This is Europe: The Way We Live Now

by Ben Judah

What does it now mean to call yourself European? Who makes up this population of some 750 million, sprawled from Ireland to Ukraine, from Sweden to Turkey? Who has always called it home, and who has newly arrived from elsewhere? Who are the people who drive our long-distance lorries, steward our criss-crossing planes, lovingly craft our legacy wines, fish our depleted waters, and risk life itself in search of safety and a new start?

In a series of vivid, ambitious, darkly visceral but always empathetic portraits of other people’s lives, journalist Ben Judah invites us to meet them. Drawn from hours of painstaking interviews, these vital stories reveal a frenetic and vibrant continent which has been transformed by diversity, migration, the internet, climate change, Covid, war and the quest for freedom.

Laid dramatically bare, it may not always be a Europe we recognize – but this is Europe.

Genres: Nonfiction, Politics, History, Travel, Sociology, Audiobook, European History

502 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2023

About the author

Ben Judah was born in London. He studied at Oxford University and has travelled widely in Russia and Central Asia. His writing has featured in numerous publications, including the New York Times, the Evening Standard and Standpoint. His first book, Fragile Empire, was published by Yale University Press in 2013.

Reviews

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m full of admiration for what Ben Judah has accomplished here. The scale, scope and ambition of the project is extraordinary.

The portraits themselves are done with such unity of purpose and style. He completely removes himself from the text. Early on I was worried it would read like an embellished history where the author fills in the unknowns fictionalising the account, but I was quickly and utterly convinced of his research and reporting - the method is the book. The authenticity comes from an understated resolution to each piece, and enough of the protagonists find peace or at least hope, so that overall we should be optimistic. I suspect that each reader will find enough to bolster their own prejudices and beliefs. For me it reminds me that Europe is where people flee to not from.

[Margo Cohen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book, IMO, is quite disappointing. “This Is Europe” is a short story collection functioning as a compilation of people’s experiences living in Europe- a really interesting concept in theory. However, the writing style is quite poor, with Judah leaning towards choppy and abrupt sentences rather than full explorations of thoughts, scenes, or settings. The stories in the book are furthermore extraordinarily depressing, and no curation is done at all.

Not every nation in Europe is visited, which is fine, because that would be a gargantuan task. But, when a major theme of several stories is Western Europeans’ disdain for Eastern Europeans, it may have been a good idea to have some stories that took place in Eastern Europe, especially in Southeastern Europe, which, outside of Türkiye, seems to have been entirely neglected. Instead, the vast majority of the book was stories of people who moved to Germany, France, or Spain.

The premise of the book is excellent and extraordinarily interesting in concept. However, the authors’ underdeveloped writing skills and poor execution of the idea made for a depressing, poorly written read.

3/5 for good idea and poor execution.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ben Judah tells the stories of ordinary Europeans, immigrants and refugees, who are on the margins of society and all striving for something in their own way - a long-distance lorry driver falling in love, a Syrian refugee turned porn star, an Ivorian father desperately trying to make it to France with his son. Each chapter is one person. Some of them read like thrillers, others are simpler but still moving stories. All are reminders that we as humans all want to be loved and to live fulfilling lives.

[Keen Reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

Judah explores and examines both inter-continental and trans-continental immigration covering man, women, trans and child stretching from rural Ireland and Portugal to many parts of the continent all the way out to oppressed Belarus or the corrupt outpost in distant northern Russia and many other spots both metropolitan and rural in between.

This certainly covers a broad range of topics along its Euro journey - pirate ships, ghosts, drag queens, slavery, rape, torture, imprisonment, murder, severe illness, criminal networks, internet porn and we have the occasional space given over to some joyous and encouraging moments too, which do inspire faith and hope.

There are few moments of happiness or joy buried within this selection of fragmented scraps, some stretching out into months or years, others merely a few days, we see people battling everyday obstacles whether it be struggling on the precarious gig economy, or living under horrendous regimes, also we see many once comfortable people in seemingly very comfortable lives suddenly being confronted with deeply uncomfortable situation. Ultimately we see the lengths people have to go to and the sacrifices they must make in order to survive, let alone thrive.

