Comet in Moominland

Rating: 5* of five

The Book Report: Dear little Moomintroll, who lives in a blue Moominhouse (for all Moominhouses are blue, you know) with Moominmamma and Moominpappa and his adopted sibling Sniff the little beast, has a perfect day of pearl-diving, cave-doscovering, and comet-spotting behind him. It is the Muskrat, a philosopher and a nay-sayer par excellence, who lets Moomintroll in on the comet's likely collision with the earth, and gets little Moomintroll worried enough about the consequences to send him, with Sniff in complaining attendance, to the Lonely Mountains to find the professors in the Observatory so they can tell him if, and when, and preferably where, the comet will hit the earth.

Many adventures come the way of the show more travelers, who are fortified with all the goodies that Moominmamma can think of to pack. These include Sniff's favorite lemonade, and Moomintroll's woolly trousers in case it's cold in the Lonely Mountains (it is, but the trousers were thrown to the crocodiles to keep them from eating Moomintroll and Sniff, which worked, but left Moomintroll cold on the way to the Observatory, though not on the way back because the comet was making the earth so hot by then).

And Moomintroll meets his true love, the Snork Maiden, on the way. Oh, how sweet the Snork Maiden is! All green and fluffy, with a gold ring on her paw and a flower behind her ear!

Everyone, like Snufkin the wanderer and the Snork and his sister the Snork Maiden, and even the stamp-obsessed Hemulen, come back to Moominvalley to be safe in Moomintroll's (well, Sniff's if you want to be fair) cave with Moominmamma and Moominpappa when the comet hits the earth on October the seventh, at 8:42pm (and maybe four seconds), like the professors at the Observatory said it would.

But it doesn't, though it gets close, and it scares the whole family silly, and then they see the sea (which evaporated, cause it was so hot, and all Moominfolk love the sea so they missed it, and the octopus that tried to eat Moomintroll when they were walking across the sea-floor is back under water, thank goodness) so they know the world is all right.

The end.

My Review: Magical. Marvelous. Delightful.

And the best oath in the whole Universe, the one I'll swear by for the rest of my life, is on page 10: "May the ground swallow me up, may old hags rattle my dry bones, and may I never more eat ice cream if I don't guard this secret with my life." Seriously! I ask you! Could *you* break such an oath?!

If not for the LibraryThing 75ers's Fantasy February, I wouldn't have revisited this beautiful little parable about friendship, freedom, creativity, and love. I am so so glad I did. Tove Jansson, a designer and illustrator and cartoonist like her mother, created the sort of delight-filled universe I wish I could give to every child. Moominfolk are known and revered all over the world, and Jansson's native Finland has a Moominworld theme park! I wanna go! Operas have been written. Cartoon series have been made. Translations of the books into Ukrainian, into Urdu, into Japanese! Dolls! Artworks! It's Moominmadness!

And you can get in on the fun by buying a $7 paperback book. So tell me, what are you waiting for? show less

A fantastical, whimsical, comical, almost tragical adventure in which Moomintroll is involved in a child's-eye-view of the impending apocalypse. Along the way, he meets strange characters, some of whom will become beloved friends of both the Moomins and the reader (Snufkin, I'm talking about you!).

It's no spoiler - there's another seven books in the series - to say that everything turns out OK. The enjoyment is in the journey and the heroic and cowardly antics of the Moomins and friends and, for children and adults alike, a comfort in returning to the warm bosom of Moominmamma at the end.

Jansson's illustrations are superb, of course, being an integral part of the story and its tone, which can be rather grotesque at times - the show more stiltwalkers put me in mind of Dali's Temptation of St Anthony. A bold image for a children's book, and there are others just as eschatological. Despite which, the overall time is not at all bleak, rather the opposite. show less

The Moomins, a family of trolls, have appeared in my life in various ways; I vaguely remember having read (or having been read) one of the novels as a young child - as an older child I remember the animated series on television. I happened across it by accident and spent much time in enjoyable confusion about the names and natures of the seemingly infinite cast of characters. This year I decided I wanted to find out more than my hazy memories could tell me and in the process stumbled across the fact that Tove Jansson had written and drawn a Moomin strip comic for a British newspaper and I acquired the first volume of the collected strip comics and read it. I was pleasantly surprised to find it densely but gently satirical as well as show more pleased to find that the bizarre imagination (particularly for characters who are mythic or completely invented creatures) was most definitely as I recalled.

This meant I still didn't know what the novels were like, but encouraged by the high quality of the comic strip and my memories, I decided to give Comet in Moominland a go - selected because it was the first written (though not first published, I think) of the Moomin novels.

