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Toivon kirjat #1-5
Sr. Esperanza
La silenciosa vida de una pareja de jubilados en la Finlandia rural esconde, tras su galería de pequeñas miserias y tesoros cotidianos, algo más grande: la proximidad de la muerte y la fuerte presencia de la naturaleza que les rodea, provoca en el marido la urgencia por tomar consciencia de sí mismo, emprendiendo un viaje sensorial donde la memoria y lo onírico se diluyen hasta llegar a confundirse. Musturi define el paisaje ártico con una insólita paleta cromática capaz de detallar desde la quietud que todo lo envuelve hasta los avatares de la cotidianidad doméstica. Como en la obra de su compatriota el cineasta Ari Kaurismäki, nos encontramos ante un relato paródico y realista por igual, que entronca la impotencia y el humor con el drama.
"Libro de miniaturas que son obras maestras de la emoción y la poesía". - Forbidden Planet, Reino Unido
"Los sueños y los recuerdos se mezclan con la naturaleza, formando microcosmos de color y memoria que hacen de la lectura de este libro una experiencia fascinante"-. Diario Kymen, Finlandia
“La obra capital de la personalidad más importante del cómic finlandés”, Vice, Reino Unido
"Libro de miniaturas que son obras maestras de la emoción y la poesía". - Forbidden Planet, Reino Unido
"Los sueños y los recuerdos se mezclan con la naturaleza, formando microcosmos de color y memoria que hacen de la lectura de este libro una experiencia fascinante"-. Diario Kymen, Finlandia
“La obra capital de la personalidad más importante del cómic finlandés”, Vice, Reino Unido
230 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2015
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114 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 43 reviews
April 25, 2016
How a Dope Copes: With Hope.
What do you know about Finnish comics? If you know anything, you know Tove Jansson's Moomin. Since my wife is part Finnish, we have a lot of Moomin volumes around the house. A cultural requirement. I have this feeling Musturi will never be quite as well known as Jansson, since he is just stranger and less cuddly. But he works out of the Finnish collective KutiKuti and he is a Finnish comics icon today. This looks like one of his first works in English translation.
The Book of Hope is about an older Finnish couple that retires to rural Finland. In five sections each with its own color scheme, we see (mainly) the guy wander through the landscape, moping about his life, getting glimpses of the fact that sooner than later he will probably die. He spends time looking at flowers, eating--and regretting--ice cream. Okay, so this one is definitely not about plot, it's about tone, character, about what happens to your mind when you have a lot of time to yourself.
It's got little comics gags throughout, and lots of silent panels.
I don't like any title that announces its theme, the movement to hope from fear and despair, but in case you were worried this would end ugly and sad. . . . be reassured.
My limited comics experience and imagination make me think of these things as I read The Book of Hope:
*The titles of some inspirational religious tracts--though this comic is decidedly not at all like that, it is like an ironic commentary on those kinds of texts.
*Any of Chris Ware's worlds, the bright and precise and rambling grimness of it all, with a dark sense of humor and deep humanity. But less geometric and precise than Ware, maybe. Maybe in effects The Book of Hope is closest to the vibe of Jimmy Corrigan, with all these lost guys wandering in their own minds.
*A bit of Walt Kelly's Pogo. Some of it is endearing, disarming. The guy himself is round--fat--and schlumpy.
*Willy Linthout's The Years of the Elephant and What We Need to Know: again, like Jimmy Corrigan, all these lost, goofy guys facing life and (eventual, not really imminent) death, clueless, needing a list of "what to know" from some woman (in this case three brothers learning on their mother, and in Willy's case, his wife) in order to survive.
Even in older age, our hero seems boyishly lost, needing his mother's guidance, or the help of someone (and it is usually someone female, of course) grounded in the real world. As with Linthout, it is a wife figure who fills this role. The older guy's wife, far less a part of this "story" than he is, is his anchor, his bracing slap in the face to keep calm and keep moving. He is we, thinking: Stop moping, Keep calm and carry on, and so on.
This comic is much better than its low Goodreads rating, that's for sure. It's not exactly warm, but it's admirable in its humanity and off-kilter humor. It doesn't have much of a story, true. But maybe it is a good picture of old age, and appreciating nature and human nature in an isolated area. I can't go on, I go on, As Beckett said, and with some (ala Waiting for Godot) goofiness. How a dope copes: with hope. (Hey, I rhymed!) (This very rambling review is a kind of reflection of The Book of Hope, actually, with now similar gag-gy humor).
But go here for a good and proper review by Hillary Brown, and a place you can get a view of a few panels:
http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles...