[Maria Lyle · Rating 3 out of 5]

I struggled to engage with the style of this book, having really looked forward to it. Whilst I admire the aim (telling stories - often of otherwise excluded individuals- from their perspective) overall I found the fact it jumped from one person to another with no cohesive narrative rather difficult to follow.

[Katherine Sayer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Collection of short biographical stories
Beautiful

[Dave Courtney · Rating 2 out of 5]

With its enigmatic style, taking real life interviews and turning them into prose complete with documentary style information and photos and using it as a device to give us an authentic view of Europe from the vantage point of those who actually live in it and call it home, its supposed to be daring and innovative approach. Certainly its a product of clear passion, with the author having given an impressive amount of time to interviewing these persons over many years.

The end result? Questionable. It's far too narrow for its own ambitions, giving us singular snapshots of a diverse section of the world. So it doesn't really deliver on that front. What makes it more problematic is that these selections of voices are largely strung together in such a way as to give us a very confusing and uninviting picture of this space. There's no contrasting pictures. The frank nihilism of the first story and the last story forming bookends, the questionable choice to spend much of the middle with the life of a porn star, the attempts to position some of the other stories as an attempt to capture some sense of idealism amidst that backdrop. If this is a true reflection of this space called Europe its very much bound to a kind of weird defeatism. And sure, if that's what the author is going for I suppose there is merit and worth to shaping that narrative in this way. But the book doesn't suggest this is what it wants to evoke. In some muddled way even its bookends are given the appearance of trying to be inspiring even as they function in the exact opposite way. That I'm carrying deeply unlikeable voices into that mix doesn't help.

I respect the time and ambition. That's worth the grade alone. The book? Not one that I enjoyed or would come back to.

[Juliet · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was not at all what I expected but even more incredible for it. Rather than a linear analysis of the state of Europe that I anticipated, Judah painted a picture of Europe through chapters written as though they were short stories, based on years and years of interviewing people from all across Europe and all walks of life. The account he creates is gripping and convincing, making Europe vivid and tangible whilst unveiling parts of it we rarely see or more often choose to ignore. I would recommend to anyone.

[Grace Spicer-Pilon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Marvellous

[Tess · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was just so amazing. I got to know so many perspectives, from the whole world actually, not just Europe, even if its the focus, of course.
The writing style really sucked me in and I was lost in every single story. Every time I sat down to read I was exited for yet another story and always surprised, because every time it was something else. This stories will stay with me for a long time I think, because they really had an impact - this was a book I've been searching for for a long time.
I'm amazed by what these people went through and often I had to pause when reading a story, because I just had to remind myself that this is all true, which makes it all the more incredible and shocking.
I really was taken aback by women's stories especially, because there were just so many aspects mentioned that I'm missing in many other books. Experiences that really just women go through. Experiences only we can understand, and I really enjoyed reading that. It has such an incredible emotional impact on me when I read stories that I can relate to, which are still totally different from my life with aspects that I never imagined could happen at all, or the way they did or the way people could feel about this with different stories and experiences.

Wow. Just wow.

[Hai Dinh Tuan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having recently traveled through all EU countries, This is Europe feels like the perfect companion to my experiences. During my trips, I has been always trying to observe other lives, other cultures, and maybe learn new perspectives—and this book captures all of that beautifully.

Reading this book is like watching a documentary on modern Europe. It’s a reflection of a continent that’s both rich in values like democracy, human rights, and personal freedom, yet also facing some of its most pressing challenges. The book mentiones issues like immigration, the pandemic, and the war, but what makes it unique is that it tells these stories through the eyes of ordinary people. This perspective adds a layer of humanity, similar to stories I collected by talking to locals whenever I traveled through.

