Tove Jansson: Tee työtä ja rakasta

by Tuula Karjalainen

Tove Jansson (1914–2001) on Suomen tunnetuimpia taiteilijoita, ja hänen kirjojaan on käännetty tällä hetkellä jo yli neljällekymmenelle kielelle. Jansson oli monilahjakkuus: kuvataiteilija, kirjailija, kuvittaja, käsikirjoittaja, laulujen sanoittaja ja miltei mitä vain.

Tuula Karjalaisen kirjoittama elämäkerta osoittaa, miten Janssonin elämä ja taide nivoutuivat tiiviisti toisiinsa ja miten esimerkiksi Muumilaakso ja sen asukkaat syntyivät toisen maailmansodan aikoihin, jolloin kirjailijan itsensä oli paettava julmaa aikaa mielikuvitukseensa, jonnekin lempeämpään maailmaan.

Ihmisenä Tove Jansson vaikutti aikansa arvoihin ja asenteisiin, muutokseen—ei koskaan vallankumouksellisena lipunkantajana, vaan hiljaisena mutta tinkimättömänä omien valintojensa mukaan eläjänä, esimerkkinä. Hänen syntymästään tulee vuonna 2014 kuluneeksi sata vuotta.

Genres: Nonfiction, Biography, Art, Finnish Literature, Biography Memoir, LGBT, History

303 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2013

Reviews

[Liisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don´t have much, if any, experience with biographies, but this one I found to be fantastic. Though it does help that the person the book is about is someone I´ve greatly admired since I was a little child. In Finland we are taught about Tove Jansson several times during our education, but it´s always been a very brief insight into her life and we´ve focused on the Moomins. Tuula Karjalainen goes through pretty much everything: Tove´s life from birth to death, her most important relationships and her career, or more like careers. There are a lot of quotations incorporated in the text and it often felt like it was Tove herself telling me about her life. Karjalainen was allowed to read Tove´s wide correspondence and was so able to share her authentic thoughts, which in my opinion makes this book so special. There are also a lot of well chosen photos that really helped to understand what kind of an artist Tove was, and how her works evolved over time. Tove Jansson: Work and Love is extremely thought provoking and emotive, it gave me huge amounts of inspiration and taught me some important life lessons. I loved every moment of reading it.

[Maia · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful deep dive into the long, creative life of Tove Jansson, the Finnish-Swedish artist behind the Moomintrolls. Tove was also a painter, a cartoonist, involved in theater, sculpture, and a writer of several prose novels and short story collections. She was born during the period of WW1 and WW2 overshadowed her twenties and early thirties, but she spent those years drawing cutting political cartoons against fascism and violence, as well as developing her gallery career, setting up her first studio, and falling in and out of several impactful love affairs. She seems to have accepted her own queerness or bisexuality without much internal struggle and lived as openly as was possible as the time. She turned down several proposals of marriage but happily in mid-life met an artist who became her life-long partner and sometime inspiration and collaborator. The two of them built a little cabin on a very small and barren island in the Finnish archipelago and spent summers there for nearly thirty years- partly to avoid the fame Tove received because of the global love of the Moomins. This book was translated and I do think at times it wander a bit or retreads some material, but I loved how rich it was in color illustrations. Always a pleasure to read about an artist's path.

[leynes · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was one of the few impulse purchases I did in 2024. I had just came back from Copenhagen and had discovered there Tove Jansson and her Moomins. I was so hyped about her work that I looked into biographies on her. And taa daa, that's how I found Tuula Karjalainen's biography Tove Jansson: Work and Love. I looked at the Goodreads reviews which were all raving (of course) and felt it was destiny when I found the hardback copy for 13,00€ instead of the 50+€ it's ususally sold for (it's out of print). As soon as the book arrived and I started reading it I knew I had made a mistake. From page one, I loathed Karjalainen's writing style (it's way too simple for me). I wanted to DNF the book and return it. When wanting to return it the seller refunded me the money without my having to return the book (like, what? this has happened to me before but it's rareeee) and so it felt even more like the universe wanted me to read this book and so I trudged on.

I don't regret reading this particular biography because it featured many of Tove's paintings and illustrations as well as photographs of her and her loved ones throughout her life but I would honestly say that you would gain more by reading her Wikipedia article than reading this book. The Wiki article is much more concise—and free at that.

I've read my fair share of biographies, e.g. Ron Chernow's Alexander Hamilton or Matthew Sturgis' Oscar: A Life, and so I was taken aback by how superficial this biography was. Only a medium amount of sources and no foot- or endnotes whatsoever. Hullo?? What is this? I want my biographies to be academic and well-researched to the point of being insufferable. Karjalainen's work felt much more mainstream/pop-science-y, which didn't work for me at all but might work for other readers. Whenever I read a biography that person becomes my micro obsession and hyperfocus, I become fully consumed by their life, struggles and achievements. When I tell you that prior to this reading I haven't finished a single biography without fully sobbing by its end bc that person's death felt too much for me??? Yeah, I'm that kinda gal. And that's what I wanted to happen with Tove as well. Alas! I hate to admit it but this book didn't even make me excited about her work, like?? What is going on? Usually I'm the first person to add 10 books to my wishlist whenever researching authors more but this even somewhat put me off Jansson's work and cooled my excitement for her considerably, which is such a shame—because the illustrations and paintings included are awesome (my favorite oil painting of hers is The Family, from 1942). Like, she was such a cool woman and such a unique artist???

