By Joel Thurtell
Russell Hoban was an amazing writer whose Frances books transfixed adults as well as their target audience, which was kids.
His novel, Riddley Walker, could have been classed as sci-fi or fantasy, but for pure inventiveness, the story, the character and the imagined language of a subdued earth life centuries after a nuclear holocaust was a tour de force.
Mr. Hoban died this week in London. He was 86.
I’ve read a couple of his obits, and the focus was on Frances and Riddley.
But neither the Frances books, which featured a bemused-by-life badger, nor the amazingly unclassifiable work of fiction, Riddley Walker, are the reason I feel moved to write about Russell Hoban.
I think of Mr. Hoban every year when I unpack our Christmas ornaments. Stashed with all the dangling trinkets, I find a worn copy of Mr. Hoban’s wonderful tale, The Mole Family’s Christmas.
Moles, as we all know and as Mr. Hoban makes very clear, have weak eyes.
Harley is a hard-digging young mole who happens to hear a mouse mentioning how bright the stars are shining.
Suddenly, Harley realizes that his life is not complete: He is unable to see the stars because of his poor vision.
Harley also hears about somebody he calls “the fat man in the red suit” who grants people’s wishes at Christmas time.
He has also been told that something known as a “telescope” can make far things seem near and could bring clarity to his myopic view of the sky.
So, Harley writes a letter to Santa Claus in which he asks for a telescope and offers to swap some digging work for it.
The tale of how Harley gets his letter to Santa and what ensues — including the kind-hearted decision of an owl to forego lunching on the mole family — chokes me up every time I read it.
We love the story so much that our bedraggled 1969 copy of the book always has a seat under our Christmas tree.
And that is all I have to say about the mole family and Mr. Hoban’s wonderful story about their quest for Christmas and fellowship with other creatures.
The book appears to be out of print, but there are a few used copies out there.