This book is simply one of my all-time favorites. For me, a good book should leave the reader wandering in thought long after turning the final page, and This is Europe did that. It’s a powerful reminder that, right here and now, there are people facing difficulties, lives in the midst of struggle, and communities working to overcome adversity. Europe is as complex and evolving as ever—a place of both hope and hardship. The question remains, how does the future hold for the Europeans?

[Zach Kidd · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some of the stories were very interesting, compelling, but also somewhat saddening. Other stories I found myself switching off and losing interest.

[Pol Koopman · Rating 4 out of 5]

In ‘This is Europe’ beschrijft journalist Ben Judah de levensloop van een twintigtal oude en nieuwe Europeanen, hierbij steeds de vraag in het hoofd houdend wat het nu precies betekent om jezelf anno nu Europeaan te noemen. Mensen van allerlei leeftijden en pluimage passeren de revue. Er zijn Roemeense vrachtwagenchauffeurs, Letse webcamsterretjes, Franse wijnboeren, Nederlandse havenarbeiders en ga zo nog maar even door.

Bijzonder aan elk verhaal is dat, ondanks dat iedereen een andere achtergrond heeft, de vragen en omstandigheden waar iedereen mee te maken krijgt universeel zijn. Door de toegankelijke schrijfstijl in de derde persoon, zo vertelt de auteur ook in het nawoord, krijg je het idee soms zelf voor diezelfde moeilijke keuzes te staan als de mensen in het boek. Zo verandert het boek van een bundeling interessante getuigenissen in een gedachte-exercitie die de vraag oproept wat ik bijvoorbeeld zou doen als ik door oorlog alles moest achterlaten en zonder enig diploma maar aan een inkomen moest zien te komen. Judah creëert zo een gevoel van verbinding tussen mij en al die mensen die, ondanks onze verschillen, misschien toch niet zo bijzonder anders zijn.

Toch is ook juist die poging tot toegankelijkheid wat beter had gekund in dit boek. De korte zinnen en simpele beschrijvingen ogen kinderlijk en neemt weg van de authenticiteit van verschillende vertellers. Het is een beetje alsof heel Europa net een klasje B1-Engels heeft gevolgd. Hier was allicht een ander vertelperspectief passender geweest, door de ogen van steeds eenzelfde waarnemer bijvoorbeeld. Zo blijft toch de blik dezelfde, maar zie je wel steeds de verscheidenheid aan stemmen en verhalen.

Al met al zou ik het boek aanraden. Het leest snel en gemakkelijk en weet ook nog eens grappig en ontroerend te zijn. Voor wie nog een stukje medemenselijkheid zoekt in de koude decembermaand én na oud en nieuw direct interessant wil doen bij de koffieautomaat, zie hier uw middel.

[Justinas Mickus · Rating 5 out of 5]

On par with, while importantly different from, some of the great kaleidoscope-books on Europe (e.g. Geert Mak’s wonderful two volumes of travels in Europe). The prose is so stripped down it has a rhythmic quality, though there is some melody, and Judah often repeats certain lines of his subjects as if a chorus for each chapter. The portraits of people who make up Europe are so striking each feels like it’s giving a crucial insight into the continent, until the next one introduces another essential angle and confirms no one perspective is enough (a hundred would not be either). Consequently, the title claim — this is Europe — is both unquestionable and inconclusive: Europe is all this and much more. But to cover it all is a false goal; that Judah uncovers as much as he does is a great accomplishment, as the well-deserved praise for the book confirms.

[Matt Hortomaris · Rating 4 out of 5]

The scope of this book is impressive. A collection of stories from people who are living/surviving/being churned through the beast that is Europe. No tourist or hot girl summers here, but the hidden machine of this continent.

[Matias · Rating 4 out of 5]

Aivan järkyttävän koskettava kirja, joka avaa tarinoita ympäri Eurooppaa. Subjektiiviset kertomukset pakolaisilta tai valkovenäjältä pakenevan perheen tarina jäävät kummittelemaan pitkäksi aikaa mieleen. Eurooppaan mahtuu todella erilaisia ihmiskohtaloita ja oli ilahduttavaa miten tarinoihin pystyi samaistumaan, toistuvana teemana oli halu parantaa omaa elämänlaatua ja inhimilliset tunteet erilaisissa haasteissa. Sodassa, sairauksissa, karanteenissa ja pelossa.

