The Summer Book - Tove Jansson
My Rating: 5/5
As I mentioned earlier in my posts, I have started forcing my friends and relatives from foreign lands to get me books, only that too from the local writers of the country they are coming from. And this one turns out to be a lovely book that my nephew returning from Helsinki, got me last year. I only got to read it now, as my mom hijacked it in the first place, and I practically had to blackmail her to give it to me after she finished it. It’s a heart-touching story written by a granddaughter, dedicated to her Grand Ma. I felt like I was reading my own adventures with my lovely Grandmother. Her histrionics were no different than the one captured in this story by Tove Jansson. Totally missed my Grandma with every anecdote and every story that I read in this one. Jansson is best known as the creator of the Moomin stories, pretty famous not only in Finland / Sweden but in the entire Nordic region. Her stories have been published in multiple languages. The Summerbook was one of the ten novels that she wrote for adults, and it is regarded as a modern classic, and now I know why. This was about an elderly artist and her six-year-old granddaughter during the summers together on a tiny island in the Gulf of Finland. Both of them learn to adjust to each other’s whims, fancies, stories and even superstitions :). It is full of humorous stories and their adventures. On top of that, Tove Jansson accepts that this is more of her own experience and spirit in the book, which she has captured as her niece’s point of view and a lot of her grandmother’s character she has picked up from her mother, which makes it even better and gives us an amazing insight into the author. On top of that, this 50th edition includes an afterword by Tove’s niece, Sophia Jansson, which was incredible to read once I finished the novel, and it has a Foreword too by Esther Freud (As you can guess by the name, she is Sigmund Freud great grand daughter). Can it get any better?
This book sent me back in time when I was six or seven years old. I would follow my grandmother everywhere she went. Our house was the last in the lane back in the day, and beyond that, there were acres of farm land, followed by deep dark wood, which ended on the slopes of a huge hill that had a temple on top. Sometimes my grandma will go to the middle of the woods to look for some tree’s bark to make a medicinal brew for my grandpa, and in the process of going so far from home, she will take a few bidis and will smoke while no one follows us. Of course, my dad and his brothers knew of her smoking habit, but no one questioned her, as she was very tough to handle. As time passed and I grew and got into a job, I used to visit her once a year, and she would ask me with her expressions if I got her a pack of cigarettes and trust me, she used to share one with me on the rooftop every time I visited her and promised that she smoked only with me. After her death, I found out that the same promise was made to all my cousins and my own elder brothers too :). Now, Sophia’s Grandma used to smoke, but usually she won’t smoke in front of her son, and she will pick up a few flowers, roots and whatnot to make a brew too, just like my Grandma. She would walk with a stick but was tough like a rock when it comes to sailing her boat to other parts of the island or even crossing into other territories, she even onces goes and breaks into a house across the shore which she doesn’t like much as it was destroying the beauty of the island and you’ve got to read the book to know what happens when the owner of that house catches them red-handed breaking into his house.
I must tell you this, too, that the book has a beautiful cover, as I am sure you can make out by the picture I have posted. It isn’t a hardback, but the thick sheet that makes up the cover is folded inside and on the last page of the book detailing the writer and story, both on the front and back respectively. It was so amazing to hold it and so soothing on the eyes because of the beautiful island picture on top. As I started reading this, my nephew actually cycled to the island captured in this one and sent me a picture in real time, and I must say, nothing much has changed on the island in the last 50+ years of this book's writing, as it still looks the same as in the book cover.
Now that I have read the Summer Book and loved it, I am super keen on getting her “Winter Book” too and reading it ASAP. I may blackmail my nephew now to send me a copy soon from Finland as he ain’t coming back before Christmas. On top of that, this one has been adapted into a beautiful movie too, which I need to find and watch at the earliest. Do let me know if you have read this one or anything else from Tove Jansson.
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