There are a couple of things I found interesting in this biography and so I wanna chat about them. For instance, Tove's relationship to her parents. It's fascinating. Her father was an artist himself and their relationship seems to have not been the easiest. The relationship to her mother was almost symbiotic and at times unhealthy. The two of them lived together up until her mother's death (which isn't all that unusual) but throughout her entire life Tove's sexuality (she was a lesbian) remained a taboo topic between the two and was never discussed—despite the fact that her mother literally lived with Tove and her girlfriend. Yikes.

One wholesome thing I wanna point out is what Tove wrote in 1946 to her friend Eva, after having fallen in love with a woman for the first time in her life: "I simply feel proud and boundlessly happy." <3 And that's very nice. Because Tove's relationship with men up to that point were so fucked up. They always wanted her in this submissive role and saw them as her teacher/mentor, and it gave me the ick, not gonna lie.

Tove did a lot of sketches and "simple" illustrations for political magazines in the 1940s but out of everything that was featured in this book these rank among my favorite art pieces from her. Like, they were so bold. Caricaturing Hitler and Stalin like that? The one illustration with the fisher fishing at one lone hole in the ice in front of a long line of hungry people? Genius! The machine that turns old Nazis and fascists into perfectly pure and fine citizens? Young Tove (she was in her late 20s, early 30s when these comics were drawn) had so much to say and I was here for everything. And major kudos to her as Germanophilia was rampant in Finland at the time (Finland was even a German ally for some time). Took guts that she clearly had.

A big portion of the book and Tove's legacy are the Moomins. I found it interesting to learn that she created the Moomin world in the 1940s, amidst the war. And that it kind of served as a way of escapism for her: she was able to create a world in which everyone was shielded from the horrors of reality. The Moomins quickly become popular and Tove was offered to do comic strips for the Evening News. Not knowing it better she committed to a horrifying contract (having to deliver six new comic strips per week for seven fucking years, yikes) and the creation of the strips soon felt like a cage to her and didn't satisfy her artistically at all. It is the paradox of most artists that the work that she felt least inclined to was the one that would eventually give her total financial stability and freedom.

On the envelope to a letter Tove wrote to Vivica she drew herself with a meat mallet threatening her Moomin characters who crouched in fear before her wrath—like, that woman was DONE with the Moomins, you guys. It's not even funny.

After years of working on the comics, she was finally able to hand in her resignation. In her letter to her publishers she writes: "Now I draw Moomins with a feeling that is starting to resemble hatred, and sometimes on Sundays I stand before my own work as if it were a closed door. [...] I don't ever want to draw comics again. I'm sorry." And that's super sad, but on the upside, her brother Lars was thus able to work on the comic strips (something he wanted to do, obviously). And he then began to draw and write the comic strips in 1960 and continued to do so for fifteen years. How cool is that?

Tove Jansson is considered the first strip cartoonist to have made the separating lines between the panels into part of the story. This is considered her biggest contribution to the history of the comic strip.

Overall, this book gives you a great sense of what it must have felt like to be an artist during Tove's time. And sure, there were many trials and tribulations but in hindsight, it feels to be a much more privileged position than it is in our day and age. Tove's studio space was huuuuge and early on she was able to BUY the whole place — can you imagine that? not in our economy.

Writing this review reconciled me to the book, not gonna lie. I don't feel as gutted about not having liked it. I will simply use it like a coffee table book from now on and flip through Tove's art whenever I feel like it. She was one of a kind!

[Noora · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars
There are only a few people I admire as much as I admire Tove Jansson. She was an inspirational artist, writer, illustrator, feminist and a thinker, and reading her biography fills me with the desire to cover my body with tattoos of her work - both images and words. I want to re-read all of her work again and again, slowly and almost hesitantly drown myself in her writing.

Boel Westin's authorised biography will probably always be the best one in my eyes, but I think Karjalainen still offers an exciting, more art-focused perspective into the well-loved author of the Moomin books. Moreover, this is a simply gorgeous book to behold - all the way from the colourful spine to the beautiful layout and the image choices. I highly highly recommend this!

[Mai Laakso · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tove Jansson syntyi ensimmäisen maailmansodan aikana vuonna 1914. Tuula Karjalaisen elämäkerta tästä rakastetusta suomenruotsalaisesta kirjailijasta, taiteilijasta, kuvittajasta ja sarjakuvapiirtäjästä on nimeltään Tove Jansson – Tee työtä ja rakasta. Tove Jansson teki työtään ahkerasti, vaikka hän valitsi urakseen taidemaailman, joka on hyvin epävarma ja epäkiitollinen työsarka. Hän valitsi tiensä äitinsä ja isänsä jalanjäljiltä, sillä hän kasvoi taiteilijakodissa, jossa monet aikamme kuuluisista taiteilijoista viettivät aikaansa.
Tove Jansson tunnetaan hänen Muumihahmoistaan. Muumit ovat lähteneet elämään ja luoneet suuren Muumi-bisneksen. Muumikirjojen suosio Suomessa oli alkuaikoina kuitenkin hidasta, eikä suomalaiset ymmärtäneet Muumikirjoja. Muumit oli julkaistu Ruotsissa, Saksassa ja Englannissa ja saavuttivat siellä suuren innostuksen, ennen kuin Suomessa ymmärrettiin suomentaa kirjat, sillä Tove Jansson kirjoitti ruotsin kielellä.
Kirja tuo esille myös Tove Janssonin yksityiselämän, joka on ollut melkein aina julkista. Hän on esiintynyt rehellisesti aitona itsenään.
Tove Jansson – Tee työtä ja rakasta teoksen vahvuudet ovat taiteilijan elämän kuvaaminen yksityiskohtaisesti valokuvien kera. Tässä upeassa kirjassa kuvataan Tove Janssonin elämänkaari, joka sisälsi rakkautta ja työtä.

