Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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58 of 60 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Small, but perfectly formed, 5 Aug 2003
By A Customer
Beautifully-written, 'The Summer Book' focuses upon the relationship between a little girl, Sophia and her wilful, yet wise grandmother as they spend the summer together on a remote Finnish island. Based on Jansson's own family experiences and love of nature, the stories are deceptively simplistic. The author manages to cram a huge amount of ideas, observations and description into a relatively short space without being sentimental or over-descriptive. The characters are excellent. The grandmother and Sophia are feisty individuals who enjoy questioning the world and their conversations can be at times, both hilarious and touching. This edition has also been produced with real care. Esther Freud's foreword is probably one of the most fascinating that I have read in a long time(she visits the island and meets the 'grown-up' Sophia) and the inclusion of photographs of the island and Jansson's family only adds to the slightly sad beauty of the novel. For me, it sums up what great literature should be. It's an easy and enjoyable book to read, but you leave with the impression of having touched on some huge ideas. I'm looking forward to reading it many times over in the future.
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30 of 31 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Charming, beautiful, philosophical..., 8 Nov 2003
By A Customer
I rejoice that this short work has come into print again, though it's rather sad that it took the author's recent death to prompt the publishers into action. I'd read an extract in a guide to the top 100 books of the twentieth century and was surprised and disappointed not to be able to get my hands on the full edition.
Jansson has an inate understanding of the wisdom and skewed world-view of children, and manages to capture the fragile - and ephemeral - friendship which can exist between the very old and the very young. There is a freshness about her style which never teeters into whimsy. A rare achievement indeed.
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A DELIGHTFUL BOOK!, 11 Jan 2008
Tove Jansson draws on people who formed her precious family circle, for the characters in this book.
Sophia, the little girl in the book, is Tove's niece, her father is Tove's brother, Lars, who in 1947 together with his sister built the house which is lovingly described here, with the 'magic forest' and the sea surrounding it.
Grandmother is Tove's mother, Signe Hammarsten, a very intelligent, wise woman who was a graphic designer and cartoonist.
Sophia's mother has died recently and she comes to the island to live with her father and grandmother, who is battling with her own fragile health, but who willingly takes on the mission of helping Sophia with her problems and nightmares.
In a clear, understated manner, Tove Jansson describes the environment which Sophia learns to respect, the people whom the old woman and the little girl meet and the cycle of the seasons on the island 'When the southwest wind was blowing, the days seemed to follow one another without any kind of change or occurrence, day and night, there was the same even, peaceful rush of wind....
They all moved about the island doing their own chores, which were so natural and obvious that no one mentioned them, neither for praise nor sympathy. It was just the same long summer, always, and everything lived and grew at its own pace.'
This calm pattern of life is balm to the little girl's fears and loss and when she becomes independent and difficult, the grandmother realises what is happening, and deals with that in her own wise manner. She calms Sophia's fears in her own sensible manner, never 'talking down' to the child and as a result, the little girl begins to think in the same rational manner, and they comfort each other in times of difficulty.
Of course, it's not all pleasant, and sometimes they find each other very irritating, but the love between them is obvious and they learn together, one at the end of her life and one at the beginning.
Each 'story' deals with a different time in their life together and carries with it a metaphor for our lives and this philosophical attitude is emblematic of Tove Jansson's style of writing.
It is a sheer joy to read and re-read and it is no wonder that this book has never been out of print.
Buy it, read it and love it, and then read it again....
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