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Loading... Finn Family Moomintroll. (original 1948; edition 2007)by Tove Jansson
Work InformationFinn Family Moomintroll by Tove Jansson (1948)
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. Another one from my quest to read a load of Moomin books around the time we visited Finland and Moominworld. In this a mysterious hat is the central storyline and all the usual characters bobble in and out. It's excellent of course. ( ) This was another re-read of a childhood favourite, and I found this one slightly more successful than 'Comet in Moominland' as the level of storytelling is more complex and can be enjoyed by adults. It is spring in Moomin valley and the inhabitants of the Moomin house, which include long-term guests such as the Muskrat, Snufkin and the Hemulen, are waking from their winter hibernation. Before long, Moomin and his friends find a strange hat which sets off a sequence of events that connect the various chapters, which otherwise would be mostly self-contained short stories. I loved this quirky sequence of tales, with the various fantasy elements including the darker ones of the hat's owner and the strange and threatening creature which arrives later on, in pursuit of two little creatures who have arrived with a suitcase. Moominmamma is completely unflappable, and always dependable, and Moominpappa, though more self absorbed with his memoirs and his fishing, does occasionally prove useful. The various characters are all delineated with their various quirks, and the author's powers of invention are inexhaustible, producing the strange Hattifatteners and other weird creatures. The only slight irritation is the rather stereotyped views of girls, but I will make allowances for that, given the publication date. So I rate this volume as a 5 star read. This childhood favorite was well worth the reread: if not for the tender and empathetic way that Jansson treats all her characters, then surely for the whimsical beauty of illustration and the raw imagination of plot. Also, this translation is full of quotes brilliant in their simplicity: "It was a good day to start a journey; the crest of the hill beckoned to him in the sunshine, with the road winding up and disappearing on the other side to find a new valley, and then a new hill...." 142 "Oh, what wonderful feeling when you have eaten up everything, drunk everything, talked of everything and danced your feet off, to go home in the quiet hour before the dawn to sleep!" 169 I remember being terrified by these stories when I was younger, and now that I read them with a whole host of literary ideas bouncing around in my head, I have an idea for why they did so: they didn't follow Roald Dahl's ideas about children's literature being divided into a binary of absolute good and complete evil. Each monster that Jansson presents has an understandable motivation, and all are capable of reasoning and resolution. Her presentation of nature is full of danger and beauty but ultimately impartial to its occupants. Her choice of scale for the moomins is also important, I think; there is a peculiar danger when characters are less than a foot tall and at the mercy of their environment. Yet for all these, and her tendency towards happy endings, Jansson does not shy away from issues that come up in childhood and never truly leave: jealousy, the complication of who should possess things, and the trouble of finding something to do with your days. I believe I will reread all the Moomin books. no reviews | add a review
Belongs to SeriesMoomintrolls (3) Belongs to Publisher SeriesGl'istrici [Salani] (32) Puffin Story Books (150) Robinson-böckerna (13) Zwarte Beertjes (1673)
It is spring in the valley and the Moomins are ready for adventure! Moomintroll and his friends Snufkin and Sniff find the Hobgoblin's top hat, all shiny and new and just waiting to be taken home. They soon realize that his is no ordinary hat; it can turn anything--or anyone--into something else! No library descriptions found.
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)839.7374Literature German literature and literatures of related languages Other Germanic literatures Swedish literature Swedish fiction 1900-1999 1945-1999LC ClassificationRatingAverage:
Is this you?Become a LibraryThing Author. Penguin Australia2 editions of this book were published by Penguin Australia. Editions: 014030150X, 0141328606 |