[Will · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wanneer je in Finland bent en geobsedeerd raakt door Tove Jansson: ☺️☺️☺️☺️☺️☺️☺️

[Marge · Rating 5 out of 5]

Raamat, mis võlus esimestest lehekülgedest saati. Oma osa on kindlasti sellel, et mind on alati paelunud kunstnike elulood - neis on emotsiooni ja värvi ning mitte ainult lõuendile kantavat värvi.
Pean tunnistama, et pole hulk aega lugenud midagi sellist, mille pärast võtta aeg maha ja minna uksest välja, põgeneda raamatu eest, mille emotsioon matab hinge. Põgeneda millegi eest, mis kutsub kiiresti tagasi.
Armastusega kirjutatud raamat armastusest.

[Natalie (CuriousReader) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tove Jansson: Work and Love is my first real array into Tove Janssons’ life outside of my familiarity with the Moomin family. For that reason this book was a delight, to get to know the woman behind the world so many children and adults alike return to again and again and find solace in. I enjoyed seeing the progression in Janssons’ career, being surprised by her belated success in terms of money and fame - she had already been working a long time before she became a ‘celebrity’ as a writer and children's’ illustrator. Of course, she was much more than the creator of the Moomins which is also a reason I wanted to read this, to find out more about all of the other things she did, wanted and strove for in her life as an artist. Having said this, my enjoyment of this particular book came more from the subject rather than the writing of Karjalainen. Had the subject been anyone else I would probably have given up somewhere in the first half of the book.

Tove Jansson: Work and Love is, as the title would suggest, greatly focused on Jansson’s work as an artist - as a painter first and foremost - but also shows off all of the other work she did over her lifetime. That and the fact that the writer of this biography is an art historian seemed exactly like what I was looking for, the perfect match. However, I found I had several issues with the way the book was written. Since Tuula Karjalainen is an art historian and supposedly knows her stuff, I found it surprising that much of her description of Jansson’s art was so lackluster and obvious. She would describe paintings in a straightforward way like ‘The girl stood by the window, next to her lied art supplies and a canvas’ (not an exact quotation). My reaction to this was that I can see all these details very well for myself, especially because the book is richly filled with illustrations, art pieces, and photographs. I was rather looking for a deeper analysis like what possible symbols could be found in the art work according to Karjalainen, what other researchers might have said, parallels to contemporary artists, etc. While there is pieces of that too in the book, on the whole I found much of the analytical side to be too one dimensional.

The same problem also extended to Jansson’s writing. There are many, many excerpts from various novels, short stories, etc. - and not only that but a great deal of this book is focused only on describing each and every work Jansson wrote in her lifetime. There is literally a description of every Moomin book, every short story collection and possibly every short story she wrote. Obviously there is value in talking about Jansson’s writing and of course there will be the occasional extract as an illustrative example for various reasoning, but I found it leaning again more to the descriptive than the analytical. Sometimes Karjalainen went into the territory of analysis but then sadly, I found instead the connections to be weak and unconvincing. For example there’s mention of homosexuality and gender representation in Jansson’s work, as having been of great interest for many researchers of Tove Jansson and her writing. While Karjalainen mentions the general interest in it, and draws some of her own conclusions, I found much of the points lacking in argumentative paragraphs so that as a reader you’re only presented with the bare bones of the conclusions rather than the process behind said points.

The above problems had mostly to do with the qualitative aspects of the writing, but sadly I also had some issues with the style of the writing. With style I am talking of Karjalainen’s prose, her actual writing. While I read the Swedish translation I actually started off reading the English translation of the Finnish original and I had the same issues with both versions. Karjalainen is repetitive throughout the book, mentions the same things over and over and often in almost identical phrases; it’s almost as if she’s written the book thinking you’ll be reading it in short spurts so that you’ll forget things in between picking up the book. While I wouldn’t so much mind a little bit of reminding from chapter to chapter, it was annoying to find the same lines over and over in the same single chapter. In general I found the writing often dulled down, it might be because of the focus on many of the people around Jansson while I would’ve preferred the book sticked closer to her and only dealt with others in close connection to how it affected her. On the whole I felt that while Karjalainen is possible a successful historian, she is less impressive as a writer. The things she has found out, her research to make up this book, is certainly impressive; but the technical sides of the writing were in my opinion rather prosaic. That might be more of a personal taste thing, what sort of expectations you have on writers of biographies or similarly of nonfiction. If you’re only looking for information, the above problems might be of less importance than it was for me as someone who wants nonfiction to be written as elegantly as fiction.

