resolved at the end was very satisfying. But, people who enjoyed 'Smilla's Sense Of Snow' may find that 'magic realism' is not the genre for them. In fact, the two books are so unalike that they don't even feel like were written by the same author. And that I think says something about Peter Hoeg's ability.

Rating:
Summary: A little hard going, but worth the effort.
Review: When I was reading this book, I was thinking "will this ever end?". I am glad I persevered with it. More than six months after I finished it, characters are popping back into my head and making me smile. I think that is the highest recommendation that you can give a novel. The way all the threads of the story were interconnected and in particular how they were resolved at the end was very satisfying. But, people who enjoyed 'Smilla's Sense Of Snow' may find that 'magic realism' is not the genre for them. In fact, the two books are so unalike that they don't even feel like were written by the same author. And that I think says something about Peter Hoeg's ability.

Rating:
Summary: Worth Reading But Very Hard Work!
Review: Worth Reading, often thought provoking, but very hard work and maybe loses something in the translation to English?