Oh, man, this book made me think so hard it almost broke my brain. Not because it's a difficult read--it's a deceptively (see what I did there?) simple read. On the surface, it's the story of two women in a small Scandinavian village, very remote, the kind of place where everyone knows everyone else's business. Katri Kling is a 20-something living with her younger brother, whom the town regards as "simple." She is fiercely devoted to the truth, and people know better to ask her something they don't really want to know the answer to. But they also know she has a sharp mind and can help them figure out solutions to problems, and while a bit of an outcast, they can trust her.
Anne Aemelin is an older woman who lives alone in an old house far up a hill. Her family had money, and she's earned more by painting highly acclaimed and popular children's books (not unlike author Tove Jansson herself). She's largely content to live alone, but she doesn't have much of a head for business, and her affairs are bit muddled.
Katri wants something that Anne has: Money. So she works out a way to get it, and her plans set into motion a series of events that drastically change both women, leaving them each no longer sure about their place in the community, their sense of trust, their sense of themselves or each other. In the end, it's a book about what constitutes truth and honesty, and who gets to decide? And that's what just about broke my brain.
But I need to read more Jansson. I love everything of hers that I've read.
Recent Comments