What do you know about Finnish comics? If you know anything, you know Tove Jansson's Moomin. Since my wife is part Finnish, we have a lot of Moomin volumes around the house. A cultural requirement. I have this feeling Musturi will never be quite as well known as Jansson, since he is just stranger and less cuddly. But he works out of the Finnish collective KutiKuti and he is a Finnish comics icon today. This looks like one of his first works in English translation.
The Book of Hope is about an older Finnish couple that retires to rural Finland. In five sections each with its own color scheme, we see (mainly) the guy wander through the landscape, moping about his life, getting glimpses of the fact that sooner than later he will probably die. He spends time looking at flowers, eating--and regretting--ice cream. Okay, so this one is definitely not about plot, it's about tone, character, about what happens to your mind when you have a lot of time to yourself.
It's got little comics gags throughout, and lots of silent panels.
I don't like any title that announces its theme, the movement to hope from fear and despair, but in case you were worried this would end ugly and sad. . . . be reassured.
My limited comics experience and imagination make me think of these things as I read The Book of Hope:
*The titles of some inspirational religious tracts--though this comic is decidedly not at all like that, it is like an ironic commentary on those kinds of texts.
*Any of Chris Ware's worlds, the bright and precise and rambling grimness of it all, with a dark sense of humor and deep humanity. But less geometric and precise than Ware, maybe. Maybe in effects The Book of Hope is closest to the vibe of Jimmy Corrigan, with all these lost guys wandering in their own minds.
*A bit of Walt Kelly's Pogo. Some of it is endearing, disarming. The guy himself is round--fat--and schlumpy.
*Willy Linthout's The Years of the Elephant and What We Need to Know: again, like Jimmy Corrigan, all these lost, goofy guys facing life and (eventual, not really imminent) death, clueless, needing a list of "what to know" from some woman (in this case three brothers learning on their mother, and in Willy's case, his wife) in order to survive.
Even in older age, our hero seems boyishly lost, needing his mother's guidance, or the help of someone (and it is usually someone female, of course) grounded in the real world. As with Linthout, it is a wife figure who fills this role. The older guy's wife, far less a part of this "story" than he is, is his anchor, his bracing slap in the face to keep calm and keep moving. He is we, thinking: Stop moping, Keep calm and carry on, and so on.
This comic is much better than its low Goodreads rating, that's for sure. It's not exactly warm, but it's admirable in its humanity and off-kilter humor. It doesn't have much of a story, true. But maybe it is a good picture of old age, and appreciating nature and human nature in an isolated area. I can't go on, I go on, As Beckett said, and with some (ala Waiting for Godot) goofiness. How a dope copes: with hope. (Hey, I rhymed!) (This very rambling review is a kind of reflection of The Book of Hope, actually, with now similar gag-gy humor).
But go here for a good and proper review by Hillary Brown, and a place you can get a view of a few panels:
http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles...
October 5, 2017
Depressing.
Personally, I found the art and narrative to be rather disjointed.
It's basically random philosophical ramblings of the main character (i.e. the husband) as he navigates his way through mundane post-retirement life. Fishing, eating, working around the house, taking a piss and scratching his ass. Rinse and repeat. The wife only makes an appearance towards the end of the book.
Post-retirement life can indeed be boring for some. I just wished the author had shown the other side of it instead.
Personally, I found the art and narrative to be rather disjointed.
It's basically random philosophical ramblings of the main character (i.e. the husband) as he navigates his way through mundane post-retirement life. Fishing, eating, working around the house, taking a piss and scratching his ass. Rinse and repeat. The wife only makes an appearance towards the end of the book.
Post-retirement life can indeed be boring for some. I just wished the author had shown the other side of it instead.
October 21, 2017
I think different people will read this book and have vastly differing perspectives on what it means to them, and in that way the thoughtful nature of this book succeeds.
The book is a window into a lifestyle, that of a retired man living in Finland and how he spends his twilight years. It can be existential, hopeful, sad, melancholic, beautiful, optimistic, and tragic all at once. Its 'a quiet life', and how you choose to view it is entirely up to you.
For me, I found it hopeful. Maybe because I'm still relatively young and where I am and how I view the rest of my life and the time I choose to invest in things, I yearn for the quiet life and the solitude. I can certainly see somebody else reading this book and finding it terrifying, there's definitely chapters that go for that vibe without a doubt (in an existential sense of course).
The art in this book was simple but beautiful, the colors really made it pop. Definitely worked with the type of story being told.
This was an existential story gone right. I'm reminded of the problem I have with a lot of existential works in that I feel like they don't do enough or say enough or there's just not enough there for me to feel good about having spent money on it but I don't feel that way about this one. It also isn't up its own ass trying to be artsy like Jimmy Corrigan. Not an A+ but I liked it a lot in my own way.
