Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
LOVELY, DIGNIFIED PROSE., 6 Jan 2008
Having read and enjoyed 'The Summer Book' and 'Fair Play' I came to 'A Winter Book' with great anticipation and was not at all disappointed.
The short extracts from Tove Jansson's life blend together to portray a life well lived. A life requiring strength of purpose and of character, as well as the sheer physical strength of living on an island and relying on oneself for survival.
'You should never keep a single inessential object in your boat' is her philosophy as well as profoundly sensible advice.
Her stories, pared down to the essentials, are metaphors in themselves.
She tells us of her experiences, but at the same time, it is her voice which we may hear in times of trouble or uncertainty.
'It's all a question of patina' she says about their furniture and the lesson which her mother learnt about the marks which were left on the furniture after parties, and we feel that after a long life lived to the full, 'it's all a question of patina' - the gloss which comes of long, hard use and the gloss left after a life has been lived.
At the end, when she and her beloved 'Tooti' are clearing up and leaving, she writes:
' There is a fine balance between the absolute calm of arrival and the excitement of departure, then I crossed out 'fine' and added 'both are indispensable' at the end, and began to wonder what I had really meant.'
This is the philosophy of a woman at peace with herself towards the end of her life, when she hasn't the physical strength to go on, but she has the emotional strength to say good-bye.
'On the last day...Tooti found one of our kites from the 1960s and took it out onto the slope. Just for fun, she gave it a little push on its tail and at that moment a gust of wind came along and took the kite with it and it flew high, straight up, and continued far out across the Gulf of Finland.'
So ends 'The Winter Book' and we imagine Tove Jansson's spirit flying 'straight up.. far out across the Gulf of Finland.'
This is a delightful book and well worth buying.
You will read it often because you will need it often.
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29 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Charming, funny, sympathetic, wise..., 27 Nov 2006
I can't resist sharing Body Tonkin's verdict on this wonderful book in The Independent. He devoted his entire column to a review, after first raging about the "snowdrift of Christmas drivel" filling bookshops this winter.
The ideal book for Christmas, he contended, would "honour the experiences and insights of children without sentiment or condescension. It might also salute the changing seasons with a toughly tender eye on wild nature. In doing so, it might even register the passage of time, and the ageing of body and mind, while steering clear of self-pity. And it might (like an unfeasibly flawless companion) contrive to sound charming, funny, sympathetic, wise - and a bit mysterious as well."
"What price would such a paragon command?" Tonkin continued. "£6.99 to be exact. Ideal presents never quite take on tangible form, but A Winter Book comes fairly close...
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21 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A book for all seasons..., 22 Jan 2007
Tove Jansson's "A Winter Book" cherry-picks short stories from her autobiographical "A Sculptor's Daughter" and adds later gems to deliver an unforgettable collection of work. Her cool, clear gaze takes in vivid moments from childhood (check "The Stone" and the stunning image left by "The Iceberg") through to the unsentimental, yet very poignant, "Taking Leave" which deals with some of the problems of ageing and coming to terms with failing powers.
Tove Jansson was an extraordinary children's writer, and it's great to see some of her work for adults finally translated into English. And what a lovely job Sort Of have done: good, clean cover design, and intelligent use of photographs throughout. Ali Smith's introduction does justice to Jansson's writing. Very few children's authors have the capability to write for adults also. Tove Jansson's honesty, clarity and sense of humour shine throughout.
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