Probably my favorite part of this book was the chapters on the Moomins - all from the beginning of the ideas, the creation, to the fame and international success - partly due to my own liking of these characters but also I think because during those chapters there was a clearer focus on Jansson herself instead of the artists or people around her, aside from drawing connections between certain people as inspirations for Moomin characters. I also enjoyed the latter parts that focused on her switch to adult fiction and her living on an isle with her partner, Tooti, in the later years of her life.

I might sound quite harsh in this review, but that’s also because I was looking forward to this book so much I was quite let-down. And yet when looking beyond the prose or the repetition and sometimes, in my opinion, the lack in the analysis, I enjoyed getting to know Jansson and I do think Karjalainen has really given a good broad illustration of Tove Jansson as an artist and as a human being, and most importantly drawn a line of her entire life’s work so that fans of Jansson and the Moomins alike can see how her work developed over time.

Bonus credit to the publishers of this book for producing such a visually stunning book, all the way from the cover design to the font choice, and most importantly the vast amount of illustrations, art work and photography included in the book. Aside from the writing of this biography, this is a book to own for the images alone.

[Peony · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought I knew quite a lot about Tove Janssons life, so I haven't been in a hurry to pick this book up and read it. But I was wrong..there was so much more to know about Tove. What a fascinating life and personality! I didn't know the extent to which her books were interwoven with her own life; the dynamics in her family, war time, love life and breaking the norms. Now I feel like stacking up all the books (picture books, comics, novels) she has ever written and reading them again. This biography was well structured concentrating on one aspect of her life at a time - although there was some repetition in the very end of the book.

I wish Tove knew how well loved she still is today. <3

[Susanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Milline inspireeriv biograafia!
Soovitan igaühele, kellele meeldivad muumid (häh!), naivism, iseseisvad naised vms.
Raamat on väga ilus, täis joonistusi, fotosid ja kaardikesi,
tekst on ladus, kuigi vahel kordav.
Hea lugemine nii tükiti kui ka järjest..

Imeline!

[Paula Lukkariniemi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tänään 5.4.2020 sain loppuun kirjan nimeltä Tove Jansson Tee työtä ja rakasta. Aloitin sen kuusi vuotta sitten. Lukiessani kirjaa nimeltä Tove Jansson Tee työtä ja rakasta minulle tuli sellainen tunne että Tove Jansson olisi kertonut minulle kaiken. Minulle tuli oikein todella hyvä mieli. ❤❤

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Elämäkerta ammentaa materiaalinsa Toven kirjeenvaihdosta, hänen läheistensä haastatteluista ja muista kiinnostavista lähteistä. Etenkin sitaatit kirjeistä, pienet marginaaleihin raapustetut piirrokset ja muu harvemmin julkisuudessa nähtävä Janssonin itsensä kynästä lähtenyt kiehtoivat. Teos käsittelee Janssonin elämää kronologisuuden sijaan teemoittain, mutta suurimmaksi osaksi hänellä näyttääkin elämänsä varrella olleen erilaisia kausia kuten maalaus, sarjakuvat, Muumi-kirjat ja aikuisten kirjallisuus. Tuula Karjalainen kirjoittaa Janssonista kunnioittavasti ja ymmärryksellä muttei näytä tiputtaneen pois vähemmänkään imartelevia asioita.

Vierastin ainoastaan Karjalaisen tapaa tulkita Janssonin maalauksia, piirroksia ja novelleja hyvin biografisesti, koska kuten Karjalainen itsekin aivan viimeisillä sivuilla sanoo, Jansson on pohjannut monia novellejaan omiin kokemuksiinsa mutta samalla muokannut ja käsitellyt niitä taiteilijan vapaudella. On siis periaatteessa mahdotonta sanoa, kuinka paljon tunnelmat ja ajatukset ovat mielikuvituksen tuotetta ja kuinka paljon omaelämäkerrallisia. "Näin kirjoittaja on varmasti tuntenut luodessaan" -tyyppinen ajattelu elämäkerroissa herättää minussa ärsytystä, koska pohjimmiltaan se on vain yhden ihmisen tulkintaa toisen ihmisen luomasta taideteoksesta, josta n prosenttia on täysin mielikuvituksen tuotetta. Karjalainen kyllä varoo sanomasta mitään lopullisia totuuksia, ellei Tove itse ole kirjeissään tai muualla sanonut jonkun hahmon tai tapahtuman pohjautuvan hänen ystäväänsä, perheenjäseneensä tai tiettyyn kokemukseensa. Silti koko lähtökohta on minusta sen verran ongelmallinen, että olisin jättänyt tulkinnat huomattavasti vähemmälle.

Teksti olisi kaivannut vielä yhden editointikierroksen, koska sekaan oli jäänyt turhan paljon lyöntivirheitä ja kankeita ilmaisuja.