[Mette Borsboom · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was good, but whilst I found some stories of people repatitive, with similar back grounds I feel like so many stories were missing. Only 1 story of the Nordic, 1 of the Baltic none of former Yugoslavia and many more unique histories and cultures not yet discussed, was hoping for maybe some more inclusion (maybe prt. 2?) But a great book nevertheless

[Johanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

None of these stories except maybe the first would be useful for an image campaign of Europe - they are “too mundane” or “too immoral” or would make the audience feel too uncomfortable given how utterly marginalised many of the portrayed people are. In a way “This is also Europe” would have maybe even been a more fitting title?

I love that their stories are uncommented; some of these people are racist, sexist, and all the other -ists. This is part of what makes this book so educational. And yet, climate change and Covid are what binds all these stories together into one.

Would recommend!

[Simon Howard · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection of 23 prose stories is based on interviews Judah conducted with people from around Europe. Documentary photographs accompany each story. It aims to build a picture of life in Europe for the ‘ordinary worker’, revealing a diverse community of individuals facing all sorts of challenges in life. Judah’s stories also often reflect life as the COVID-19 pandemic swept Europe; several are stories of refugees fleeing to Europe. Climate change is also a recurring theme.

I’m often intrigued to read about the work lives of others, especially when—like many in this book—the examples are very far removed from my day-to-day experience. It’s fascinating to have an insight into what it is like to take over the family vineyard or to be a pilot who guides cargo ships into harbours. This book provides insight into other worlds that can be found on this continent.

However, it’s taken me about six months to get through this book, which is entirely attributable to the style of writing, which I found very difficult to tolerate on two fronts.

Firstly, Judah writes every single story in the same consistent tone and style. This is a weird choice: when telling different stories from different parts of the continent, you would think it would be natural to vary the tone. For example, I’m sure farmers have particular idiosyncrasies in how they spin a yarn compared to flight attendants. Here, every story is flattened to the same mildly journalistic tone. To me, it feels like that sucks out a lot of the potential pleasure of this book.

Secondly, Judah has an altogether infuriating habit of slipping into the second person for a few sentences now and again. In his afterword, he says that he tried ‘techniques’ to ‘make you feel like any one of these people could be you’, and I think this weird linguistic tic must be what he’s referring to.

This passage provides a good example of Judah using the second person injudiciously:

You tell yourself you’ll never get married.

You tell yourself you know what love looks like.

You don’t expect it to look like a divorced Swedish Finn, who has spent most of his life in Germany, older, with two children over there, giving it a go in Ireland. You also don’t expect them to be called Patrick. Or to be living with his mother in a castle in County Cork.

Maybe it’s my quirk rather than his, but this makes me want to scream: ‘No, I don’t!’

Here’s an example of a random switch from third to second person:

The trolley rattling underneath her.

Her last glimpse of her husband’s face.

You’ll feel much better when this is out.

The doctor smiled. Then the anaesthetist bent over.

The cold gas coming out of the mask.

Count back from ten for me now.

You never make it to seven.

I can only assume that we’re using the second person in the third line as Judah is quoting either the husband or the doctor. I can live with that. But then, by the final line, we’re using the second person for a different reason: presumably as part of Judah’s ‘technique’. It just made me want to fling the book across the room.

Luckily, each of the chapters is a discrete profile of an individual, so it is the sort of book that can be readily appreciated in small chunks.

Despite all of this—and it feels good to get that rant out—I think this book is worth reading. Judah’s stories are varied and thought-provoking, and I think the whole made me feel a little differently about the things that unite people across Europe.

