Reviews and Comments

I read this classic in one sitting, under the summer sun but feeling completely out from this world. The novel felt so familiar that I had to check many times that I really hadn't read it before. Of course the story of an old, down-to-earth, simple fisherman with his relationship towards the ocean (very classically described as feminine, powerful and erratic yet very loving and soothing) is known from decades ago, but the story itself didn't carry any surprises either. Instead it was told in a very calm, declaratory way.
For this story the style worked perfectly, it was almost like narrated by someone who doesn't speak anything but the necessary, just focusing on the basics without any dramatization, but obviously it means that this is not a ground-breaking novel either. Good reading for the hammock by the lake.

With a continuous string from one story to another, this collection is easy to read. It holds a lot of glimpses of our everyday lives' precious passing moments in a very lovely way only Tove Jansson has. I liked this a lot more than many of her other books, because these short, kind of light stories each were so carefully chosen and set, and carelessly written.

Something that really popped out was the way she tied each passing story to the next one with a small hint. I didn't know if it was annoying or charming, but at least it made me feel like I'm reading the stories from the same world, where they might be coexisting simultaneously and maybe even affecting each other somehow. But that might just be the customary fairytale magic she does.