You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by ronan_lynch
Momo by Michael Ende
2.0
2.5
○ The main 'underlying' theme of the book is time and how we spend it, do we enjoy it while it lasts. This message was blatantly displayed and not delivered with the needed force, somewhat how ‘Fahrenheit 451’ reveals all its cards with no game.
○ In my humble opinion, there is a way to fix all of this mess, but that requires to fix other things instead.
Rewriting Of Momo by Michael Ende
or Personal Alterations of the Novel
Problem 1: Momo is a female archetype.
○ She is attentive and friendly, universally liked by others. She values her friendships and begins to depend on them, later falling in despair, when they are taken away from her. Momo sees that her own life is a collection of unique flowers and is mesmerized by them, flowers as a symbol is meaningfully used only with her, whereas the opposite symbol: dead flowers made into cigars is for Men in Grey. These things are not excessively disruptive, but are not engaging either.
Solution: Remove some of Momo’s ‘sensitivity’, her special ‘listening ability’. If all else fails, switching Momo’s gender to male would challenge the reader with the contrast of what are often seen as feminine symbols.
Problem 2: The black and white morality.
○ City folk and children are made to represent ‘black and white’ morals, hence the characters are underdeveloped and ultimately boring.
○ The city folk are shown as a herd of sheep, that are easily tricked into giving up their time, neglect themselves and other people. Specific townspeople and their problems are showcased, but I failed to connect with them due to their short exposure time.
○ The children are the innocent affected by the neglect from their parents (the city folk), they gather at Momo’s place to play games. The ‘black and white’ moral hiding within this: Children’s activities and playfulness is a necessity and must always be fun, and when the Men in Grey get involved, we see the extended part of the moral - anything educational is not fun.
Solution: Drop Momo’s ‘listening ability’. In hindsight it’s never useful after the city folk bring her food. Those feel like scattered short stories, because Momo neither speaks or expresses any emotions during these ‘listening sessions’. Similarly would be with children – Momo develops no meaningful friendships with them and the whole part only serves to show the ‘black and white’ moral of children having to play, that is already (and better) expressed through adults needing their free time, rather than hectically working. The city folk and children could have more detailed descriptions, while still staying in the background, therefore avoiding putting them all in a single box of ‘all the children came to play and have fun’ or ‘all of the adults abandoned their children’.
Problem 3: Beppo’s single function.
○ Beppo has an interesting story arc concerning the main theme of the book (time) and his job. Beppo is poor and works a job that he has managed to turn into enjoyment, but later loses that part within him. When the majority of the city folk began to lose their time, the passage was unmemorable, painless and almost natural. With Beppo we see the crack happening in full terror, his character adds what was lost in the portrayal of city folk. However, that is all he is: a close-up portrayal of a city folk, that the reader needed, but nothing else.
○ His motivation is never himself, but Momo, and yet his relationship with Momo feels vague and unsure. There were dialogues and confirmations of them being happy to meet each other, but that didn’t convince me (less tell, more show would be needed).
Solution: Drop his character entirely. Beppo is old and no new personal development would come from him, he’d only live the rest of his days in the shack and keep working. The only possible relationship with Momo would be him becoming a father figure, however that always seems to be a trope in books with orphans. Momo is fairly independent and the story focuses on her growth as a person, rather than her finding a guardian.
Problem 4: Gigi – the unfinished character and his hanging relationship.
○ Gigi’s story is similar to Beppo – he does something he enjoys, but earns very little, but eventually rises to the top with the ‘help’ of the Men in Grey. Gigi becomes rich and famous, but is exhausted by the high demand of his services, he is emotionally and creatively drained to a point, where he cannot imagine a way to fix any of it. It’s another ‘black and white’ moral – poor is happy, but starving, rich is unhappy, but sated.
○ Another issue is how due to the ‘time release’ Gigi abandons his rich life and returns to Momo, is happy and nothing further is explained. Only half of the problem Gigi had was lack of time, the other was his exhaustion of creative ideas, that is simply dropped and forgotten by the author. (‘Time release’ had the same effects on Beppo, but in his case the plot made sense – he had gone ‘mad’ due to slaving his life away as a bargain to see Momo again, and after all is set right, he does see her and is mentally and physically released from his bond.)
