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13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Learn more about yourself from Eric among the Norwegians, November 26, 2008
This review is from: In Cod We Trust: Living the Norwegian Dream (Hardcover)
I came across "In Cod We Trust" while working on a newsletter for a Scandinavian specialty store and was attracted to Dregni's account basically because I loved the title. After sitting down with the merchandise, I read it straight through -- fascinated because his book ultimately tells me how many Norwegian tendencies we retain in Minnesota, or, as described in his book, "Norway's colony in America."
Dregni and his wife spent a year in Trondheim, Norway, on a Fulbright fellowship. Knowing no Norwegian at all, he approached their experience as a blank canvas free of ethnic sentimentaily and preconception. And he has much to report, from encounters with taciturn neighbors to surviving the dark winter months and his requisite quest to locate his family's roots.
But he's also describing life in the Upper Midwest communities in which we grew up. Here's the key that unlocks our sometimes-mystifying hyper-humility and self-deprecating sense of humor. If you've never heard of Janteloven, the semi-satirical "laws" that keep Norwegians humble, this is the place to start.
That Eric is a terrific writer is a wonderful gift on this voyage of discovery. His stories are sharply observed, engaging and funny ... so much so that you don't even need Norwegian roots to enjoy it!
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17 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not as expected..., April 7, 2009
This review is from: In Cod We Trust: Living the Norwegian Dream (Hardcover)
Dregni is a great story teller, not a fantastic writer by any means, but his writing is down-to-earth and very consumable by everyone. That it is written in a conversational tone and not academic/analytical musings makes it much easier to relate with than similar books. That said, I was expecting a...broader perspective on his time spent in Norway. Recently, I had the honor to take a similar journey, but perhaps mine was not as isolated as his because I was in southern Norway and with very distant relatives. However, for a month I lived on my own and the Norway I experienced was far different, but it must be emphasized that Norway is quite regional and where I was might have played a large role in my interactions with Norwegians.
His tale is one of most Americans; longing to discover the family roots, implanted by an old-timer who clutched at whatever parts of his heritage he could find to at least give his children something to know and with which to identify. The reader is taken through Dregni's childhood of a father wanting desperately to maintain some ounce of his Viking ancestors, much to the chagrin of the family, who doesn't share his enthusiasm about lutefisk. Dregni decides to compete for a Fulbright scholarship to research his family history in Norway, and is granted the opportunity. His wife, however, doesn't seem too keen about it, as she has just found out she's pregnant.
Perhaps this is what bothered me the most, but the wife seemed to be such a stick in the mud. Now, I've never had the displeasure of being with child (thankfully), so what I can conjure up is lots of morning sickness and irritability, and combined with a foreign country with no family to help you through your first pregnancy could make one rather cautious and otherwise dreary. She just seemed to really prevent many real Norwegian experiences (parties, exploration, soaking up the culture, etc). Dregni does force her out, but most of the time she seems to stay in the house, quietly fuming about her "predicament." Neither she nor the author comes away from Norway speaking the language even slightly fluently, it seems as though they just existed in a tiny bubble of imported America. Dregni did take Norwegian classes, but I don't remember the book having anything about her taking language classes.
In all, what I see is what could have been a great experience for someone majoring in the subject, or perhaps, fully interested in learning about other cultures. Instead, we have observations made from afar, and it pains me to see the scholarship used in such a way, as there doesn't seem to be much else here other than: "I lived in Norway for a year with my pregnant wife, our son was born here, it's icy and cold, the Norwegians are antisocial, and rakfisk is worse than lutefisk." There are redeeming qualities (humor, jokes about Norwegian Americans, reflections on both Americans and Norwegians), but as an anthropology major I was expecting more from a family being paid to STUDY Norway, all they did was exist in it.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Vicarious Vacation in Norway, April 18, 2010
This review is from: In Cod We Trust: Living the Norwegian Dream (Hardcover)
I was initially put off by the high cover price of $29.95 for such a small book when I bought it at a Scandinavian shop. However I am glad I made the purchase.
The book tells the story of Eric Dregni's year-long sojourn in Norway, land of his ancestors, as the recipient of a Fulbright award. Along with his pregnant wife Katy, we get a view of what it would be like to move to Norway and take up residence in a strange culture, familiar due to ancestry yet alien since the modern Norwegian culture is not always like that one's ancestors left 100 years ago.
Dregni tells his story with subtle Nordic humor throughout, as he and his wife navigate the many unexpected challenges of living day to day with Norwegian bureaucracy, public systems, infrastructure, customs, food, clothing, celebrations, and people. It is surprising to learn that Norwegians consider Minnesota to be a "colony" of Norway, and accept returning Americans of Norwegian ancestry as "Norwegians" no matter how mixed their blood. In Norway, university students study the immigration of the 19th century and Norwegian cultural enclaves in America, in order to learn more about lost dialects and folkways that were handed down faithfully by immigrant forebears in the new world. The oil wealth of modern Norway supports a near-utopian society of pleasant contemporary living, which contrasts sharply with the poverty and struggle that propelled so many Norwegians in the 1800's to emigrate to America.
For Dregni, the story comes full circle as his son is born in Norway, named for the great-grandfather who left it. Dregni even finds the farm site where his great-grandfather lived, and gains insight into the challenges faced by his forebear.
I read this book in one sitting and enjoyed it immensely. It has a permanent place on my bookshelf as a primer in case I ever have the opportunity to visit Norway myself someday. Until then, I have vicariously enjoyed a trip via this volume.
(P.S. If you like this type of story where an American of Norwegian ancestry returns to the "old country" to search out their roots, you might like to read "Astri, My Astri" by Deb Nelson Gourley, another student who sojourns in Norway and finds the localities that her ancestors knew, along with meeting distant relations.)
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