The book is a window into a lifestyle, that of a retired man living in Finland and how he spends his twilight years. It can be existential, hopeful, sad, melancholic, beautiful, optimistic, and tragic all at once. Its 'a quiet life', and how you choose to view it is entirely up to you.
For me, I found it hopeful. Maybe because I'm still relatively young and where I am and how I view the rest of my life and the time I choose to invest in things, I yearn for the quiet life and the solitude. I can certainly see somebody else reading this book and finding it terrifying, there's definitely chapters that go for that vibe without a doubt (in an existential sense of course).
The art in this book was simple but beautiful, the colors really made it pop. Definitely worked with the type of story being told.
This was an existential story gone right. I'm reminded of the problem I have with a lot of existential works in that I feel like they don't do enough or say enough or there's just not enough there for me to feel good about having spent money on it but I don't feel that way about this one. It also isn't up its own ass trying to be artsy like Jimmy Corrigan. Not an A+ but I liked it a lot in my own way.
January 2, 2021
Prvních 50 stránek jsem se přemáhal abych se na to nevykašlal ale pak mě najednou ta poetika všedního dne proložená nonsensovýma pasážema, který si vysnívá ústřední postava, strašně chytla. Otevřel jsem si to vlastně jen díky obálce a musím říct, že art je nejsilnější stránka komiksu. Stejně divnej jako scénář ale nádhernej.
Jde o svébytnou, zvláštní a meditativní záležitost, která se nedá k ničemu přirovnat. Myslím, že tohle jsem nečetl naposledy.
Jde o svébytnou, zvláštní a meditativní záležitost, která se nedá k ničemu přirovnat. Myslím, že tohle jsem nečetl naposledy.
October 1, 2020
Bleak in the right kind of way. About average people, which I also enjoy.
The art is good, and every now and then it really pops, such as with the panoramic landscape paintings, and sometimes with character expressions.
The last part is almost entirely mute and moves very fast.
The rest is musings on the importance and value of life delivered in the melancholic tone only middle age can deliver. The couple featured herein has a lot of fun though, and it’s kind of peaceful living through them.
I’d read this again.
The art is good, and every now and then it really pops, such as with the panoramic landscape paintings, and sometimes with character expressions.
The last part is almost entirely mute and moves very fast.
The rest is musings on the importance and value of life delivered in the melancholic tone only middle age can deliver. The couple featured herein has a lot of fun though, and it’s kind of peaceful living through them.
I’d read this again.
February 28, 2021
i like the way this man makes comics. i like the peaceful settings and attention to detail and imagination and colour pallet. i started crying toward the end and just, bawled all the way to the finish line, i guess. i guess that's good. i think it was when the character thinks his wife is gone but she's right there and will be forever. i am depressed. but that doesn't mean the book isn't actually awesome
May 12, 2024
Did you enjoy the unbearable long monologue spanning 60 pages in Clyde fans? Well look no further! you will get here almost 200 pages of random pseudo philosophical monologue of an old man struggling with ennui, quiet depression and angsty thoughts that haunt him as he understands the end is near. He doesn't suffer from any illness we know of and there is no imminent danger to his life, just old age. This novel has beautiful colorful art and some nice gags here and there which grants it the extra star.
If you like the beginning of Clyde fans this might be for you. But I couldn't relate to this.
If you like the beginning of Clyde fans this might be for you. But I couldn't relate to this.
November 2, 2019
Teoretycznie dla mnie - śmieszno-gorzka historia o nieciekawym typie w formie zamkniętych 16-kadrowych miniatur. Tylko, że coś tu nie działa. Albo ten humor z podwójnym dnem, który jest jednak zbyt ciężki do rozszyfrowania i w efekcie nie wiesz czy za tym w ogóle coś się kryje, albo to, że bardziej błyskotliwe pomysły giną w otoczeniu tych nietrafionych. Nie wiem, nie zatrybiło.
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April 9, 2020I appreciate this book’s focus and its deployment of the comics medium. Overall though, found it hard to come away with much of any feelings on it. It’s stunning in its depictions of the Finnish wilderness, but I had difficulty getting entranced by the narrative, or its themes of mundanity and nostalgia.
September 24, 2025
m'ha agradat molt la paleta de colors, mha sorprés la part cinc de la relació amb la seva dona després d'uns relats tant pessimistes, tot amb un toc d'humor
July 20, 2017
Sweet and clean lines and colors and bold landscapes, but I got bogged down with the western scene, and overall didn't feel connected to our hero. Alas. I really wanted to like this because of how much I enjoyed Simply Samuel. Some very smart and fun references (to the Residents!), and the dailiness of Finnish life.
January 10, 2019
A flawless graphic novel. I cried like a child.
