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What Members Thought
Charming. A simply charming little gem. Each chapter contains a story about a young girl, Sophia, and her grandmother on a summer island in Scandinavia. Sophia is at that stage and of the disposition to say and think the darndest things. Grandmother, is usually patient and wise, but this is an island, and at times they have more than enough of each other and they get testy. They go on adventures together. They trespass and crawl around discovering nature. Grandmother sneaks cigarettes, hiding fr
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This was absolutely joyous.
Beautiful, quirky, unsentimental novel about the relationship between a young child and her artistic grandmother who live on a very small island off the coast of Finland. This book is so well-observed and thoughtful that I was sorry to see it end. I am not surprised that the book is considered a classic in Scandinavia. It should be so here as well.
some stunning sentences. prefer the true deceiver on the basis of tenderness, although this book is very tender, also. my favorite parts were when it became difficult to tell whether grandmother was grandmother or not.
I so enjoyed this sweet little book about Sophia and her grandmother and their summers on an island in Finland. It is full of love.
This charming and spare collection of essays has special resonance for me. I married into a Finnish family with several older ladies very much like the grandmother in The Summer Book. Their relationship with children was also much like what's depicted in this book--loving, but decidedly crisp and no-nonsense. Here's to the Maki sisters--Gertrude, Ellen, Tyyne, and Mamie. We miss you.
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