Fair Play by Tove Jansson

 

Fair Play / Tove Jansson
trans. from the Swedish by Thomas Teal
read by Emma D'Arcy
Copenhagen: Saga Egmont, 2024, c1989.

This is a collection of short pieces following the lives of Mari and Jonna, artists who live at either end of a big apartment, Jonna's art studio at one end and Mari's writing space at the other. They have a balanced life of work, art, travel, film, and time spent on their small remote island. They both dislike visitors and want to keep their life even and uneventful for the most part. 

It's a fascinating look at tiny domestic details, as well as the way they shape and respond to one another's art. Their characters come out strongly, and they are very clearly autobiographical to a large extent. In each chapter, they face something, whether it's just worrying about their boat tied up in a storm, or the arrival of an old school friend who they have to host, or the potential of a year apart when Jonna is offered a residency in Paris. There is an outlier chapter where they are on vacation in the American West, taking home movies of it all, as well. 

These little moments of recalibration of a relationship and a lifestyle are momentous somehow, and the little things matter, they have import. It's a quiet but compelling book, and I found the themes and the illumination of a life that isn't all that dramatic so interesting. I listened to the recent audiobook, and found that the reader was skilled and made the listening easy. That's always a bonus! There are a couple more Jansson books available in audio by this publisher and I will most likely listen to those as well. I like Jansson's writing and am glad to see more it available like this.