Summertime, and the living is easy

 

    Tove Jansson's The Summer Book is a bargain at 99p for Kindle today, and in case you haven't come across it (or its sibling The Winter Book), here's the gist:

    Anyone familiar with Jansson's famous Moomins will recognise the humour in these stories which are a series of essay/sketches like a collection of watercolours, but with a sudden stab of the bold and brilliant. They are profound and funny, and following the adventures of the child Sophia and her elderly grandmother on a tiny island in the Gulf of Finland, they cleverly capture the cantankerousness of both youth and old age: "Wise as she was, [grandmother] realised that people can postpone their rebellious phases until they're eighty five years old, and she decided to keep an eye on herself."

    Sophia and grandmother discuss everything from whether God has secretaries, to the plight of halved worms and the frailty of moss (step on it three times and it dies), and all the while the island's vulnerability and isolation focus the stories inward. In her introduction, Esther Freud says the book's allure "is the allure of summer itself for [Scandinavians] who spend so much of the year in the dark." It is equally appealing to the rest of us.

Comments

[Cindy]

Thank you - have downloaded. I've heard nothing but wonderful things about this book so can't wait to start.
A quick question - you always seem to be able to ferret out the good Kindle deals - whenever I scroll though it seems a load of dross. What's your secret?

[Cornflower]

No secret, Cindy! I agree with you that for the most part the Kindle deals are of no interest, but I do always look at what's on offer and now and again there is something worth buying.
Hope you enjoy The Summer Book!

[maryloubethune]

I love Tove Jansson. I recently read that she was , quite naturally, very depressed during the war and thus the Moomins were invented. While this book was written long after she wrote the wonderful Moomintroll books, it has an aura of depression over it. It is not warm like the Moomin books. I like the book evenso; it shows the quiet and rather hidden at times love of a grandmother for her granddaughter whose parents are divorcing, I believe is the premise. It reminded me of growing up the American south in the 50's and 60's- nothing much happens but inwardly one's character and life are played out. Our beloved author Harper Lee died today. Her great To Kill a Mockingbird has the same aura- hurt and longing, having to face sad and ineffable truths, and learning how to be strong from beloved grownups.