[Alex Sarll]

An evocative if occasionally frustrating biography of the creator of the Moomins, read by way of knowing I need to (re)read the Moomins themselves and I'm sort of working my way around to it? I have such a vague yet bone-deep memory of them from childhood, but I don't even know if it was the books, the comics, the TV show or some combination of the three – I just remember them as presences. And obviously in the interim, as befits my demographic, I've read The Summer Book, the most successful of Tove's adult fiction, not to mention her favourite. It doesn't take long to start spotting the Moomin parallels in the life, either; in the obligatory opening chapter introducing the subject's background, we learn that not only were Tove's parents the models for Moominmamma and Moominpappa, but they were known as Ham and Faffan, which could easily be the names of Moominvalley residents who never quite made it to the page. And for all that she initially conceived of the Moomin stories as an escape, not only did they end up more or less taking over her life, but in many of the books she besets Moominvalley with apocalyptic events echoing the travails of the war and its aftermath (though never war itself – one of the reasons she so disliked the first Japanese cartoon version, since thoroughly suppressed). But then, the artists who really catch fire so often have these contradictions at their heart, don't they? And she had plenty: a creator with no time for movements which put social agendas on art, despite also being a political cartoonist; a workaholic who often seemed to find work a painful chore.

In outline, the life is unremarkable; an artist born to two artists who were already pretty successful in their own country, who goes on to far overtake them, while living a moderately bohemian life. The main details I'd known beforehand were the island sojourns that inspired The Summer Book, and that she was fairly sapphic. What I hadn't realised was that she dated men when younger, and quite passionately so at that – but dear heavens, you can see why she abandoned the enterprise after this sorry crop of would-be-Great-Men, all of them utterly convinced of their own significance, none of whom hold a candle to her in posterity. But despite being wary of the compromises marriage might entail, not least because she'd seen how her beloved mother's career had played second fiddle to her father's, Tove seems only intermittently to have looked at it that way. Even once she finally falls for her first girl, Vivica, at first she keeps her relationship to the last and most tiresome of the men, Atos* going – and for a while even finds it working better in some ways. Meanwhile, her painting is going pretty well, for the most part, though at times it's criticised as "graphic" or "illustrative" – which she took very badly, unaware that it was not as a painter that she'd be remembered, and that it was precisely through these attributes that she'd outpace and outlive everyone giving her grief. The Moomins make a fairly early showing, but in the way that a DJ might drop in little hints of the big song long before it gets played properly; it's always weird to be reminded how creepy their early iterations looked, before that pleasing pale plumpness settled on them. And then, at last, unimpeachable success both at work, as the Moomins take their final form and become megastars – and in her personal life, where Tove meets her dear Tuulikki. But one of her most charming attributes is the way she remains friends, and in Vivica's face collaborators, with so many of her exes; I both like and strongly identify with that reluctance to cut oneself off from people who've been such an important part of one's past. Even if, in Tove's case, it means bloody Atos keeps popping up just when readers think they're shot of the bugger.

One downside of this, alas, is that it can sometimes be tricky keeping the chronology straight. The book's subtitle comes from Tove's Ex Libris plates, and especially early on the telling will sometimes gallop through the life, mentioning in passing that Moomin books have begun to occur, but only later doubling back to assess them in detail. In a sense, this will happen with any literary biography; the artefact is going to be produced over a period of time, but will need to be discussed as a whole. But somehow the clicking back felt more noticeable here. On the whole, I found it easy to forget that I was reading a translation, and one from as different a language as Finnish at that, but there was this occasional sense of stiltedness which could have been a consequence, as too with the very occasional terrible sentence, as when a song of Tove's is described as "universally loved". Really? I've never heard of it. But that and the odd repetition aside, my main complaint is that for all the benefits of having a Finnish writer, either she or the translator could have provided a little more context in places for readers who might not be as familiar with Finnish history. The Winter War I knew about, not least because of the mighty White Death, but the Continuation War was a new name to me, even if a fairly self-explanatory one. Still, you certainly know a lot more about Finland's 20th century after reading this. Most startlingly, who knew that the Finns, whom I have always understood to be the only nation whose drinking scares the Russians, suffered under a period of prohibition? That's a curse I'd always previously thought was confined to creepy theocracies, whether in the Middle East or across the Atlantic. And given the protagonist, inevitably there's a particular focus on Finnish cultural life, where we get things like a brief introduction to movements like Informalism and Concretism (neither of which I'd ever heard of before; the latter is the subject of an earlier book by Karjalainen). The most surprising bit of this for me was the divide between Finnish-speaking Finland and the Swedish-speaking community, to which Tove belonged; given what a big deal the Moomins now are in Finland, and that Finnish is now much more ubiquitous there, it seems crazy that one Moomin book wasn't even published in Finnish until 1991. So taken as a whole, despite the occasional confusions or clunky lines, it's an account which does a strong job of capturing the feel both of one individual, and of the society and times through which she moved.

*An unfortunate name, to a reader in austerity Britain, but not necessarily an unfair one. It reminded me a little of the way that, with hindsight, Unity Mitford being conceived in the charming little town of Swastika was a kind of prophecy, but the sort that was utterly useless until it was too late. I was particularly amused that, after Tove had concluded the transfer of her affections away from him, his next girlfriend also seemed very interested in Vivica. You go, Vivica!

