A journey to find Norway's supposed bliss makes for a comic
travelogue that asks, seriously, what makes Norwegians so damn
happy-and does it translate? Norway is usually near or at the top
of the World Happiness Report. But is it really one of the happiest
countries on Earth? Eric Dregni had his doubts. Years ago he and
his wife had lived in this country his great-great-grandfather once
fled. When their son Eilif was born there, the Norwegian government
paid for the birth, gave them $5,000, and deposited $150 into their
bank account every month, but surely happiness was more than a
generous health care system. What about all those grim months
without sun? When Eilif turned fifteen, father and son decided to
go back together and investigate. For the Love of Cod is their
droll report on the state of purported Norwegian bliss. Arriving in
May, a month of festivals and eternal sun, the Dregnis are thrust
into Norway at its merriest-and into the reality of the
astronomical cost of living, which forces them to find lodging with
friends and relatives. But this gives them an inside look at the
secrets to a better life. It's not the massive amounts of money
flowing from the North Sea oil fields but how these funds are
distributed that fuels the Norwegian version of democratic
socialism-resulting in miniscule differences between rich and poor.
Locals introduce them to the principles underlying their avowed
contentment, from an active environmentalism that translates into
flyskam (flight shame), which keeps Norwegians in the family cabin
for the long vacations prescribed by law and charges a 150 percent
tax on gas guzzlers (which, Eilif observes, means more Teslas seen
in one hour than in a year in Minnesota!). From a passion for
dugnad or community volunteerism and sakte or "slow," a rejection
of the mad pace of modernity, to the commodification of Viking
history and the dark side of Black Metal music that turns the idea
of quaint, traditional Norway upside down, this idiosyncratic
father and son tour lets readers, free of flyskam, see how, or
whether, Norwegian happiness translates.
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