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laurenbastian's review
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
5.0
My first time reading an epistolary novel and it took some time to get into the groove of reading. With this type of collection you can't get caught up on proper names and you have to accept there is too much context and complexity for you to fully understand each line.
After making this leap, I thoroughly enjoyed and was obsessed with this book. I loved thinking about Tove Jansson as a young woman traipsing around Europe and voicing the same insecurities and anxieties about her art that I often have. I loved reading her reflections on her familial and romantic dynamics during the war. Reading this goes to show that the conflicts that take up so much space in our lives today are much the same as they were 80 years ago, even when there was a world war going on. I particularly enjoyed her notes about the man she'd hoped to marry and her indignation at his not returning her affection.
Later in the collection, I was awed by her professed love for Vivica and her earnest, bold confessions in each letter. It was contrasted by the calmer, steadier, and more self-assured Tove that writes to Tooti, professing a deep and abounding love that had me on the verge of tears. I highlighted several passages in my ebook.
I saw a lot of myself in Tove's letters: a drive to succeed in her work, an equal desire to find peace in the work, and an earnest, unconditional love for her family, friends, and parters. I saw things, too, which I admire and seek to emulate: her tenacity, the ability to speak that love to its recipients, and letting that love shine through in the work.
After making this leap, I thoroughly enjoyed and was obsessed with this book. I loved thinking about Tove Jansson as a young woman traipsing around Europe and voicing the same insecurities and anxieties about her art that I often have. I loved reading her reflections on her familial and romantic dynamics during the war. Reading this goes to show that the conflicts that take up so much space in our lives today are much the same as they were 80 years ago, even when there was a world war going on. I particularly enjoyed her notes about the man she'd hoped to marry and her indignation at his not returning her affection.
Later in the collection, I was awed by her professed love for Vivica and her earnest, bold confessions in each letter. It was contrasted by the calmer, steadier, and more self-assured Tove that writes to Tooti, professing a deep and abounding love that had me on the verge of tears. I highlighted several passages in my ebook.
I saw a lot of myself in Tove's letters: a drive to succeed in her work, an equal desire to find peace in the work, and an earnest, unconditional love for her family, friends, and parters. I saw things, too, which I admire and seek to emulate: her tenacity, the ability to speak that love to its recipients, and letting that love shine through in the work.
talypollywaly's review
informative
lighthearted
medium-paced
4.0
Not quite sure how to rate this, since none of these letters were written with future publication in mind. It is the closest you can get to an autobiography, as the cover sleeve says. I didn't know anything about Finland or Tove or much about Moomin even, before starting this. A long, but content read for me.
ciarafrances's review against another edition
emotional
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
o4tmeal's review against another edition
4.0
this book took me a While to read but i think i finished it at the right time... i like how you can see Tove's voice be consistent in the letters even as she ages, but you can also see how her perspective of the world (and the people around her) and of herself changes as the letters go by. my favorite collections were her letters to Tuulikki Pietilä, a testament to her love, affection, and care for her partner; her letters to Maya Vanni, showing her love of and for the world and people around her; and letters to Åke Ruinnquist, where she talks about her work and briefly about her creative process, and you can see how much she cherishes being able to work on so many things. i'm really glad i read this book—hopefully i can read more moomin comics & other TJ works in the future!
bluestarfish's review against another edition
5.0
This is a collection of letters Tove Jansson wrote to her friends and family and loved ones and provide an insight into her life over a period of over 50 years. We get to peak into her student days in Paris, life in Helsinki and the archipelago, her artistry and friendship and love of those around her.
The book contains 160 letters and is order by addressee (we don't get to see the letters written to Tove) and rough chronological order. I haven't actually read any biographies of her life so I learned a ton. Not least that she wrote amazing letters to people with life, observations, and details in them.
The editors have provided some light touch commentary to help understand the context of some of the letters but otherwise it's all of her words - and a couple of drawings too.
#NameTheTranslator Sarah Death (translated from Swedish)
The book contains 160 letters and is order by addressee (we don't get to see the letters written to Tove) and rough chronological order. I haven't actually read any biographies of her life so I learned a ton. Not least that she wrote amazing letters to people with life, observations, and details in them.
