There’s something so special about this sweet and melancholy book about a young girl and her grandmother living on a remote island for the summer. This book is slow-paced but goes by so quickly. A genuine treasure. ( )

dnf July 2022
I'd hoped that reading something else by her would help me appreciate the Moomintroll stories, but this didn't work for me at all. Possibly I'm not in the right mood, or the right age, or something. But there are so many other books calling my name I've decided to move on.

35

Sweet and evocative. ( )

I found [b:The Summer Book|79550|The Summer Book|Tove Jansson|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1390613592l/79550._SY75_.jpg|76813] warming to read in midwinter. In a series of short vignette-chapters, a young girl and her grandmother spend summers together on a tiny island in the gulf of Finland. Their voices are both incredibly vivid and immediate; in part because they are based on Jansson's actual relatives and in part because her writing (and the translation) are exquisite. Brief scenes of exploration, play, and relaxation somehow convey profound truths about childhood, ageing, death, family, friendship, and the natural world. They are quick to read, but take longer to digest in order to fully appreciate them. I was particularly struck by the chapter in which young Sophia dictates a book about angleworms to her grandmother:

They continued the following evening under the heading 'Other Pitiful Animals'.

"Small animals are a great problem. I wish God had never created small animals, or else that He had made them so they could talk, or else that He'd given them better faces. Space. Take moths. They fly at the lamp and burn themselves, and then they fly right back again. It can't be instinct, because that isn't the way it works. They just don't understand, so they go right on doing it. Then they lie on their backs and all their legs quiver, and then they're dead. Did you get all that? Does it sound good?"

"Very good," Grandmother said.

Sophia stood up and shouted, "Say this: say I hate everything that dies slowly! Say I hate everything that won't let you help! Did you write that?"

"Yes, I've got it."

"Now come daddy-longlegs. I do a lot of thinking about daddy-longlegs. You can't ever help them without breaking two of their legs. No, write three of their legs. Why can't they pull in their legs? Write: When little kids bite the dentist, it's the dentist who gets hurt. Wait a moment."

Sophia thought for a moment with her face in her hands.

I also particularly enjoyed Sophia & Grandmother exploring a cave and Sophia's comments of, "I'm a bit busy right now". Their interactions are brilliantly observed, moving, and frequently hilarious. I can understand why this beautifully lucid little book became a classic. ( )