○ Gigi and Momo, who are suggested to harbor romantic feelings for each other at the beginning, have their relationship left hanging. The last scene we truly see the two interact is in Gigi’s car, and that scene is more about Gigi’s issues and only slightly about their effects on Momo and Gigi’s relationship.
There’s more to go in depth about Gigi’s character and possible solutions for both his character and relationship with Momo, which will be presented later.
Problem 5: Cassiopeia and the future nonsense.
○ Cassiopeia is a tortoise that can see thirty minutes into the future, however, it’s established that she cannot change the events that she sees, and while this is true throughout the novel, it is also shown in multiple cases, where Cassiopeia is the one to cause the events to happen BECAUSE of her future-seeing ability, which is a really pathetic, faux-mysterious way of resolving situations. Momo is told to do certain heroic things because Cassiopeia sees that she can do them or even how she can do them, which makes Momo a tool and not a hero.
Solution: Either remove the ability completely, or it is only scarcely mentioned and never acted upon.
Problem 6: The necessity and pacing of the events.
○ The first few chapters were slow, the author introduces Momo and her relationship to others, but those relationships did not feel significant rendering the chapters insignificant as well. Therefore, the introduction of Men in Grey is delayed and stretched, and then quickly jumps to establish Momo as their enemy, whereas I would have prefered a less focused view on Momo from their perspective, and Momo taking her sweet time to find out what the Men’s in Grey motives are. Getting most of the information she needs from a single conversation was too much of a good luck. Also, there’s not much told about the ‘lore of Master Hora’, whatever we get to know, comes from conversations and it gets boring at times.
Solution: Bring out the relationship between Momo and Gigi, while also maintaining focus on Momo’s personality and discoveries that stay in the foreground. The Master Hora and Momo’s interactions are fairly decent, but a more interesting detail would be Master Hora’s viewpoint or a glimpse in his own life, like we see with the Men in Grey.
An approximate rewrite of Momo’s plot:
1. The opening.
○ It can stay at the same time and place as it does – Momo moving into the amphitheater. However, a more engaging way would be to see it all through Momo’s eyes (or more descriptive towards her) – her delights, her fears, her feelings, when meeting the new people. Or a more personal, yet possibly a false impression of Momo, would be to see it all through Gigi’s eyes, maybe something that he’d think up or write down as a story after having heard rumors of Momo, and therefore began to fantasized about her life.
2. Amphitheater and the city folk.
○ Exclusion of the ‘listening ability’ and narrowing down the people that help her. Those who do, only do so because there are no other authorities to help her, but don’t want to see/be responsible for her suffering. This is a more plausible reason for Momo’s continuation to live in the amphitheater – no one wishes to take her in. Momo senses this attitude, but ignores it not wanting to realize she’s a burden.
3. Momo and Gigi.
○ Momo and Gigi are outsiders, neither of them have parental figures. However, they hold opposing views of the society (never developed by the author). Momo appreciates the people and yet she keeps her distance. She does not beg for living necessities and is ready to suffer the consequences if no one is charitable. Gigi is an orphan too, but he’s been earning money by various methods, yet often not enough and without acquiring a permanent place to sleep at night, making him harbor bitterness towards society. He is shown to make up wonderful stories, but those are distractions deriving from pain that needs to be hidden. (The novel sets up his storytelling ability simply as a talent.)
○ Their conversations or possible adventures in the city can lead to a bond between them. Gigi wishes to borrow some of Momo’s wonder of the world. Momo soon unravels that underneath Gigi’s idyllic and marvelous stories writhes an unfulfilled wish to become rich. She wonders about the differences between them and this can lead to her noticing the Men in Grey.