[Jarkko · Rating 2 out of 5]

Elämäkerran kirjoittaja Tuula Karjalainen on taidehistoroitsija ja mm. vanha Kiasman johtaja, ja se heijastuu kirjassa sekä hyvässä että pahassa. Hyvässä siinä, että kuvituksissa ei ole säästelty, ja kirja on täynnä upeita värikuvia Toven tuotannosta. Huonossa siinä, että Toven koko elämää peilataan nimenomaan hänen maalaustaiteensa, ja jossain määrin myös kirjallisuutensa, kautta. Taidehistoriaa ja suomalaisten taiteilijoitten nimiä runnotaan lukijan aivokuoreen tauotta. Toisaalta, mikäli Tove näki itsensä pitkään ensisijaisesti taidemaalarina, lienee paikallaan myös arvioida häntä hänen maalaustensa kautta. Se olisi saattanut olla mielenkiintoinen osio elämäkerrassa, mutta ollessaan näin koko teoksen punainen lanka sai se ainakin minut uupumaan pian.

Kirjassa esiintyi luvattoman paljon toistoa niin osioitten välillä kuin niitten sisällä. Jopa kokonaisia lauseita käytetään pahimmillaan kahta sivua myöhemmin. Jatkuva hyppiminen ajassa taaksepäin sekoitti minut täysin. Jokainen luku tuntuu alkavan aina joko sodan ajalta tai 60-luvulta, ja sitten kun luvussa päästään 70-luvun puoleenväliin, niin seuraava kappale alkaa taas 60-luvulta.

Toven elämä oli todella mielenkiintoinen, ja hän oli uskomattoman aikaansaapa taiteilija. Oli mielenkiintoista saada tietää enemmän hänen elämästään. Tämä kirja ei kuitenkaan minuun vedonnut monien vikojensa vuoksi. Tovelle viisi tähteä, kirjalle kaksi.

[Anna Reta Maria · Rating 4 out of 5]

Varsinkin kirjan alkupuoli sai minut haikailemaan 1900-luvun alun taiteilijapiireihin, vaikka eivät ne kyllä nuorelle naiselle kauhean mukavat olleet. Silti henkinen kotini tuntuu olevan jossain tuolla.

Tämä kirja keskittyy selvästi Tove Janssonin taidetuotantoon kuin Muumeihin. Osittain Muumi-osiot tuntuivat vähän läpijuossuilta, mutta toisaalta, Muumeista on kirjoitettu jo paljon. Olikin kiinnostava lukea Toven ajatuksista taidemaalari-identiteetistään ja siitä, miten hänen elämänsä vaikutti hänen tuotantoonsa. On tavallaan traagista, että Jansson piti itsenään ensisijaisesti taidemaalarani, mutta hänestä tuli kuuluisa lastenkirjailijana ja sarjakuvapiirtäjänä.

Olisin halunnut lukea vähemmän Janssonin nuoruudenaikaisista suhteista hänen silloisiin miesystäviinsä ja saada lisää tietoa hänen ja Tuulikki Pietilän suhteesta. Kirja jotenkin hyppää heidän suhteensa ohi. Kenties rauhallisesta ja hyvästä, lähes 50 vuotta kestäneestä suhteesta ei saa irti niin paljon kuin myrskyisistä nuoruudensuhteista, joissa jokainen mies on ollut kauhea tollo.

Pidin kirjan taideanalyyseista ja siitä, kuinka kirjoittaja oli selvästi niissä asiantuntija. Lisäksi kirja inspisoi: Janssonin ei ollut mikään lapsinero, vaan loi uraansa rauhallisesti ja teki läpimurron vasta noin nelikymppisenä. Nykypäivän nuoruutta ihannoiva maailma antaa sellaisen kuvan, että jos ei tee jotain suurta viimeistään 20-vuotiaana, peli on automaattisesti menetetty. Ei se ihan niin mene.

[Sanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

En tiiä mitä sanoa. Tunnelmani kirjan päätyttyä on haikea, surumielinenkin. Karjalainen kirjoittaa Tovesta ikään kuin läheltä ja rakkaudella. Inspiroiva teos, johon tulen varmasti palaamaan. Tove Jansson on paljon, paljon enemmän kuin muumit.

PS. Onnellinen naispari! <3

[Kirsty · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best part of Tove Jansson’s centenary celebrations was, for me, the plethora of new books released, which showcased both her own work and her life. The second biography of Jansson, written by Finnish art historian Tuula Karjalainen, follows Boel Westin’s work, Tove Jansson: Life, Art, Words. Whilst the titles of both books are similar, it is Karjalainen’s which stands out, and which, I feel, provides the best insight into Jansson’s work.

Jansson was born in Paris in 1914, and moved to Finland in her early childhood. The blurb of Tove Jansson: Work and Love states that she ‘led a long, colourful and productive life, shaped by the political, social and cultural landscape of 20th-century Finland’. The blurb of the book says, quite rightly, that Karjalainen has conjured up ‘a vivid picture of Jansson’s extraordinary life’. Rather than focus solely on Jansson’s literary output, as Westin’s work largely does, Karjalainen has taken into account her writing and artwork in equal measure: ‘Her life’s work is enormous. It should really be discussed in the plural, because she had several careers – as an author of fairytales, as an illustrator, painter, writer, stage designer, dramaturge, poet, political caricaturist and cartoonist’. Much of Tove Jansson: Work and Love has been built around the ‘decades of personal correspondence and journals’ which she was able to examine following Jansson’s death in 2001.

