Some books that you read as a child make a lasting impression. You never forget them. However, it is not always a good idea to reread them as an adult. Times change, you've grown up, you've read so many more books that you've become a more critical reader. You remember a book as absolutely scaring or sad, but when you read it again, the magic is gone.

Momo, however, is a book does stand the test of time. On a superficial level it is an adventure of a little girl fighting an army of scary grey men, who steal time. But on a deeper level, it is an ode to the imagination, an ode to friendship and an ode to the beauty of life. It was lovely to read this again, I loved the chapter about the children's fantasies, because it made me remember what it was like to be a child. The book also made me think about my present busy live, the way the hours disappear and how all this adult business gets me so hurried up that I sometimes forget about the truer, and more important things in life. ( )

One of the books that influenced my world view growing up. ( )

Michael Ende's books and his characters from “Jim Knopf und Lukas, der Lokomotivführer” still hold some of my earliest and fondest childhood reading memories. When I recently ran across a copy of Momo which I had somehow missed when it was first published - most likely due to the interfering influence of the time-stealing ghostly Grey Gentlemen - I finally remedied my oversight became enchanted once again by another fantastical tale about time, happiness and friendship by a profound and visionary writer.

Momo is a homeless girl with a rare gift of true listening, who lives in the ancient ruins of an amphitheatre in a beautiful old Italian city. Her special gift make the townspeople seek her counsel on even the smallest problems. The townspeople offer Momo friendship and support her. Momo’s best friends are Beppo, a philosophic street sweeper and Gigi, a poetic tour guide and story teller.

The idyllic community is disrupted by the almost imperceptible appearance of the ominous Grey Gentlemen, with their ash-grey voiceless whispers and grey cigars, from the Time Savings Bank, who sell the townspeople on the idea of saving time for later use, and thus they begin to steal time from everyone. Gradually Momo’s world turns cold, impersonal and friendless until she meets Cassiopeia, a tortoise with the wondrous abilities to communicate through writing on her shell and see thirty minutes into the future, and Master Secundus Minutius Hora, the mysterious guardian of time and the hour-flowers.

Momo or the strange story of the time thieves and the child that gave back stolen time to mankind is a fairy tale or a fantasy, for me it is, unmistakably, an allegory. Business men in their uniform-like suits with permanently installed mobile phones while seemingly insanely and disembodied (and rudely) speaking into them in a society that is consumed with time saving gadgets were the images that Michael Ende conjured up with his depiction of the Grey Gentlemen’s world in Momo published amazingly in 1973. In it Michael Ende eerily and presciently describes our modern society that values achievement, usefulness and monetary worth over happiness and personal fulfillment, and living in the here and now. Beppo finds happiness in the small gesture of his single broom stroke when he rhythmically sweeps the street with each breath. Gigi finds it from his inspiration from Momo who enables him to tell the most imaginative and astounding stories without repeating a single one, and Momo’s happiness is being with her friends. Showing us how the characters experience happiness through small gestures in everyday life Ende provides a powerful and comforting message.

Momo is a deeply thought-provoking, highly imaginative work that stands the test of time, and proves Michael Ende’s timeless story-telling genius that is enjoyable and delightful for young adults and grown-ups alike. ( )

Okay, so. Momo by Michael Ende. Basically, there's this girl called Momo who one day turns up in a little Italian town. She doesn't know how old she is, but she's a fantastic listener. She will sit and listen to people who tell her their problems. She doesn't actually offer advice, but silently leads people to help themselves. She makes friends, most notably Beppo Roadsweeper and Guido. Life goes on. But then the Men in Grey come. All they want is for people to save time. At first, they have few converts, but then more and more people start saving time. But Momo isn't convinced that saving time is any good. After all, it's taken her friends away from her!

And so she sets out to end the Men in Grey. This adventure involves a tortoise named Cassiopeia. Really. I am quite enamoured of this tortoise. You should be, too.

As for why you shoud read Momo. Well, there are very few books which I can actually relate to my life. This is one of them. And also, the description of the hour-lilies is just fantastic.

So, yes. Read Momo (even if you think of it as a children's book, because I suppose it is, but I know it's fantastic as a teenager and there's no reason to avoid children's books as an adult)! ( )

An unusually structured novel about enjoying the time you have. Momo is a waif who resists the efforts of mysterious grey men who are stealing time. The story seems oddly disjointed in places, which may be an artifact of the transation. This is nevertheless a compelling tale with interesting and well drawn characters. ( )