Momo oder Die seltsame Geschichte von den Zeit-Dieben und von dem Kind, das den Menschen die gestohlene Zeit zurückbrachte
1973
- girls
- juvenile fiction
- time
- literatura infantil alemana
- fiction
- fantasy
- interest
- tortoises
- future
- lilies
The story
*The Neverending Story* is Michael Ende's best-known book, but *Momo,* published six years earlier, is the all-ages fantasy novel that first won him wide acclaim. After the sweet-talking gray men come to town, life becomes terminally efficient. Can Momo, a young orphan girl blessed with the gift of listening, vanquish the ashen-faced time thieves before joy vanishes forever?
What it’s like
Soft, unhurried storytelling in the manner of an old fairy tale, with a crumbling Italian amphitheatre, lamplit night streets, and the slow shuffle of a tortoise that seems to belong to another century. The narration takes its time, lingering on small domestic and street-level details, while the grey men arrive as a cold, clipped intrusion: ash-coloured suits, cigar smoke, ledgers, and a steady drumbeat of hurry that makes the pages feel briefly tighter. Sound is largely absent or hushed, which suits the book's central idea that real listening is a kind of quiet attention. The vibe is wistful and warm, with a thread of quiet dread that never turns graphic. Violence is absent; the threat is bureaucratic and eerie rather than physical, and the emotional register stays tender and sincere. The arcs follow a patient, odd girl and the friends who gather around her, and the rhythm is deliberately slow, rewarding a long afternoon or a late evening read. It suits readers who want something gentle and philosophical, adults rediscovering a childhood favourite, and children old enough for longer chapters.
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