Tove Jansson: Work and Love was first published in Finland last year. In her book, Karjalainen begins with a lovely section entitled ‘To the Reader’, which speaks of the early days of the relationship between Tove’s parents, Signe and Viktor. She goes on to write about the things which she has personally gained from peering into Jansson’s life: ‘Stepping in… has been a rich and wonderful experience, though I had constantly to be aware that I might not necessarily be welcome. Tove has been the subject of biographies, studies and dissertations written from many different points of view. She permitted it during her lifetime, despite not always being very interested’. The structure of the book is interesting, and certainly works well; it hovers somewhere between being a chronological and thematic account, Karjalainen believing that these elements are of equal importance in such a biography.

Tove Jansson: Work and Love is incredibly well written, and such care has been given to its translation. Lovely photographs and beautiful specimens of Jansson’s art, all in beautiful colour, have been interspersed throughout. Karjalainen adds new information and thoughtful musings to the impression previously given of Jansson’s life and work. Quotes have been included from those who knew her best, and who have devoted time to examining her life. Karjalainen has even given such thought to the book’s title; it is based upon Tove’s ex libris motto, ‘Laborare et Amare', the two elements of paramount importance for her.

It is clear throughout that Karjalainen has such respect for Jansson and her work, and sums her up perfectly in the following paragraph: ‘Tove’s life was fascinating. She challenged conventional ways of thinking and moral rules in a country where old prejudices, especially on the subject of sexual behaviour, maintained a strict hold… She influenced the values and attitudes of her time, but was no flag-bearer – instead, she was a quiet person who remained uncompromising in her own life choices’.

Tove Jansson: Work and Love is a sheer joy for all of Tove’s admirers; it is in depth, compassionate, far-reaching and absolutely stunning. The book itself is absolutely beautiful, and its gloriously colourful back and spine are sure to delight every Moomin fan.

[Huutavakilpikonna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yleensä en lue elämänkertoja, mutta Tove on minulle sellainen esikuva, että oli pakko tehdä poikkeus. Hänellä oli mielenkiintoinen elämä ja hän ei puhunut juurikaan yksityiselämästään julkisesti. Kunnioitan ihmisiä, jotka osaavat tehdä jotain todella hyvin ja uskaltavat sanoa mielipiteensä. Näihin minun ihailemiini ihmisiin voisin lisätä Anna-Leena Härkösen ja Eija Vilppaan.Heistäkin siis voisin joskus lukea elämänkerran. Kuvia on paljon ja oli mielenkiintoista tutustua Janssonin tuotantoon kokonaisvaltaisesti. Vielä kun joskus näkisi nuo maalaukset livenä. Freskot näinkin Helsingin reissulla Hamiin tutustuessa. Taiteesta saa niin paljon enemmän irti "aidossa" tilanteessa.

[iltatee · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful biography of Tove Jansson, a painter and the beloved creator of the Moomins. I liked the way the book was arranged, a mixture of chronology and themes as the main focus. It made the book easy to read and Jansson's timeline easy to follow. I enjoyed very much the descriptions of her atelier and her relationship to Tuulikki Pietilä. Jansson's life certainly gives you many things to write about and I think the author had them well balanced in this biography. The illustrations were marvellous, including both art by Jansson and photographs of her and loved ones.

[Marina Sofia · Rating 5 out of 5]

What can I say? So much I didn't know about Tove Jansson's life and loves, but above all her art. The book gets the balance between personal and professional/artistic just right. Comes up with lots of new insights, interviews with loved ones, makes good use of Tove's archives. Great pictures and a beautiful edition.

[Jemysieni · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tämä oli kevyt, 10 tunnin äänikirja. Elokuvan nähneenä tässä tuli aika paljon tuttua asiaa, mutta toki tarkemmin ja taustoitetummin kuin valkokankaalla. Lisäksi teos kattaa isomman aikahaitarin kuin elokuva.

Olen ehdottomasti sitä mieltä, että ensin pitäisi lukea Muumi-kirjat ja muita Janssonin merkittäviä teoksia, jotta tästä saisi kaiken irti. Janssonin elämän eri vaiheita, tunteita ja ajatuksia käsitellään paljon juuri Muumien kautta. Tämä oli toki mielenkiintoinen ilman lukukokemuksiakin, mutta tunsin jääväni jostain vaille. Pian meneekin Muumit lukuun (toki tämä teos ja elokuva ohjavat niiden tulkintaa jossain määrin). Teoksessa käsitellään paljon myös Janssonin itse tärkeämpänä pitämää kuvataidepuolta, joten suosittelen vilkaisemaan myös maalauksia.

Teos etenee osin kronologisesti ja osin teemoittain, mikä välillä aiheutti hämmennystä (vaikka ajatuksena tykkäsin ideasta). Ihmissuhteiden käsittely vie hyvän siivun kirjasta, kuten myös taiteilijuuden käsittely.

Sekä elokuvan että kirjan perusteella haluan todeta, että pidän Tove Janssonista ja monessa asiassa samaistun häneen vahvasti - tämä tuli yllätyksenä, mikä osin ehkä kertoo siitä, etten aiemmin tiennyt kirjailijasta juuri mitään. Toivon, että tällä kosketuspinnalla myös Muumit avautuvat uudella tavalla, kun viimein saan aikaiseksi lukea ne.

[Kristina Monika · Rating 4 out of 5]

Įdomi įdomios menininkės biografija.