[Lola annemarie · Rating 5 out of 5]

read gradually over months one story at a time… just so good and so eye-opening about the reality of stories across Europe. themes of immigration and covid-19 most overt and just so raw. honestly not sure what else to say except i feel like every single person voting on 4th july, especially those advocating reform, should be forced to read this book.

[Jana · Rating 5 out of 5]

So viele unterschiedliche Eindrücke aus Europa. Von einer dramatischen Flucht aus Belarus, den langen Tagen des rumänischen LKW Fahrers, Fluchtrouten über unpassierbare Pässe in den Alpen, illegale Fischfänge in der Antarktis und dem Wiedersehen von einem Erasmuspärchen.
Danke @maren für die tolle Empfehlung 🧡 kann’s nur weiterempfehlen!

[Songlin He · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is Europe: The Way We Live Now by Ben Judah is an ambitious attempt to explore the lives of ordinary, often invisible people across Europe—refugees, immigrants, the working class, and those from small towns. However, I feel the book fails to achieve what the author intended.

First, I struggled with Ben Judah's writing style. The stories didn't flow well due to the choppy and abrupt sentences, making it hard to follow. It felt more lazy than innovative.

Second, some of the stories seemed irrelevant and didn’t really capture the spirit of Europe. For instance, one narrative involved a woman haunted by visions, while another focused on a woman dying of cancer. These stories felt out of place and didn't offer much insight into European life.

Third, the book felt overly agenda-driven. Climate change was mentioned many times, but it seemed more like an issue the author was imposing on the characters rather than what the characters wanted to deliver in their messages. I also found the inclusion of stories about a drag queen and a porn performer somewhat questionable. The author seems to be obsessed with individuals pursuing self-indulgence, seeing it as a path to self-discovery. However, to me, this felt purely shallow and hollow. If this is how the author views Europe, it presents a rather negative perspective.

[Bart Rietveld · Rating 5 out of 5]

Welcome to Europe, the Europe of cam girls, covid-survivors, political refugees from Belarus, Ukrainian soldiers, French winemakers and many more. This book is not a politcal or demographical description of Judah. Just like as in >>This is London, Judah describes of people like you and me, people you could have been in another life or dimension, people you can identify with.

It makes you wonder about the things about Europe you don’t see, the strays, battles and difficult times.

Some stories in here especially I found gripping:
- The Belarussian family, after being in a protest, having to flee the country, going from a normal life to a life on the run.
- The man fleeing his country, losing his wife and daughter on the way, ending up in France with his son.
- The Iranian woman on the run for the wildfires in Evia, Greece, to narrowly escape death.

This books genuinely makes you stop and reflect, is this the Europe I know? The place where I’m living this normal life, with little to worry about. It’s books like this that remind me how thankful and grounded I am.

[Stefan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Written in attention-grabbing, short, barking sentences. Covering mostly borderline (migration to and/or struggling in West Europe, Belarus), shocking, episodes of disturbed individuals losing loved ones, health, themselves. If you are up for alarmist style, fear, pain, and sex driven dopamine hits, you got it. Exactly what you are getting bombarded with from mainstream media and divisive politicians. I'm not getting these few hours back. A simple trick to settle stories in the day-to-day context of the world around you (e.g. Amazon delivery driver) worked nicely. However, it doesn't spread over the book. So I got left with, "let me shock you," rather "let me reveal" author and storytelling style, one I find unnecessarily tiresome. Skippable.

[Jana Bakunina · Rating 2 out of 5]

A disappointing read as compared to This Is London which was groundbreaking, thoughtful and well written. I didn’t engage with This Is Europe at all, and possibly only one or two stories stayed with me.

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

Old Europe lives on, cultured and educated, but Ben Judah wants us to hear the voices from Europe’s underbelly. This book might well have been titled This TOO is Europe. It is meant to introduce the reader to a variety of Europeans, many of them newly arrived, who do not especially benefit from the elegant quality of life so familiar to travelers. In its pages there is no Octoberfest, no Alpine yodeling, no Parisian cafe, no Danish hygge.

