Customer Reviews

The Exploits of Moominpappa

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Moominpapa writes his memoirs recalling his childhood. He escapes from an orphanage and falls in with three friends who sail away on the Oshun Oxtra to have some fantastic adventures. Moominpapa writes about saving Moominmamma from drowning and there's a happy ending where we find all Moominpapa's friends are the fathers of Moomintrolls playmates. This book seems to be the same as Moominpapa's Memoirs.

Tove Jansson, The Exploits of Moominpappa, As Related by Himself (Ernest Benn, 1952)

The third Moomin book is, as its title advertises, the exploits of Moominpappa (it's also been released as Moominpappa's Memoirs, by the by). The frame here is that Moominpappa is reading them to Moomintroll, Sniff, and Snufkin (and the parents of those two feature prominently--which is rather odd, considering that Snufkin seems to have had nothing more than a chance meeting with Moomintroll and Sniff in Comet in Moominland, but who's counting?), who are listening with wide-eyed awe. And of course, we all know that it's all just tall tales--or is it?

Ah, wonderful Moomins, how we still adore thee after all these years. If it's been a while--or, heavens forbid, if you didn't read the series as a kid--what are you waiting for? These are great, and you'll love them as much now as you did, or would have, as a little Moomintroll. *** ½

The patriarch of the Moomin family tells the story of his misspent youth to his children. (A Moomin is a sort of troll whose ancestors lived in or behind old-fashioned stoves--the best way to know what they are is to collect every book in this wonderful series and study the illustrations.)

This is a wonderful book to read aloud, chapter by chapter, to the whole family. Parents and older children can enjoy a sly wink together while the younger ones can just enjoy the story. Many surprising twists enliven the plot which begins with Moominpapa as a child in a stern orphanage. He escapes and soon finds true friendship with the laconic Hodgkins, the rebellious Joxer and the confused Muddler.

They set to sea in the wonderful boat/submarine that Hodgkins has made, evade a monster, pick up a stowaway and ride out a storm. They encounter a king and a ghost. They undertake an undersea voyage. Periodically, Moominpapa is overcome by emotion as he tells his story.

Both the story which he tells so seriously and his breaks are funny. The moral of the story is that Daddy was young once, but he's young no longer. Read it to your kids using funny voices for the different characters, then savor it yourself after they have gone to bed.

In my day, trolls walked through snow and built ships with their bare hands, etc.

The conceit in this book is that good old dad is reading stories to the younger generation and friends, and these tales come from his own life given that he is writing his memoirs. So, you get the backstory of where he grew up, what he got up to, how he met your mum, all that sort of thing.