foxteeth's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
sean67's review against another edition
2.0
A collection of short stories that were for the most part very short, but nothing that really grabbed me For the most part it was a little uninteresting.
teresac's review
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.75
lauracbest's review against another edition
4.0
Clean, clear prose. Amazing how she writes so that you get to know a character and a story in just a few pages.
marion_18's review against another edition
3.0
5,2/10. Some of the stories are good, but I didn’t really understand most of them. And they felt kind of similar to each other.
kathinka_is_reading's review against another edition
4.0
It borders on the magical, sometimes it feels like reading your innermost thoughts. I love the Moomins but Tove Jansson is so much more!
nwhyte's review
5.0
http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/2769446.html
This is the most recent of Jansson's story collections to be translated into English, but it was the first collection of Tove Jansson's short stories to be published in her native Swedish (apart from the semi-autobiographical The Scupltor's Daughter). They show her already at the top of her form, quietly understated observation, sometimes brief vignettes, sometimes mapping out a brief section of a character arc that you can extrapolate further if you want. The two that particularly jumped out at me are both about a third of the way in, "Black-White", a tribute to Edward Gorey, about an illustrator who becomes consumed by his work, and "Letters to an Idol", no doubt inspired by her own experiences on both ends of the fannish dynamic, about obsession, communication and acceptance. But they are all good, and give a real feeling of life in Jansson's Bohemian urban and rural spaces.
This is the most recent of Jansson's story collections to be translated into English, but it was the first collection of Tove Jansson's short stories to be published in her native Swedish (apart from the semi-autobiographical The Scupltor's Daughter). They show her already at the top of her form, quietly understated observation, sometimes brief vignettes, sometimes mapping out a brief section of a character arc that you can extrapolate further if you want. The two that particularly jumped out at me are both about a third of the way in, "Black-White", a tribute to Edward Gorey, about an illustrator who becomes consumed by his work, and "Letters to an Idol", no doubt inspired by her own experiences on both ends of the fannish dynamic, about obsession, communication and acceptance. But they are all good, and give a real feeling of life in Jansson's Bohemian urban and rural spaces.
leeravenn's review
dark
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
libraryanned's review
4.0
Like all short story books, some of them were beautiful and left you wanting more and some of them were just wanting. But I loved the writing no matter what.
annaclarimoto's review
5.0
Tove's short stories are absolutely wonderful. Each tale is so simple and relatable on one level, yet so deep!