Book Specs 📖

• Author: Tove Jansson
• Translator: Thomas Teal (from Swedish)
• Genre: Literary Fiction / Vignettes
• Publisher: NYRB
• Pages: 170

One Sentence Synopsis🔖

Twenty-two vignettes of six-year old Sophie and her Grandmother on an island in the Gulf of Finland in the summertime

Notes/Thoughts📝

• I re-read this for work book club – it’s perfect as the summer is coming to an end! The second reading allowed me to process the declining health of Grandmother(Lupatro was a fictional medicine in the book). What’s also interesting on second glance is how Sophie as a character felt more like a shadow/counterbalance to Grandmother. This could be deliberate to show the richness of experience/age or to the fact that Jansson was at a grandmother’s age (57) when she wrote the book! Also reminded me of the value of a second reading: reading critically and engaging with book content is more enjoyable because you can squeeze out the intentions of character, theme, setting etc. There’s nothing wrong about reading for pleasure but when you look for meaning, then you are sure to find it:)
• What I love about Jansson is her ability to tell you something without being explicit. She shows you grief through the storms, renewal and new beginnings through the early morning moss. Like life, when there is no story, no imagination, no creativity, life becomes a series of hard grey days that we have to get through versus an adventure that we are excited to embark on.
• The Island as a metaphor – I can’t give credit to myself for figuring this one out. When compiling book club discussion questions, I learned that the setting of the book, the island, is its own character in itself (thanks Google AI). The island and its weather patterns act without consideration for the main characters in the book, representing the natural forces beyond our control. Furthermore the island as a space is both physical and psychological: a playground for build and play and also the same sapce to reveal deep fears and vulnerabilities.
• My favourite vignettes in the book:
  • The Cat
  • The Neighbour
  • Of Angleworms and Others

“Quotes”🗣

“There is nothing sentimental about this world. Like the weather, this world asks only to be acknowledged. There is nothing comforting about it, and yet if you are afraid to see it in its own terms and look to it for comfort, for solace, you will be left worse off than you were before.”

“An island can be dreadful for someone from the outside. Everything is complete, and everyone has his obstinate, sure, and self-sufficient place. Within their shores, everything functions according to rituals that are as hard as rock from repetition and at the same time they amble through their days as whimsically and casually as if the world ended at the horizon.”

“It’s funny about love,” Sophia said. The more you love someone, the less he likes you back.

“That’s very true,” Grandmother observed. “And so what do you do?”

“You go on loving,” said Sophia threateningly. “You love harder and harder.”

“A person can find anything if he takes the time, that is, if he can afford to look. And while he’s looking, he’s free, and he finds things he never expected.”

“Solitude,” Grandmother said. “Yes, indeed. that is a luxury.”

“Uplifting,” Malander said. “Don’t you think?”

“Yes,” Grandmother said. “But a person can also find solitude with others, though it is more difficult.”

“…every human being has to make his own mistakes.”

“Smell is important. It reminds a person of all the things he’s been through; it is a sheath of memories and security.”

“The thing about God, she thought, is that He usually does help, but not until you’ve made an effort on your own.”

“Why do you use so many euphemisms and metaphors? Are you afraid?”

“Nothing is easy when you might come apart in the middle at any moment.”