4. The Men in Grey.
○ The shift in one’s world perspective is the reason why one can see the Men in Grey (rather than Momo being special). Momo investigates them and only after a while begins to understand that the cause of time being stolen are the Men in Grey. They can attempt to tell the city folk about these insects of time. Here is where in the novel the Men in Grey see her as dangerous. And yet, according to everything else, she isn’t really a threat. None of the people even listened and the Men in Grey can erase their appearance from everyone’s mind. Therefore, I offer a solution, that if someone were to ‘out’ the existence of the Men in Grey, then the people that heard this information, would be able to recall them.
5. Master Hora and the Sleeping Beauty.
○ In the novel, the reason for the journey to Master Hora and the year long nap is to let the Men in Grey kidnap Momo’s friends. None of Master Hora’s plot makes sense, he doesn’t prepare her beyond telling her that her life is a collection of flowers. Therefore, there needs to be a proper reason for Momo’s long nap.
○ Before Momo gets there, the Men in Grey injure her, for example, with the smoke from cigars that cause depression. Master Hora needs time to heal her and Momo has the opportunity to contemplate her life, we can get a bit of backstory, maybe she has to deal with repressed aches and pains.
○ We can see what Master Hora does in his spare time and get some proper magic lore. Master Hora is a wacky, fun guy and we never get to see anything more than babbles about how the Men in Grey must be stopped.
6. Reunion with Gigi and the beginning of the rift.
○ Master Hora lets Momo go back, she decides to recruit Gigi, who has left her a letter including his new address.
○ The original scene with the three women distracting the conversation was disappointing. We see Gigi’s situation, but it is never of much gain to Momo, except for plot needing her to feel alienated, and there’s little showcased in regards to their relationship.
○ In my version, Gigi’s circumstances stay the same – he’s rich and famous, and is on his way to the airport (alone), when he sees Momo outside the gate. She listens to Gigi about his newfound life, that he’s achieved what he wished and that has ruined him, and there is no going back. She sees the pure destruction of his friend and to Momo that’s a massive stab. She sees both of them as strangers to each other, while also knowing the ghosts of each other’s past selves. Even Momo herself isn’t who she used to be, her unwavering optimism has shifted and Gigi notices it too.
○ While the understandings Momo learns are heavy, I wish for Gigi to act in a very friendly way, almost too much, as if he was taking his pet to a vet for euthanasia (euthanasia being the end of their friendship). Gigi eventually has to leave for the airport and Momo accepts all that has happened with a sting or coldness in her heart, relating to the Men in Grey, craving for time, but in her case – to turn it back, to change it or give more to Gigi.
7. The Further.
○ In the book, here is where a certain ‘wandering of the plot’ begins. Momo has lost all her friends and doesn’t know how to get them back, she falls in despair and meets one of the Men in Grey, eventually leading her to find the tortoise, who leads her back to Master Hora and the Men in Grey follow her. This part falls apart, since I’ve changed many things.
○ A problem that leads to further plot development in order to replace the currently existing hole, could be the relationship between Momo and Gigi. It is technically more than just their in-book friendship, it is hard work vs. charity, high-dreams vs. settling for the existing condition, it is depression vs. happiness, it is also a way to further look on the problem of time.
○ From here it can continue in many ways, one of which, where Momo after reaching out to Master Hora is unable to get his help, since Gigi's problem isn't 'supernatural', so she turns to the dark side and it's a fight with Master Hora vs. Momo and the Men in Grey by her side. This would also have a more developed Master Hora.
Conclusion:
○ It wasn't a horrible read, but rather a dull one without any new revelations and less than expected enjoyment from the fantasy portion of this book.
○ I wish there had been a better 'framing' for the Men in Grey, not just villains, but more of that tiny insight we saw at the very end, and 'more' of Momo, not just the empty protagonist, the epicenter of humanity.
○ The main 'underlying' theme of the book is time and how we spend it, do we enjoy it while it lasts. This message was blatantly displayed and not delivered with the needed force, somewhat how ‘Fahrenheit 451’ reveals all its cards with no game.
○ In my humble opinion, there is a way to fix all of this mess, but that requires to fix other things instead.
Rewriting Of Momo by Michael Ende
or Personal Alterations of the Novel
Problem 1: Momo is a female archetype.
