Name: Childhood
ISBN: 9780241391938

Tove Ditlevsen

The first volume in The Copenhagen Trilogy, the searing portrait of a woman's journey through love, friendship, ambition and addiction, from one of Denmark's most celebrated twentieth-century writers Tove knows she is a misfit, whose childhood is made for a completely different girl. In her working-class neighbourhood in Copenhagen, she is enthralled by her wild, red-headed friend Ruth, who initiates her into adult secrets. But Tove cannot reveal her true self to her or to anyone else. For 'long, mysterious words begin to crawl across my soul', and she comes to realize that she has a vocation, something unknowable within her - and that she must one day, painfully but inevitably, leave the narrow street of her childhood behind. Childhood, the first volume in The Copenhagen Trilogy, is a visceral portrait of girlhood and female friendship, told with lyricism and vivid intensity.

Childhood

This kind of writing is made for me. Ditlevsen writing is lovely, with a lyrical quality to it, while her stories speak to the girlhoods of women nearly a century apart.

Maria

so beautiful and moving. you can tell tove ditlevsen is a poet from the very beginning. "in the morning there was hope" . what a beautiful way to start this series - especially a book focusing primarily on her childhood - and set the scene for what's to come: the beauty of the morning before anything is disturbed, before tove's mother sets her eyes on her daughter, before everything turns bleak and chaotic. 
i have to admit, when i went into this the fact that this is a memoir flew completely over my head, but it's written in a way that makes it so accessible that it almost feels fictional. it's a very fast and short read, but that makes it by no means less insightful. the first part of the book, especially, is written in such a way that reflects the world as seen through the eyes of a child, who, although perceptive, can only explain some things in ways that only a child can. in this sense, i can understand why it’s often recommended for fans of elena ferrante’s neapolitan quartet.
i loved the underlying theme of childhood feeling both oppressive and then beautiful and desirable once you manage to grow out of it.  Childhood is long and narrow like a coffin, and you can’t get out of it on your own.  [...] my childhood falls silently to the bottom of my memory, that library of the soul from which I will draw knowledge and experience for the rest of my life. 
tove's constant feeling of alienation, of feeling left out, and incapable of fitting in the way everyone else does is, i think, resonating with many, and as usual with stories like this i think there's some comfort in looking at the memoirs of someone who grew up a hundred years ago and realise that in many ways we struggle with similar issues. of course, tove's story is very much influenced by the historical and societal context of the time (post-ww1, a very patriarchal society), but even so, her thoughts and musings are very much in line with someone trying to make sense and find their place in the world. 
finally, i think the way her complicated relationship with her mother - exacerbated by her mother's constantly changing moods - is depicted is devastating but done beautifully. we get a glimpse of this tumultuous relationship from the very beginning and it doesn't give out till the very end. i was especially struck by this passage:  I look up at her and understand many things at once. She is smaller than other adult women, younger than other mothers, and there’s a world outside my street that she fears. And whenever we both fear it together, she will stab me in the back.  
anyway, this is all to say that i loved it, and can't wait to see what the second book has in store

eliz

I wish the chapters were trimmed down because it's very practical to skip almost everything then read only the last five sentences and it would still be enough to sum up the entire thing

Nica

Libby

Jacob Lindblad

The celebrated Danish poet Tove Ditlevsen begins the Copenhagen Trilogy ("A masterpiece" —The Guardian) with Childhood, her coming-of-age memoir about pursuing a life and a passion beyond the confines of her upbringing—and into the difficult years described in Youth and Dependency Tove knows she is a misfit whose childhood is made for a completely different girl. In her working-class neighborhood in Copenhagen, she is enthralled by her wild, red-headed friend Ruth, who initiates her into adult secrets. But Tove cannot reveal her true self to her or to anyone else. For "long, mysterious words begin to crawl across" her soul, and she comes to realize that she has a vocation, something unknowable within her—and that she must one day, painfully but inevitably, leave the narrow street of her childhood behind. Childhood, the first volume in the Copenhagen Trilogy, is a visceral portrait of girlhood and female friendship, told with lyricism and vivid intensity.