The Summer Book

I have been fascinated by the take-it-as-it-comes whimsical world of Tove Jansson's Moomintrolls for years, but I never realised that Jansson had written other books outside of Moomin Valley -until a friend lent me a copy of "The Summer Book". It was introduced to me as a very different sort of book, written entirely in the form of unconnected vignettes. After I got over my excitement of reading something else by Jansson, I regretted asking to borrow the book. I generally don't particularly get into short stories, and get a little bored by books that "don't go anywhere". This novella changed my mind. I couldn't put it down, and I couldn't help myself from cornering Henry and forcing him to listen as I read chapters aloud. Jansson's precise, descriptive language begs to be read out loud and shared. 

The framework of the book is a young girl and her grandmother have summer adventures on a small island. It is mostly unspoken that the girl's mother has recently passed away, and the grandmother is ill and approaching death herself. The girl, Sophia, is becoming aware of herself and her humanity, while the grandmother's is slipping away. I'm not really comfortable analyzing the book anymore than that, but in the simplicities of Jansson's scenes, larger truths seem to emerge. I particularly enjoyed it however, because it didn't try to be too heavy handedly "deep". The depth was there, but the vignettes stand on their own as simple stories about life on a Scandinavian island in the summer. Humor, intelligence, and great depictions of how to talk to six-year-olds in "The Summer Book" make it a great summer read, I really recommend it.