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A review by fearandtrembling
The Summer Book by Tove Jansson
5.0
I was thinking that I was going to give this four stars but then I got to the "Of Angelworms and Others" chapter, where young Sophia dictates her treatise on angelworms and "other pitiful animals" to Grandmother, and finally understood how the book worked and what it was trying to do, and so five stars it is.
This book, like the rhythms of nature, requires close attention and patience. It yields its delights, especially its humour, in surprising, understated ways. It's deceptively simple, but deep, wise, and idiosyncratic. I was able to immerse myself in it completely and thought what a marvel it was, in how the formal structure mimics nature's time, and takes you out of the urban, automated grind of daily work-time.
The character of Grandmother in particular is fiercely independent and unconventional. I'm moved to learn that Jansson based it on her own mother. In the book, it's young Sophia's mother who is dead; in life, Jansson wrote this after her mother died. Reading this was like a gift; it depicts different possibilities of paying attention and ways of living with others without false hope or cynicism. Bittersweet, tender, and moving.
This book, like the rhythms of nature, requires close attention and patience. It yields its delights, especially its humour, in surprising, understated ways. It's deceptively simple, but deep, wise, and idiosyncratic. I was able to immerse myself in it completely and thought what a marvel it was, in how the formal structure mimics nature's time, and takes you out of the urban, automated grind of daily work-time.
The character of Grandmother in particular is fiercely independent and unconventional. I'm moved to learn that Jansson based it on her own mother. In the book, it's young Sophia's mother who is dead; in life, Jansson wrote this after her mother died. Reading this was like a gift; it depicts different possibilities of paying attention and ways of living with others without false hope or cynicism. Bittersweet, tender, and moving.