It turned out to be a delightful, pleasant book, strong on imagined characters and incidental mystery - what is a Snufkin? Just how much difference is there between a Troll and a Snork? Everybody and everything is introduced blithely as if common-place without any real requirement for detailed explanation. Everybody knows what a Hattifattener is, really - description is almost superfluous.

The plot is epic compared to those in the volume of comic strips I read - the fate of Moomin Valley (and the rest of the world, really) is at stake and an arduous journey is undertaken to request knowledge and help in saving the day.

The gentle satire is present but in lesser quantity - a philosopher who states that everything is Unnecessary, is never-the-less rather keen on creature comforts (all the more so because he is a creature - a Muskrat)and not being destroyed by the impact of a celstial body. Not keen enough to actually help avert the crisis, however. The scientists that Moomintroll appeals to for information and help take no interest, but pour out all their knowledge to the Snork Maiden when asked about their work...

Contrast of characters is also used to give a Message about the moral and physical dangers of too much attachment to physical belongings (a sentiment expressed in the comic strip, too). The characters are also used to promote the virtues of friendship and familial love. Moomintroll's faith that his mother, Moominmama will fix everything if only they can get back to her in time, is touching - hasn't there been a time in all our lives when we had absolute faith that Mum could resolve any problem satisfactorily?

I suppose it is not too much of a spoiler to reveal that Moomintroll, friends and family, The Valley of the Moomins and even the rest of the planet survive to return in more books; I look forward to reading them.

I would say that comparing Comic Strip vol.1 to Novel 1, the strip has just a slight edge in my opinion because it is more densely packed with satire, but that a greater focus on plot is suited to the novel as a form, so perhaps each should be enjoyed for their own merits and comparison should not be dwelled on too much.

Now, if only some-one would tell me what order the rest of the novels are meant to be read in.... show less

How can it be that, unlike in the United Kingdom and the rest of Europe, the Moomin sagas never caught on in the United States? Finnish author Tove Jansson's tales of the white, hippo-like Moomintroll and his parents, Moominmamma and Moominpappa, would delight children and parents alike, the latter probably enjoying them even more, as adults can get the sly humor. I simply don't understand how Moominmania could possibly have bypassed the United States when it swept through Europe?

Comet in Moominland, the second in the series, follows Moomintroll; his rodent-like friend, the timid Sniff; and yet another pal, the clever tramp Snufkin, as they investigate the trajectory of a comet bound for Earth. Imagine their alarm when, after many show more adventures, they arrive at the Lonely Mountains and find out from the astronomers there that the comet will land in just four days' time!

The band race back to Moominvalley to save the day -- and consult Moominmamma, as wise children do. With this gentle story, the outcome's never in doubt, but Comet in Moominland never descends to the saccharine -- far from it! I frequently laughed out loud at some of the snarky passages, especially involving Sniff's vying for credit and the young Moomintroll's bashful crush on the pretty Snork maiden.

I'm going to try to read the entire series. Why should childhood be wasted only on the young? show less

Surprisingly funny and inventive, you can see why it's a classic. The sexism is also classic, unfortunately. I can see that Jansson was subverting the Snork Maiden's feminine weaknesses by having them save the day once, sure---I'm positive that when it was written, that was actually subversive. But at the end of the day she and Moominmamma are still the only female characters, Maiden and Mother to a fault. Feels Bad, Man. The characters (other than the parents) are generally so ungendered that it feels like it'd be so easy to just change some pronouns....

3.5/5 rounded up, perhaps.

Like comfort food in book form—every bit as non-cloyingly sweet as I remember from my childhood. It's that combination of gentleness, bluster, melancholy, boisterousness, and unconditional love—Jansson said she set out to write about a functional and happy family—that just gets me where I live. The protagonists are both children and little animals, and the adults are all either mildly quirky or unflappable and kind. And the black-and-white illustrations are marvelous—beautiful and spooky and full of little details to get lost in. Nothing not to love here, and I already ordered the next one in the series.

Well, it's confession time. I read this at the age of eight and can only say that it pretty much defined the rest of my life.
I became Snufkin, lol. Many a holiday was spent alone, walking through mountains. I tried to emulate his gentle and kind nature. I also tried to play the mouth organ - sadly I never got the hang of it, so I learned to whistle instead...

As utterly captivating as the rest of the series. If I was left with one book - this would be it.

Jansson is spectacularly observant of inner feelings and how they influence human interaction - and she can get this across to children. That's truly amazing. Moominvalley in November is probably her most profound.