My first two reads for Women in Translation month were Catalan and French novellas. With this third one I’m tying in with Moomin Week, hosted by Chris and Mallika in honour of Paula of Book Jotter. Happy nuptials to Paula! Not a blogger I’ve interacted with before, but I welcomed the excuse to finish a book I started a few months ago. I’ve actually reviewed five Moomin books here before: Moominvalley in November, Moominland Midwinter, Tales from Moominvalley, Moominsummer Madness, and Finn Family Moomintroll. (It’s also the third year in a row that I’ve reviewed something by Jansson for WIT Month.)
Appropriate reading at sea (on a ferry to France)
I didn’t grow up with the Moomins, but as an adult I’ve come to love the series for how it lovingly depicts everyday disasters and neuroses and, beneath the whimsical adventures, offers an extra level of thoughtfulness for adult readers. The setting of this one was particularly appropriate. Here’s the opening paragraph:
One afternoon at the end of August, Moominpappa was walking about in his garden feeling at a loss. He had no idea what to do with himself, because it seemed everything there was to be done had already been done or was being done by somebody else.
The sense of being ‘all at sea’ persists for Pappa and the other characters even after they sail to ‘his’ island in the Gulf of Finland, drawn to see in person the lighthouse he has kept as a model on the shelf. They arrive to find the island mysteriously empty and the facilities derelict. Moomintroll goes exploring alone and meets intriguing “sea-horses” that look more equine than marine. Nature is alive and resistant to ‘improvements’ such as Moominmamma trying to tame the wildness with her rose bushes and apple trees. The forest also seems to be retreating from the sea; everything fears it, in fact. The sullen fisherman is no help, and the hulking Groke seems to be a metaphor for depression as well as a literal monster.
There is a sense of everything being awry, and by the close that’s only partially rectified. Pappa ends with conflicting feelings towards the island: proprietary yet timorous. I imagine this is based on Jansson’s own experiences living on a Finnish island (see also The Summer Book). This wasn’t among my favourite Moomin books, but I always appreciate the juxtaposition of the domestic and wild, the cosy and the melancholy. Just two more for me to find now (I’ve read them all in random order): The Moomins and the Great Flood and Moominpappa’s Memoirs.
[Translated from the Swedish by Kingsley Hart] (University library) 
Bookish Beck = Rebecca Foster. American transplant to England. Freelance proofreader and book reviewer.
Bookish Beck 
Why have I never tried one of these books before? Seems like something I would enjoy.
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I never heard of them before I came to the UK. I think they are probably very niche in the US. I’ll be interested to hear if you can find one of the books and if you like it. They have that serious undercurrent that means they’re definitely not just for kids.
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You know I have you to thank for introducing me to Jansson and then Dorthe Nors, and now I can’t even count how many people I’ve told about her A Line in the World, which I just loved (it’s time for a second reading, I think). I also took a class (more like a master class lecture) with Nors–who is so engaging! Thanks for being my trusted source for authors and books I might not otherwise find!
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Wow, thank you for saying that! I’m so glad you’ve enjoyed what you’ve read of Jansson and Nors. A Line in the World was a real highlight for me that year.
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I’ve known about the Mooomins for what feels like all my life, but never remotely been tempted to read any of the books. I’m beginning to feel out on a limb. Should I see what all the fuss is about?
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Do try one sometime, I’m sure you’ll enjoy it. The latter ones have more layers and more melancholy notes as well, but in some initial ones too one finds deeper meaning.
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I sensed that from the reviews I’ve read. You may have given me the kick up the backside I need to take the plunge. Said she, shamelessly mixing metaphors …
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I hope you do enjoy them, whenever you choose to pick them up. In case you’re up for a really last-minute read (these are quite short) Moominweek runs till Sunday (and me and a fellow blogger Emma at Words and Peace have tentative plans to continue on, reading one a month)
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Thank you for this review, Rebecca. Glad you could join in. I enjoy both the whimsy and like you, the layers beneath the surface in these books, as also the wisdom they do seem to weave in. Reading your description of the Groke I realise one does get the same vibes as the dementors from Harry Potter, an idea vaguely in my mind when I ‘met’ her in my read of Finn Family Moomintroll for MoominWeek. Moominpappa at Sea isn’t one I’ve read yet but hope to soon.
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Thanks for hosting the week!
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We love the Moomin-books. Not only in Scandinavia they are cult. Of course, we read all the Moomin-books.
We didn’t know that there is a MoominWeek
The Fab Four of Cley
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
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This was a one-off event, in honour of Paula’s Moomins-themed wedding next month. It’s been a nice excuse for many bloggers to pick up one of the books.
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I haven’t read this one yet, but can appreciate that mix of wild and cosy; there’s a lot of similarity between her life as described in The Summer Book and the Moomin’s isn’t there?!
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There does seem to be some crossover.
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I have resolved my MoominFear and am going to read the rest of them now! Interestingly, one of my customers who I chat with sometimes said he’d used the Groke to interrogate a fear of his, and reconciled with his inner Groke. He is Finnish, though!
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One’s ‘Inner Groke’ does sound peculiarly Finnish somehow!
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You’ve read them out of order: do you think that added something to the experience? I’ve wondered if they’re at all like the Narnia books, whether there is another way to consider reading them (e.g. whether The Magician’s Nephew or The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrwobe is the first) as I think some of them focus more on certain characters?
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They are all episodic and the minor characters flit in and out, so it’s never felt like a problem to read them out of order. If I ever reread them perhaps I’ll try to stick to chronology.
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