Translated by David McDuff
59 pages
Published 1945 (English translation published 2012)
Read May 4
Rating: 3.5 out of 5
We're watching our rights as human beings crumble in real time, not just here in the United States but also in every other country (such as the United Kingdom) that is currently sliding into fascism.
Since the first of May I'd been trying to read a bad fantasy romance from the early 1980s. It was stuffed with gross clichés of the time, racial and sexual, and after the last couple days, I just couldn't stand to read it any longer.
So I dropped that losing bet and picked up the lightest and fluffiest bit of innocent escapism I had available: The Moomins and the Great Flood!
The first Moomin book, Great Flood presents Moomintroll, Moominmamma, and Moomin Valley in primordial form, a mostly blank canvas for an idle sketch of childhood adventure and a shaggy-dog narrative. There isn't much substance here, but then, I wasn't seeking any. Jansson's gorgeous illustrations are more compelling than the prose, which lacks the subtle ache of The Summer Book. In her 1991 preface, Jansson concludes, "Anyhow, here was my first happy ending!" That captures the vibe nicely. It was just what I needed today.
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