Anyone else here read this book by Walter Moers? I haven’t seen it mentioned in any threads, even in searching. But my search may be stupid.
I’ve been through it three times since its release in 2004 and still find it a delight each time. First time was the best (as in a lot of things), and the translator, John Brownjohn, did a wonderful job.
I found out about it through a local newspaper weekend section that was sitting abandoned on a break table at work. (I thought I would read something while I had breakfast.) It had a positive review on it and sounded like something out of my interest range, but I wanted to try something new at the time. So I went to my local bookstore and ordered it.
For those who have not read it, it’s a fantasy book.
Anyway, I found it a wonderful story. Many parts of it were predictable, but it was a great ride along the way.
So back to my original question…
I have it. I’ve read it a couple of times. It’s very odd. Parts are so simple they’re like a fairy tale, and other parts are pretty complex, like a regular fantasy novel. I could never decide if it was a grand fable or a genuine novel or a really really long kids book or what. It makes me want to keep reading it, tho.
In fact, it’s been over a year since it was last read… (goes to bookshelf)
Seriously, I think that was the charm of it. Part fairy tale, part WTF, part grand novel.
I’m not saying it’s the greatest novel of the century, but it has its good parts.
I’ve read it - it’s great. I first read his The City of Dreaming Books, also great. I mostly got it because I’m a book illustration junkie, and so few books nowadays are illustrated, which is a pity. But it turned out to be a good, imaginative read as well, as was Rumo. I’ll definitely be looking out for more Moers.
I find people tend to prefer The 13&1/2 Lives of Captain Bluebear. Something about the cover just appeals…
I have to say that my favorite is still The 13 & 1/2 Lives of Captain Bluebear as well, though as a word of warning (in a sense), it seems that that’s an opinion mainly based on the fact that I started out with it. My girlfriend started out with Rumo, and liked City of Dreaming Books, but not Bluebear. There’s one in the series on Zamonia that’s apparently not been translated (Ensel und Krete, a take-off of the Grimm fairy tale Haensel und Gretel), and the last one, The Alchemaster’s Apprentice, neither of us thought nearly as gripping as the two middle ones. I rather prefered The City of Dreaming Books over Rumo, actually. The writing dinosaur (I don’t know his translated name; the German is Hildegunst von Mythenmetz) is hilarious, especially in Ensel and Krete, where he tells the reader that he could, being the author, decide to just write “Brumm!” on several pages of his book (I think it is) – and does…