juushika

I have such a backlog of Moomin reviews saved up. I'm reading what I have reasonable access to, in chronological order; so far, that's been the novels and the comics strips (no picture books, etc.), and I'm not fussed with shows/movies right now. They've been consistently enjoyable but I definitely feel like I came to them too late and/or have the wrong no sense of humor, because the cozy, atmospheric, magical, haunting, and family bits work for me, but the humor ... generally does not. Anyway, I'll be lumping and cutting these, for neatness's sake.

Probably some details about translators/editions are off, because there's just ... so many to keep track of, they're a mess, I'm a mess too.


Title: The Moomins and the Great Flood (The Moomins Book 1)
Author: Tove Jansson
Published: 1945
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 55
Total Page Count: 314,560
Text Number: 1089
Read Because: reading the series
Review: This is the sort of rambling travelogue that spills over itself from one low-stakes fantasy adventure into the next. I like the linked story elements, particularly the way that kindness in one interaction progresses/solves the next, but it doesn't lead anywhere particularly substantial. There's a whiff of the atmospheric, but the tone is more charming than, again, substantial. A quick little read, with good potential for serialization, but if things were to continue on exact as-is I doubt it could hold my interest. (Luckily, my impression is that the series improves from here.)

(I read what I imagine is a fan translation provided without illustrations, ergo even less evocative than it could be! But none of my libraries had this first book. The rest of the series should be more satisfying.)


Title: Comet in Moominland (The Moonins Book 2)
Author: Tove Jansson
Translator: Elizabeth Portch
Published: Farrar Straus Giroux, 1990 (1946)
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 160
Total Page Count: 315,050
Text Number: 1092
Read Because: reading the series, hardback borrowed from the Wilsonville Public Library
Review: Ominous portents send Moomintroll & Co. on a distant quest. This is much better than The Moomins and the Great Flood. It's longer, making room for the story to settle into itself: a more coherent, directed narrative; a richer, lived world despite that the story is again structured around a journey. The tone has also developed into a delicate point/counterpoint of twee-but-wry voice/characterization against a more evocative framing: the looming comet and its despairing red light, the alien landscape of the seabed, the fae dance party are fantastic setpieces, interrupted by character foibles in a way which balances and lightens the tone. And such relatable characters and foibles!


Title: Finn Family Moomintroll (The Moomins Book 3)
Author: Tove Jansson
Translator: Elizabeth Portch
Published: Farrar Straus Giroux, 1990 (1948)
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 175
Total Page Count: 315,690
Text Number: 1095
Read Because: reading the series, hardback borrowed from the Wilsonville Public Library
Review: The Moomin family's springtime adventures and summer festivities. The series coalesces in Comet in Moominland, which I enjoyed—but this has all of those strength (long enough to settle into itself, well-structured plot) with an atmosphere I much prefer. The oddities and domestic intimacies of the Moomin house are charming and pure wish-fulfillment—who wouldn't want Moominmamma to make up a bed for them? Smaller adventures allow room for the relationships to expand, and Snufkin and Moomintroll's relationship is particularly poignant and well-integrated into the plot beats and wistful atmosphere. And Thingummy and Bob! they're the most relatable in a cast remarkable for annoying-but-charming quirks; I love them. This came close to perfect, and it's certainly my favorite in the series so far.


Title: The Exploits of Moominpappa, Described by Himself (The Moomins Book 4)
Author: Tove Jansson
Translator: Thomas Warburton
Published: Puffin Books, 2003 (1950)
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 150
Total Page Count: 318,610
Text Number: 1109
Read Because: reading the series
Review: Moominpappa completes the memoirs that chronicle his youth and reads them to Moomintroll & Co. Much of my delight in Finn Family Moomintroll lies in the idea that any weirdo could come off the path to find a welcoming home with the Moomin family, so the sense of predestination that comes from a similarly-configured previous generation of characters destroys that fantasy. I'll admit that this bugged me more than is reasonable, and it made it difficult for me to appreciate these characters in their own right. They do contrast and contextualize the primary cast, and the "charming but annoying" characterization ubiquitous to this series means so much to me—in texts of this tone, I appreciate characters being forgiven their myriad flaws. Complaints and strengths of characters aside, I didn't find this as evocative as other books and I weary of another travelogue format; the humor, however, remains strong. This was for me a regression in the series, which I had found to be steadily improving—but it's still fine.

N.B. I read the text of The Exploits of Moominpappa (the original version), but referenced Moominpappa's Memoirs (the revised version) for the illustrations (because I had the former as an ebook, which means shitty image quality) and glanced at some of the text there. This Tumblr post does a nice job of detailing which revisions were made and to what effect, to this book and others.


Title: Moominsummer Madness (The Moomins Book 5)
Author: Tove Jansson
Translator: Thomas Warburton
Published: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2010 (1954)
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 175
Total Page Count: 319,070
Text Number: 1113
Read Because: reading the series, hardback borrowed from the Wilsonville Public Library
Review: Flood sends the Moomin family from their home during the height of June. Unbeknownst to them, they end up living in a floating theatre, and I'll admit I'm not enamored of the dramatic irony and pastiche that this introduces; I love these books more when they're cozy/domestic or atmospheric/magical—funny/campy is less my vibe. But there's still so much cozy and atmospheric to be had. Multithreaded, coincidence-laden plots are difficult to pull off in more serious works, but when the underlying theme is that things will work out, that characters will be reunited, a coincidental structure is soothing. And the reassurance of a happy ending opens the way for a contrasting but unthreatening sense of loss and loneliness. There's room for characters like mopey, quotable Misabel, who I love even more than Thingummy and Bob. And by coincidence I read this in late June, building on the book's atmosphere, late summer nights shimmering with quiet magic. I think this gets in its own way a little—it could be a perfect book; it's not, but it's a pleasure.

Later in the evening Misabel went for a solitary stroll by the sea. She saw the moon rise and start his lonesome journey through the night.

"He's exactly like me," Misabel thought sadly. "So plump and lonely."

At this thought she felt so forsaken and mild that she had to cry a little.

"What are you crying for?" asked Whomper nearby.

"I don't know, but it feels nice," replied Misabel.

"But people cry because they feel sorry, don't they?" objected Whomper.

"Well, yes—the moon," Misabel replied vaguely and blew her nose. "The moon and the night and all the sadness there is..."

"Oh, yes," said Whomper.