Scan barcode
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/
loueezat's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
4.75
dostojevskijs's review against another edition
3.0
Det var en spännande, lite märklig läsning som gav mig en helt ny syn på Tove.. möjligtvis för att det är en bok som erbjuder en helt ny insyn till att börja med.
kikiandarrowsfishshelf's review against another edition
4.0
This collection of letters from Tove Jansson covers the years when she studied in Sweden to the late 1980s. It includes letters to her family, friends, and lovers. If you like the Moomins there are some wonderful tidbits about the books in here, in particular when she is writing about crafting them. (Also Little My was put on feminine sanitary items).
What is perhaps more heartening is reading how a person becomes a person, and Janson's discovery of what her sexuality is. Feminists will also find the letter where Janson struggles to think over her relationship with a fellow artist during the Second World War - in particular why he thinks he is allowed the excuse of urges and women are not, to be particularly insightful.
The collection is sectioned off by correspondent, which makes sense in part, but also, if one reads it straight though, leave a very disjointed feeling. For instance, early in the collection, one reads about Jansson's brother Lars' getting a divorced and he and Sophia moving in with Ham (Janson's mother). At that point, it was unclear that Lars was married and who exactly Sophia was. It is only over 100 pages letter that there is a note about Lars' wife Nita and daughter Sophia. This note should have come earlier, and it was distracting to line that letter up in the time sequence with the letter about the divorce. Quite frankly, while a good amount of information is given on the correspondents and Jansson's parents, there is little about her brothers in the notes and introductory sections. Including more information about the brothers would have helped.
What is perhaps more heartening is reading how a person becomes a person, and Janson's discovery of what her sexuality is. Feminists will also find the letter where Janson struggles to think over her relationship with a fellow artist during the Second World War - in particular why he thinks he is allowed the excuse of urges and women are not, to be particularly insightful.
The collection is sectioned off by correspondent, which makes sense in part, but also, if one reads it straight though, leave a very disjointed feeling. For instance, early in the collection, one reads about Jansson's brother Lars' getting a divorced and he and Sophia moving in with Ham (Janson's mother). At that point, it was unclear that Lars was married and who exactly Sophia was. It is only over 100 pages letter that there is a note about Lars' wife Nita and daughter Sophia. This note should have come earlier, and it was distracting to line that letter up in the time sequence with the letter about the divorce. Quite frankly, while a good amount of information is given on the correspondents and Jansson's parents, there is little about her brothers in the notes and introductory sections. Including more information about the brothers would have helped.
ggcube1012's review against another edition
5.0
Thank you to this book for letting me feel so close to my idol
Interestingly, this collection of letters is not only filled with Tove’s beautiful adventures and thoughts, fully transforming her from author to fully fleshed out person and filling in the details that her novels left absent, but it also allows you to get to know the people at the other end of her pen, as if they are really there listening and speaking back to her. I feel bereft upon finishing it and wish I could stay inside her world and mind forever.
Interestingly, this collection of letters is not only filled with Tove’s beautiful adventures and thoughts, fully transforming her from author to fully fleshed out person and filling in the details that her novels left absent, but it also allows you to get to know the people at the other end of her pen, as if they are really there listening and speaking back to her. I feel bereft upon finishing it and wish I could stay inside her world and mind forever.
lotustoo's review against another edition
hopeful
informative
lighthearted
slow-paced
4.25
So happy to have been enabled to read this collection of letters by Finnish artist Tove Jansson - famed artist and creator of the Moomins. Translated from the Swedish by Sarah Death, and Edited by Boel Westin and Helen Svensson, these letters give a fascinating insight into Jansson's life and loves and make enjoyable lockdown reading. However I did feel that using the letters as the basis of a biography might have given more insight to things that were happening beyond the immediate concerns of the artist's studio and Tove's friendships. Two world wars barely seem to intervene. I don't suppose people wanted to write about them much (!) but the context is important from the point of view of history.