Sven Nordqvist's Pettson and Findus series is beloved for its cozy portrayal of rural Swedish life. An eccentric old farmer, his talking cat in striped trousers, helpful (if gossipy) neighbors, and illustrations dense with hidden mucklas. Books like Pancakes for Findus and Findus at Christmas resolve warmly, with community support and simple pleasures winning the day.
Findus and the Christmas Tomte (originally Tomtemaskinen) is different. Longer, stranger, and darker, it stands apart from the rest of the series, and not in a good way.
The Fun Parts
The book has its moments. Pettson's frustration when the mucklas steal his screws, and his urge to smash the floor in rage, is genuinely funny. The expedition to find a Christmas tree has the cozy adventure feel of the best Pettson stories. And the scene where Findus meets the magical postman is delightful: both of them trying to talk while stuffing their mouths with sausages.
But these bright spots are scattered through a much longer, stranger narrative.
Every Adult Is Broken
The most striking thing about this book is the parade of dysfunctional humans Pettson encounters. Every single one of them is struggling, lost, or trapped.
Kerstin, the shopkeeper, casually locks her loud, burping husband Henrik in a box and looks relieved. "Stay in there and relax a while, pet," she tells him. "You can come out tonight." Later she confesses: "I've had enough. I want to run away to Africa and be a lion tamer."
Fisher is a former fisherman now working as a forester, completely adrift in his new role. He thinks a tree might get "trampled by a bear" and can't tell crows from magpies. He dreams of sitting on a mountain peak playing fiddle with his family, nowhere near where he actually is.
The postman, a whimsical figure, trained for 27 years at a postal academy only to quit on his very first delivery. "I am an ex-postman now," he announces. "I might get eaten by bears; I don't want to spend my final hours delivering parcels!"
As Pettson works on his Yule Tomte machine that evening, he reflects: "Some people lose their way in life, that's for sure."
In most Pettson books, neighbors like the Gustavson appear as ordinary people. Flawed, perhaps gossipy, but fundamentally normal and sometimes genuinely kind. Here, the familiar community is almost entirely absent, replaced by lost souls.
The sole exception is Signild, a kindly neighbor who briefly visits Pettson for normal conversation. She feels like a remnant of the original "universe," straightforward and grounded. But even her presence is undermined: Findus demands all the attention, derailing the interaction into chaos. She's less a source of relief and more a reminder of the warmth this book otherwise lacks.
Darker Undercurrents
Beyond the broken adults, the book contains genuinely unsettling moments rarely seen in the series:
- Pettson has a vivid nightmare where the inventor Polhem accuses him with flashing eyes and a booming voice
- A mysterious salesman disappears but leaves Pettson feeling he's "still there"
- A beard appears mysteriously in the attic, accompanied by sounds of something moving
- Dreams seem to leave physical traces, scribbled notes in a "mechanical alphabet"
- Findus is genuinely frightened in the attic, hearing something "bigger than him"
- Pettson and Findus nearly get lost in darkening woods and deep snow
The magic in Pettson books is usually contained. Findus talks, mucklas hide in corners. Here it bleeds outward in ways that feel less whimsical and more unsettling.
The Santa Problem
Not Really Recommended
Findus and the Christmas Tomte is an outlier in the series. The darkness and dysfunction that pervade it are virtually absent from the other books. If you're looking for a holiday read featuring Pettson and Findus, Findus at Christmas is far better: shorter, warmer, and full of the neighborly goodwill and cozy mishaps the series does well.
This one is for completionists only.
