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A review by purplemuskogee
Travelling Light by Tove Jansson
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
"Perhaps you have some idea of the depth of my fatigue, of my exhaustion and nausea in the face of this constant need to feel sorry for people?"
I have only started to read Tove Jansson a few months ago and already she is one of my favourite authors. This is the first time I read her short stories and I loved them so much. In Travelling Light, all the characters are somewhat misfits, outsiders, not quite fitting in or not wanting to fit in. They were all interesting and well-written and original - mysterious without being dark -, but my favourite ones have been "The Summer Child", where a middle class family decides to take a city boy with them on holiday to give the boy a taste of summer in the countryside, and the boy turns out to be dark and negative, a little boy who watches the sea and reminds everyone that pollution will erase all this beauty, a boy who likes to remind everyone around him of their own deaths, their own failures and of every danger... I loved "Travelling Light", where a man has made arrangements to give up his flat, his belongings, his whole life, to go travelling and finally be a person "who never took any interest in anyone", only to find that it is very difficult not to; and "Shopping", a post-apocalyptic short story where a couple survives in fear after some event has ravaged their surroundings and their home.
The introduction by Ali Smith was also worth reading.
I have only started to read Tove Jansson a few months ago and already she is one of my favourite authors. This is the first time I read her short stories and I loved them so much. In Travelling Light, all the characters are somewhat misfits, outsiders, not quite fitting in or not wanting to fit in. They were all interesting and well-written and original - mysterious without being dark -, but my favourite ones have been "The Summer Child", where a middle class family decides to take a city boy with them on holiday to give the boy a taste of summer in the countryside, and the boy turns out to be dark and negative, a little boy who watches the sea and reminds everyone that pollution will erase all this beauty, a boy who likes to remind everyone around him of their own deaths, their own failures and of every danger... I loved "Travelling Light", where a man has made arrangements to give up his flat, his belongings, his whole life, to go travelling and finally be a person "who never took any interest in anyone", only to find that it is very difficult not to; and "Shopping", a post-apocalyptic short story where a couple survives in fear after some event has ravaged their surroundings and their home.
The introduction by Ali Smith was also worth reading.