Today I want to recommend one of my favourite Swedish books: Ladies from Mara Lee. Unfortunately, it doesn’t exist in English but I think the Swedish is not so difficult. Even if you haven’t studied Swedish so long it’s good to understand.
So what’s the book about? It deals with four Swedish single women in their thirties (no, it’s not the Swedish version of Sex and the City) who live in Stockholm, Paris and Skåne. All four women are somehow involved in art. One of the ladies is for instance a successful photographer in Paris and another one owns a gallery in Stockholm.
I find the book so fantastic and unique because it discusses aesthetics in Sweden and the striving for perfect beauty in a very smart way. One of the main characters, Lea, often reflects on her beauty and its effects on her environment in a very serious way without seeming stupid or ridiculous to the reader. Siri, the photographer in Paris, tries to compromise perfect beauty in her pictures.
Apart from the discussion about beauty it’s also great how homosexuality is treated in this book. There is a lesbian relationship but it is never considered as something ‘not normal’. The words ‘homosexuality’ and ‘lesbian’ are even not mentioned.
As an immigrant in Sweden I find it also interesting that the author is born in Korea and so probably offers a different perspective on the Swedish society than a person who has lived here his or her whole life.
The only thing that I’m mot really convinced of is the title “Ladies” since I find it misleading. You expect a trivial Nordic version of Sex and the City instead of an in-depth reflection on beauty ideals and aesthetics in Sweden.
Thank you! I’m learning Swedish and this will be a fun book to read while I learn!
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Nicely written! here is an example of how the semantic meaning of the word ladies maybe differs from different cultural perspectives. I mean It can be interpreted both as some kind of sex and the city women or as a classy lady. Maybe the author is affected of her/his different cultural upbringing in the choice of words?
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Awesome!
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