Fishing in Utopia: Sweden and the Future That Disappeared
This nonfiction book uses on-the-ground reporting and analysis to trace the history and transformation of Sweden’s welfare-state model. It examines the strengths and weaknesses of social policy while considering the gap between ideal and reality.
Work Information
It reconsiders both the idealized image of the welfare state and the changes it has undergone.
By layering personal memory of Sweden over the political history of its welfare state, the book loosens the grip of an idealized national image. It reads as both reportage and essay, moving back and forth between private and public history.
Review Summaries
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Some readers appreciate its social analysis, while others feel the narrative is less cohesive than it could be. It tends to divide readers between those who enjoy its observations and those who find the approach uneven.
Book Information
- Publisher
- Granta Books
- Published
- 2009-08-01
- Pages
- 263 pages
- Language
- 英語
- Size
- 13.34 x 2.54 x 20.32 cm
- ISBN-13
- 9781847080813
- ISBN-10
- 1847080812
- Price
- 3380 JPY
- Category
- 洋書/Sports/Hunting & Fishing/Fishing
From the 1960s to the 1980s, Sweden was an affluent, egalitarian country envied around the world. Refugees were welcomed, even misfit young Englishmen could find a place there. Andrew Brown spent part of his childhood in Sweden during the 1960s. In the 1970s he married a Swedish woman and worked in a timber mill raising their small son. Fishing became his passion and his escape. In the mid-1980s his marriage and the country fell apart. The Prime Minister was assassinated. The welfare system crumbled along with the industries that had supported it. 20 years later Andrew Brown traveled the length of Sweden in search of the country he had loved, and then hated, and now found he loved again.
Andrew Brown writes for The Guardian and is the author of The Darwin Wars and In the Beginning Was the Worm .
Reviews
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Fishing in Utopia is the bitter-sweet memoir of the time the author spent living, working and most importantly, fishing in Sweden. He first lived in Sweden, in Stockholm, for a couple of years in his childhood and returned as a young man to be with his Swedish girlfriend. He and Anita later married and had one son but the marriage ended and he returned alone to England. During his time in Sweden, he was able to follow what appears to be the greatest love of his life - fishing, and from the book it is clear that he believes fishing there is like nowhere else on earth. The book gives a detailed insight into the psyche of the Swedes and of Sweden itself. Naturally, he still has a close affinity with the country and as he now considers himself to be an outsider, he can see how the country has changed since he first lived there - and not always for the better. I loved the book and read it in two sittings and finished it wanting more. I must be getting old and sentimental - I found it tugged at the heartstrings and spent the next few days brooding over it. A great read.
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He has some really good insights into Sweden. The book is referenced by others for how he is able to convey their way of life. Another book along these lines is The Almost Nearly Perfect People: Behind the Myth of the Scandinavian Utopia by Michael Booth. And specific to Denmark: The year of living danishly: Uncovering the Secrets of the World's Happiest Country by Helen Russell. The Russell book is very woman perspective (she's pregnant in Denmark) where Brown is very guy-ish: he's got some long details on fishing which you can skip. All three are English, which is a good kick to Americans as the English have their own pecking order that Americans need to get some perspective. All three are very good.
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As a Swede, now living in another country, I found this book fascinating. It added understanding for me to the country I come from. I don't agree with all he says, but then there are obviously variations. I am no fisherman, but I liked the almost lyrical descriptions of his experiences with nature when he fished - and that feels very Swedish. Sweden is a large space for not very many people, so there is lots of nature around.
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Very interesting incites into Swedish attitudes.
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It is always interesting to hear someone from abroad give his version of a country as a foreigner living in a country. Could have been written with a more satiric or joking angle to it.
Related Literary Awards
- Orwell Prize Edition 16 (2009) ・Winner