○ She is attentive and friendly, universally liked by others. She values her friendships and begins to depend on them, later falling in despair, when they are taken away from her. Momo sees that her own life is a collection of unique flowers and is mesmerized by them, flowers as a symbol is meaningfully used only with her, whereas the opposite symbol: dead flowers made into cigars is for Men in Grey. These things are not excessively disruptive, but are not engaging either.
Solution: Remove some of Momo’s ‘sensitivity’, her special ‘listening ability’. If all else fails, switching Momo’s gender to male would challenge the reader with the contrast of what are often seen as feminine symbols.
Problem 2: The black and white morality.
○ City folk and children are made to represent ‘black and white’ morals, hence the characters are underdeveloped and ultimately boring.
○ The city folk are shown as a herd of sheep, that are easily tricked into giving up their time, neglect themselves and other people. Specific townspeople and their problems are showcased, but I failed to connect with them due to their short exposure time.
○ The children are the innocent affected by the neglect from their parents (the city folk), they gather at Momo’s place to play games. The ‘black and white’ moral hiding within this: Children’s activities and playfulness is a necessity and must always be fun, and when the Men in Grey get involved, we see the extended part of the moral - anything educational is not fun.
Solution: Drop Momo’s ‘listening ability’. In hindsight it’s never useful after the city folk bring her food. Those feel like scattered short stories, because Momo neither speaks or expresses any emotions during these ‘listening sessions’. Similarly would be with children – Momo develops no meaningful friendships with them and the whole part only serves to show the ‘black and white’ moral of children having to play, that is already (and better) expressed through adults needing their free time, rather than hectically working. The city folk and children could have more detailed descriptions, while still staying in the background, therefore avoiding putting them all in a single box of ‘all the children came to play and have fun’ or ‘all of the adults abandoned their children’.
Problem 3: Beppo’s single function.
○ Beppo has an interesting story arc concerning the main theme of the book (time) and his job. Beppo is poor and works a job that he has managed to turn into enjoyment, but later loses that part within him. When the majority of the city folk began to lose their time, the passage was unmemorable, painless and almost natural. With Beppo we see the crack happening in full terror, his character adds what was lost in the portrayal of city folk. However, that is all he is: a close-up portrayal of a city folk, that the reader needed, but nothing else.
○ His motivation is never himself, but Momo, and yet his relationship with Momo feels vague and unsure. There were dialogues and confirmations of them being happy to meet each other, but that didn’t convince me (less tell, more show would be needed).
Solution: Drop his character entirely. Beppo is old and no new personal development would come from him, he’d only live the rest of his days in the shack and keep working. The only possible relationship with Momo would be him becoming a father figure, however that always seems to be a trope in books with orphans. Momo is fairly independent and the story focuses on her growth as a person, rather than her finding a guardian.
Problem 4: Gigi – the unfinished character and his hanging relationship.
○ Gigi’s story is similar to Beppo – he does something he enjoys, but earns very little, but eventually rises to the top with the ‘help’ of the Men in Grey. Gigi becomes rich and famous, but is exhausted by the high demand of his services, he is emotionally and creatively drained to a point, where he cannot imagine a way to fix any of it. It’s another ‘black and white’ moral – poor is happy, but starving, rich is unhappy, but sated.
○ Another issue is how due to the ‘time release’ Gigi abandons his rich life and returns to Momo, is happy and nothing further is explained. Only half of the problem Gigi had was lack of time, the other was his exhaustion of creative ideas, that is simply dropped and forgotten by the author. (‘Time release’ had the same effects on Beppo, but in his case the plot made sense – he had gone ‘mad’ due to slaving his life away as a bargain to see Momo again, and after all is set right, he does see her and is mentally and physically released from his bond.)
○ Gigi and Momo, who are suggested to harbor romantic feelings for each other at the beginning, have their relationship left hanging. The last scene we truly see the two interact is in Gigi’s car, and that scene is more about Gigi’s issues and only slightly about their effects on Momo and Gigi’s relationship.
There’s more to go in depth about Gigi’s character and possible solutions for both his character and relationship with Momo, which will be presented later.