Ben Judah spent five years meeting people, following their stories, and recording their narratives. The range and variety is remarkable. They tell the stories from hidden people, but there is no overall agenda, I think, except to let us understand in particular those affected by immigration and change.

I will offer a few examples. There were twenty-three stories, each a first-person account. They add up to no unified picture except to say that this is territory in flux, with many struggling to find their places. A Syrian refugee in Germany drives a delivery truck, working long hours while anxious about his wife, who cannot adjust to this new home. Guneas fleeing gang violence try to cross the snowy Alps in summer clothes; mountain rescue teams cannot persuade them to come down to safety because they are so desperate to get to France. Russian Alexey can find no other job but working on a liquified natural gas installation in Siberia; the conditions are brutal, and the workers are without hope. In Sweden, a woman has just one recourse when her parents die; she continues to run the house and senses their ghosts every day.

There is inevitable fragmentation, generally a weakness of the book. Even so, the stories are gripping, giving voice to the voiceless, who live everywhere, not just Europe.

[Mariana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rating: 4.5/5, I think? But may have to revisit it.

Rating this book is a challenge. On one side I didn't love much of the prose --clunky and juvenile. Several of the early chapters fell flat, superficial and oddly stuck in highlighting whatever tenous connection with Britain (I'm guessing they were written at the end, when Judah had run out of steam). But as I kept reading, the stories became more poignant and astounding and heartbreaking, till I'd find myself sobbing at 1 am in the middle of a chapter, emotionally exhausted but unable to stop. I've never cried nearly as much with a book as with this one.

So is the value of a book measured by its form, by the beauty of its words? By the cohesion of its message? Or by the stories it captures and shares, the worlds it opens, its staying power in our minds? Its ability to make us change at least one habit, one viewpoint? It's in the last two that Judah excels, showing us the pain and injustice behind our online shopping, our global economy, our disjointed migrant policies, our cheap groceries, our bureaucracy, our silent acceptance of foreign despots. Leaving us --leaving me-- unmoored, shaking, wondering how much more suffering is all around us, in this rich continent, overlooked. And whether there is anything one can do.

[Denise · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an extraordinary, complex and thoughtful book. You can tell the author put in many hours (meant very respectfully) and strove to give his interview subjects the most dignity when presenting their stories. My favourites were the Syrian refugee turned porn star, the Ukrainian female soldier, the Belarussian couple whose story is split across chapters and the Afghan refugee in Greece during the 2021 fires but really there is someone for everyone. The recurring themes of climate change impacting the region, COVID and geopolitics ran throughout. I wished this had continued to even more places (Hungary or Slovakia or even the Netherlands now) given the far right turn in some geographies and the stories that can be found there. This was even better than This is London and I look forward to what Ben Judah writes next!

[Stephen Morrissey · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lively, slightly weird, and engrossing pastiche of modern-day Europe, from tugboaters in The Netherlands to migrants struggling to make a living in Hungary, Germany, and other nations. The Europe of Romanticized backpackers and tourists is far different from the reality laying beyond the bounds of the gilded churches and artistic marvels. In one episode, Judah relays the story of a Spanish fishermen, the last of a breed of Europeans that tended motors and other manual-labor jobs now dominated by other ethnic communities. As the Spaniard reflects on his life and the world passing him by, one wonders if the same cannot be said for a Europe that has long dominated the world, but now appears tired, behind in fertility rates, and battling political and moral crises not confronted since the early 20th Century.

[Alice Chau-Ginguene · Rating 5 out of 5]

I mistakenly thought this is a non fiction book on current European problems but a lovely surprise to find it a book of short stories.
This book is a collection of short stories of Europeans living in current Europe. Not Europe of history books or the Europe of grand castles, this book is about Europe today. A diverse population spread across 44 countries all have their hopes and dreams. At times they feel loss, at times they feel joy, but they mostly keep their head down and keep going.

If you are looking for some grand stories, this is not for you. But if you are looking for real stories from Europeans from all corners of Europe, then this is a wonderful read.