January 14, 2019
I liked the illustrations and the dreamlike logic and visuals at times... but I couldn't get any meaning out of it apart from this tangy feeling of hopelesness and boringness~
December 28, 2021
4/5
LOVEEEE these drawings. So saturated and colorful and filled with life, I just think they're lovely. A sad little book filled with a lot of wise observations and heartbreaking truths.
LOVEEEE these drawings. So saturated and colorful and filled with life, I just think they're lovely. A sad little book filled with a lot of wise observations and heartbreaking truths.
May 6, 2020
A most bizarre comic detailing the life, ramblings, and existential existence of a retired man (although not wholly apparent). While the text and narratives are wholly jarring and not at all becoming of hope (albeit a little towards the end) - arguably trying too hard to be metaphysical and evocative - I must say that I really enjoyed this book as a whole. The artwork is incredibly alluring - innocent, seductive, exotic, and honest. I will likely revisit this book many times but I don’t think I will ever “get” this book as the author intended (nor do I seek to). Recommended - but be prepared for a bizarre and jarring trip!
June 18, 2021
I find myself really attracted to Musturi's work for the visual appeal - his sense of color and design is virtuosic, and I love to wade around in the images. His storytelling at time can feels a bit vague (which might be a casualty of translation), but this book in particular really is made just to soak in - a slow-moving series of scenes and anecdotes from the life of a retired old man living with his wife in the Finnish countryside. Not much happens, nor should it - we just lie back and take in the changing seasons, see things grow and change and die, and wake up to do it all again. And sometimes, that's enough.
January 23, 2024
-›Five tome omnibus‹-
I've never read anything this existentialist since, instead of the story having an ever-present examination within a plot, the deeply intimate analysis of life is the totality of the story. That makes it incredibly boring and, due to the psychology of the character, a very depressing read.
I was entering it thinking that I would get some of the fun flavor he uses in "Simply Samuel" but instead got a study of Scandinavian depression. I don't regret it though because I regard foreign viewpoint studies as required reading and integrale to the internationality of my library.
The art is wonderfully sumptuous and gets fun when he spruces it with humor!
I've never read anything this existentialist since, instead of the story having an ever-present examination within a plot, the deeply intimate analysis of life is the totality of the story. That makes it incredibly boring and, due to the psychology of the character, a very depressing read.
I was entering it thinking that I would get some of the fun flavor he uses in "Simply Samuel" but instead got a study of Scandinavian depression. I don't regret it though because I regard foreign viewpoint studies as required reading and integrale to the internationality of my library.
The art is wonderfully sumptuous and gets fun when he spruces it with humor!
June 17, 2020
A rather absurd collection of the daily, philosophical musings of a guy living in a rural area. The art is phenomenal. Beautiful and lush, detailed and mesmerizing. The story... well, there isn't any, really. There are some threads, themes, if you will, like the meaning of life, death, our connection to nature, etc. All very existential and rather abstract, with some deadpan humor. The wife's responses to her husband are usually quite funny. Recommended for those who like cacti, birds and ants. And the out house, of course.
October 8, 2025
When I came across this book I had never heard of the author, Tommi Musturi, so I didn’t know what to expect and I definitely wasn't expecting this. It’s weird, funny, and well illustrated. The story, if one wants to call it that, was about an elderly retired couple living in the woods in Finland. Nothing much happens as the man tries to deal with an existential crisis of his age. It mostly revolves around him, but his wife starts to show up more after the middle. It has this melancholic tone which I like. Musturi is clearly an interesting comic book artist.
June 26, 2021
The Book of Hope illustrates the life of a retired couple (mainly the husband) who, realizing the how unanswerable are the big questions of life, adjust to living in the moment. The storyline is a bit thin for my tastes, but the inking is very nice—a line somewhere between the precision of Chris Ware and the grotesque of Charles Burn—filled in by a palette of mostly primary and secondary colors.
August 5, 2024
I thought the cover of this book was interesting so I decided to pick it up. I think the story was really sweet to read and it really conveys the feeling that there is hope even when one least expects it.
July 7, 2017
Loved the art, wanted to love the stories.
December 13, 2017
Zmusza do refleksji na temat przemijania.
September 12, 2019
Musturi’s choices for colors are outstanding and his landscapes, flora, and fauna made this book
February 22, 2020
this comic is like if u mixed the scandinavian-flavored clinical depression of a karl ove knausgaard memoir with the art style of a children's book illustrator on instagram
May 11, 2021
Boring....
December 3, 2021
This book is amazing! I'm going to buy a copy.
March 8, 2022
This book was very Finnish. I cannot describe it in any other way. It captured the life of a man living in the woods and his daily do from season to season.
September 4, 2023
Lingonberries are good!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 43 reviews