Foto do autor
7 Works 24 Membros 3 Reviews

About the Author

Obras de Cédric H. Roserens

Etiquetado

Conhecimento Comum

Data de nascimento
1974
Sexo
male
Nacionalidade
Switzerland
Local de nascimento
Martigny-Bourg, Wallis, Schweiz
Locais de residência
Geneva, Switzerland
Rejkavik, Iceland

Membros

Resenhas

After 89 tries to win something on Goodreads, no. 90 (this one) is a winner: [b:Happísland: Le court mais pas trop bref récit d'un espion suisse en Islande|27255949|Happísland Le court mais pas trop bref récit d'un espion suisse en Islande|Cédric H. Roserens|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1445529294s/27255949.jpg|47305853] by the Swiss [a:Cédric H. Roserens|9808622|Cédric H. Roserens|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1446200304p2/9808622.jpg]. So, thanks to Goodreads and especially the author for sending me a copy of this little work.

What's it about? In under 40 pages, M. Roserens tells the story of how Switzerland is no longer the best country to live in. Iceland has conquered that throne in the Classement Dubreuil, a ranking of countries based on the peoples' quality of life.
As the Swiss don't like being second, the government sent someone over - in the context of a so-called touristic project - to investigate life in Iceland. How and where do people live? What do they eat and drink? How do they spend their (spare) time? What's the weather like over there? What's the language like? And so on and so forth.

To not arouse suspicion (of his political mission), our character tells in 12 letters - at the end of each month - to his mother (Trudi) about his experiences. Each letter deals with a different aspect of Iceland. Also, our character is staying with a few locals, as a housemate.

Instead of presenting such data in a dry way, Cédric H. Roserens - who has spent some time in Iceland, so this is kind of a short presentation of his view on the country - presented it in quite an original package, I'd say.

Even if it's short - a little too short? - I found it quite interesting and well done. He could easily write a sequel and focus on other aspects. But with this short and quick read, the author's given an inviting look on (some of) Iceland's characteristics.
… (mais)
 
Marcado
TechThing | 1 outra resenha | Jan 22, 2021 |
As the sub-titles imply, Happísland and Fantasviss are basically mirror-images of each other: in the first, the Swiss government, meeting secretly on the Rütli, has become concerned about Iceland overtaking it in an important "quality of life" index, and sends its top secret agent Hans-Üli Stauffacher to spend the year 2012 living undercover in Reykjavik. His monthly despatches to his controller (disguised as letters to his Mama) describe the weather and scenery, the strange things he is made to eat, and the advanced social security system; he tries to cope with the absence of cheese, public transport and vegetables, and he attends various local festivals.

In Fantasviss, it is a few years later, and Switzerland is creeping ahead again (after generous tax-advantages were granted by the federal government to the compiler of the "quality of life" index), so the Icelanders send out their top secret agent Sigurd Sig Sigurdsson ("Triple Sig") to check out the competition: he spends a month travelling around all twenty-six cantons (or, if you're pedantic, twenty cantons and six half-cantons) to discover the bizarre diversity of the Swiss, united only in their patriotic admiration of Roger Federer. He is puzzled by the scarcity of toponyms (most cantons seem to share a name with their main town and with the lake that it is on), by the complex inefficiencies of the health and education systems, the backwardness about women's rights, and so on, but impressed with the many interesting local dishes he gets to eat, the scenery, and the penknives. Asked to check up on the relevance of militarism to Switzerland's success, he learns that without soldiers the pubs would all be forced to close, and without army uniforms there would be no garment industry. He also discovers that the Swiss defeated the Burgundians in the fifteenth century by sneakily selling them penknives fitted with corkscrews...

The conclusion seems to be that the main advantage the Icelanders have over the Swiss is their low population density, whilst the Swiss profit from their more agreeable climate and their close links to the rest of Europe. We could probably have guessed that...

Entertaining, as far as it goes — they are only 45 minutes each on audio.
… (mais)
½
 
Marcado
thorold | 1 outra resenha | Jan 6, 2021 |
As the sub-titles imply, Happísland and Fantasviss are basically mirror-images of each other: in the first, the Swiss government, meeting secretly on the Rütli, has become concerned about Iceland overtaking it in an important "quality of life" index, and sends its top secret agent Hans-Üli Stauffacher to spend the year 2012 living undercover in Reykjavik. His monthly despatches to his controller (disguised as letters to his Mama) describe the weather and scenery, the strange things he is made to eat, and the advanced social security system; he tries to cope with the absence of cheese, public transport and vegetables, and he attends various local festivals.

In Fantasviss, it is a few years later, and Switzerland is creeping ahead again (after generous tax-advantages were granted by the federal government to the compiler of the "quality of life" index), so the Icelanders send out their top secret agent Sigurd Sig Sigurdsson ("Triple Sig") to check out the competition: he spends a month travelling around all twenty-six cantons (or, if you're pedantic, twenty cantons and six half-cantons) to discover the bizarre diversity of the Swiss, united only in their patriotic admiration of Roger Federer. He is puzzled by the scarcity of toponyms (most cantons seem to share a name with their main town and with the lake that it is on), by the complex inefficiencies of the health and education systems, the backwardness about women's rights, and so on, but impressed with the many interesting local dishes he gets to eat, the scenery, and the penknives. Asked to check up on the relevance of militarism to Switzerland's success, he learns that without soldiers the pubs would all be forced to close, and without army uniforms there would be no garment industry. He also discovers that the Swiss defeated the Burgundians in the fifteenth century by sneakily selling them penknives fitted with corkscrews...

The conclusion seems to be that the main advantage the Icelanders have over the Swiss is their low population density, whilst the Swiss profit from their more agreeable climate and their close links to the rest of Europe. We could probably have guessed that...

Entertaining, as far as it goes — they are only 45 minutes each on audio.
… (mais)
½
 
Marcado
thorold | Jan 6, 2021 |

Estatísticas

Obras
7
Membros
24
Popularidade
#522,742
Avaliação
½ 3.5
Resenhas
3
ISBNs
5
Idiomas
1