Skaityti apie Tove Jansson buvo įdomu. Kaip ir gali tikėtis iš legendinių muminukų istorijų ir komiksų, kurie yra išskirtiniai ir kitokie, kūrėjos.

Patiko, kad knygoje autorė daugiausia vietos skyrė Tove kūrybai. Jos moto buvo darbas ir meilė - būtent tokia tvarka. Perskaičius biografiją, susidėlioja vaizdas menininkės, kuriai buvo labai svarbu meilė (mylimieji ir mylimosios bei šeima), bet visų pirma ji gyveno kūryba. Ji buvo ne tik muminukų istorijų kūrėja, bet ir talentinga bei pripažinta tapytoja ir iliustratorė. Knygoje įdėta daug jos kūrybos (paveikslų, eskizų, iliustracijų, freskų) pavyzdžių, kas labai patiko. Kaip ir tai, kad yra aiškinamos jų detalės bei kas turėjo įtakos Tove kūrybos temoms, braižui, kokių jos gyvenimo žmonių ir įvykių ten galima įžvelgti ir į kūrinius pažvelgti dar kitaip (kad ir tas pačias muminukų istorijas ir jų personažus).

Vietomis kliuvo knygos išdėstymas, skaidant ją atskiromis temomis, kai, pavyzdžiui, temai svarbios detalės būdavo paaiškinamos plačiau tik vėlesniuose skyriuose, bet visumoje biografija tikrai patiko, nes daug sužinojau ir joje buvo gausu Tove kūrybos iliustracijų.

[Andrei · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tove Janssoni rikkalikkult illustreeritud elulugu. Huvitavam osa puudutab Muumide looja lapsepõlve ja kujunemist - konflikte äärmusliku isa ning sõjajärgse konservatiivse Soome moraalinormidega. Karjääri hilisema osa analüüs jääb sellega võrreldes frustreerivalt pealiskaudseks ning laialivalguvaks. Ei oska öelda, kas asi on tõlkes või originaalis, aga teksti osas on tegemist ka mõnevõrra kohmaka stiiliga. Plusspunkt see-eest visuaalse külluslikkuse, vapustavalt pilkupüüdva küljenduse eest. 3.5/5

[Sohvi · Rating 5 out of 5]

4,5-5/5

Tove Janssonilla oli ainutlaatuinen elämä, johon mahtui paljon ihmisiä, upeita töitä sekä seikkailuita. Kirjassa kerrotaan tästä elämästä todella osuvasti, lapsuudesta aina viimeisiin hetkiin saakka.

Kirjassa oli pariin otteeseen hieman toistoa ja Muumilaakson tarinat ei saanut oikeastaan ollenkaan tilaa kirjassa, mutta muuten tämä oli oikein loistava.

Tämä on teos, mikä jokaisen Muumeista tai Tove Janssonin taiteesta/teoksista pitävän tulisi lukea.

Karoliina Kudjoi sopi todella hyvin lukijaksi tähän. Lisäpisteitä siitä!

[Siiri · Rating 5 out of 5]

I started reading this book thinking I already knew a thing or two about Tove Jansson. How wrong I was. This book was such an amazing insight into the life of an incredibly talented person, as well as her work. Absolutely enjoyed reading this.

[Мария Бахарева · Rating 5 out of 5]

Туве прекрасная, как и ее книги.

[Nugzar Kotua · Rating 5 out of 5]

Закрывая последнюю страницу книги, я ощутил глубокую грусть. Тонкая, гениальная, живая, добрая, интересная Туве. Думаю, такие люди появляются один раз в столетие.
Однозначно рекомендую книгу Туулы Карьялайнен не только поклонникам творчества Туве Янссон, к коим я причисляю и себя, но и всем тем, кому интересна жизнь гениальной женщины, показанная, с одной стороны, через призму событий XX века, а с другой стороны, через призму ее собственной души.
Нехронологичность повествования лишь усиливает впечатление от книги и помогает закреплять и запоминать факты, снова и снова возвращая нас к самой писательнице, ее жизни, переживаниям и творчеству.
Спасибо автору.

«Closing the last page of the book, I felt a deep sadness. Fine, ingenious, lively, kind, interesting Tuva. I think such people appear once in a century.
I definitely recommend the book of Tuula Karjalainen not only to fans of creativity Tove Jansson, to whom I enumerate myself, but also to all those who are interested in the life of a brilliant woman, shown on the one hand through the prism of the events of the 20th century, and on the other hand, through the prism of her own soul.
The lack of synchronism of the narrative only strengthens the impression of the book and helps to consolidate and remember the facts, again and again bringing us back to the writer herself, her life, experiences and creativity.
Thanks to the author.»

[Agne · Rating 5 out of 5]

A truly remarkable life, with or without the Moomins. I like the strong focus on Jansson's work, as it was her most loved pursuit (I think/also, the title).

Exceptional research, fully referenced, lots of images.

By the way, I found the Moomins kind of creepy when I was little, but I'm ready to give them a shot now.

[Rikke · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautiful biography that covers the entirety of Jansson's artistic career; her fiction, her paintings, her comic strips and – of course, the Moomins.

I'm left in awe of the charismatic and talented artist Jansson was.

[karin · Rating 4 out of 5]

'üks osa ootust ja kaks osa kevadist nukrust, ja kõik ülejäänu peab olema ainult ohjeldamatu rõõm'