The editors have provided some light touch commentary to help understand the context of some of the letters but otherwise it's all of her words - and a couple of drawings too.
#NameTheTranslator Sarah Death (translated from Swedish)
mellamauvaise's review against another edition
5.0
Wonderfully put together with numerous and clear explanations of Tove Jansson's vernacular and relationships with all the people mentioned :)
karenhammervik's review against another edition
4.0
(Popsugar Reading Challenge 2022, prompt 5 - A sapphic book)
"But what has happened now is that I’ve fallen madly in love with a woman. And it seems to me so absolutely natural and genuine – there’s nothing problematic about it at all. I just feel proud and uncontrollably glad. These last weeks have been like one long dance of rich adventure, tenderness, intensity – an expedition into new realms of great simplicity and beauty.”
Som alt annet Tove Jansson skriver er disse brevene fulle av humor og vakre observasjoner av hverdagslige ting. Skulle gjerne lest den på originalspråket, og selv om jeg skjønner hvorfor de valgte å gruppere brevene etter mottaker, hadde jeg foretrukket å ha de i kronologisk rekkefølge. Savnet også et bedre referanse-system, da det ble mange navn, kallenavn og interne formuleringer å skulle forholde seg til, men alt i alt et flott innsyn i Janssons personlige liv.
"But what has happened now is that I’ve fallen madly in love with a woman. And it seems to me so absolutely natural and genuine – there’s nothing problematic about it at all. I just feel proud and uncontrollably glad. These last weeks have been like one long dance of rich adventure, tenderness, intensity – an expedition into new realms of great simplicity and beauty.”
Som alt annet Tove Jansson skriver er disse brevene fulle av humor og vakre observasjoner av hverdagslige ting. Skulle gjerne lest den på originalspråket, og selv om jeg skjønner hvorfor de valgte å gruppere brevene etter mottaker, hadde jeg foretrukket å ha de i kronologisk rekkefølge. Savnet også et bedre referanse-system, da det ble mange navn, kallenavn og interne formuleringer å skulle forholde seg til, men alt i alt et flott innsyn i Janssons personlige liv.
kate_in_a_book's review against another edition
5.0
This is a giant warm cuddle of a book. It took me a while to read as the letters are many and to some extent a little repetitive, but I loved effectively being able to hear Tove Jansson speak honestly to the people she was close to. The book only includes Tove’s letters, not the other half, so there is always part of the conversation missing, which also makes it a little bit of a mystery puzzle.
The correspondence is organised by addressee, beginning with letters that Tove sent to her family when she went to art school in Stockholm, and then two long trips to France and Italy to further her art education. Young Tove was very adventurous, sociable and passionate – about art and about people. I laughed out loud at her descriptions of the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, where she was treated awfully and quickly left for a smaller school where she felt she was actually learning.
Her parents were both artists themselves and lived for part of every year in an artists’ colony – a lifestyle that Tove carried into her own adulthood, but it often clashed with her desire for solitude and peace, and this clash is something that is increasingly the focus of her letters. But her biggest fight is always with her own art.
You can read my full review here: http://www.noseinabook.co.uk/2019/11/24/wherever-i-go-on-the-island-youre-with-me/
The correspondence is organised by addressee, beginning with letters that Tove sent to her family when she went to art school in Stockholm, and then two long trips to France and Italy to further her art education. Young Tove was very adventurous, sociable and passionate – about art and about people. I laughed out loud at her descriptions of the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, where she was treated awfully and quickly left for a smaller school where she felt she was actually learning.
Her parents were both artists themselves and lived for part of every year in an artists’ colony – a lifestyle that Tove carried into her own adulthood, but it often clashed with her desire for solitude and peace, and this clash is something that is increasingly the focus of her letters. But her biggest fight is always with her own art.
You can read my full review here: http://www.noseinabook.co.uk/2019/11/24/wherever-i-go-on-the-island-youre-with-me/