Problem 5: Cassiopeia and the future nonsense.
○ Cassiopeia is a tortoise that can see thirty minutes into the future, however, it’s established that she cannot change the events that she sees, and while this is true throughout the novel, it is also shown in multiple cases, where Cassiopeia is the one to cause the events to happen BECAUSE of her future-seeing ability, which is a really pathetic, faux-mysterious way of resolving situations. Momo is told to do certain heroic things because Cassiopeia sees that she can do them or even how she can do them, which makes Momo a tool and not a hero.
Solution: Either remove the ability completely, or it is only scarcely mentioned and never acted upon.
Problem 6: The necessity and pacing of the events.
○ The first few chapters were slow, the author introduces Momo and her relationship to others, but those relationships did not feel significant rendering the chapters insignificant as well. Therefore, the introduction of Men in Grey is delayed and stretched, and then quickly jumps to establish Momo as their enemy, whereas I would have prefered a less focused view on Momo from their perspective, and Momo taking her sweet time to find out what the Men’s in Grey motives are. Getting most of the information she needs from a single conversation was too much of a good luck. Also, there’s not much told about the ‘lore of Master Hora’, whatever we get to know, comes from conversations and it gets boring at times.
Solution: Bring out the relationship between Momo and Gigi, while also maintaining focus on Momo’s personality and discoveries that stay in the foreground. The Master Hora and Momo’s interactions are fairly decent, but a more interesting detail would be Master Hora’s viewpoint or a glimpse in his own life, like we see with the Men in Grey.
An approximate rewrite of Momo’s plot:
1. The opening.
○ It can stay at the same time and place as it does – Momo moving into the amphitheater. However, a more engaging way would be to see it all through Momo’s eyes (or more descriptive towards her) – her delights, her fears, her feelings, when meeting the new people. Or a more personal, yet possibly a false impression of Momo, would be to see it all through Gigi’s eyes, maybe something that he’d think up or write down as a story after having heard rumors of Momo, and therefore began to fantasized about her life.
2. Amphitheater and the city folk.
○ Exclusion of the ‘listening ability’ and narrowing down the people that help her. Those who do, only do so because there are no other authorities to help her, but don’t want to see/be responsible for her suffering. This is a more plausible reason for Momo’s continuation to live in the amphitheater – no one wishes to take her in. Momo senses this attitude, but ignores it not wanting to realize she’s a burden.
3. Momo and Gigi.
○ Momo and Gigi are outsiders, neither of them have parental figures. However, they hold opposing views of the society (never developed by the author). Momo appreciates the people and yet she keeps her distance. She does not beg for living necessities and is ready to suffer the consequences if no one is charitable. Gigi is an orphan too, but he’s been earning money by various methods, yet often not enough and without acquiring a permanent place to sleep at night, making him harbor bitterness towards society. He is shown to make up wonderful stories, but those are distractions deriving from pain that needs to be hidden. (The novel sets up his storytelling ability simply as a talent.)
○ Their conversations or possible adventures in the city can lead to a bond between them. Gigi wishes to borrow some of Momo’s wonder of the world. Momo soon unravels that underneath Gigi’s idyllic and marvelous stories writhes an unfulfilled wish to become rich. She wonders about the differences between them and this can lead to her noticing the Men in Grey.
4. The Men in Grey.
○ The shift in one’s world perspective is the reason why one can see the Men in Grey (rather than Momo being special). Momo investigates them and only after a while begins to understand that the cause of time being stolen are the Men in Grey. They can attempt to tell the city folk about these insects of time. Here is where in the novel the Men in Grey see her as dangerous. And yet, according to everything else, she isn’t really a threat. None of the people even listened and the Men in Grey can erase their appearance from everyone’s mind. Therefore, I offer a solution, that if someone were to ‘out’ the existence of the Men in Grey, then the people that heard this information, would be able to recall them.
5. Master Hora and the Sleeping Beauty.
○ In the novel, the reason for the journey to Master Hora and the year long nap is to let the Men in Grey kidnap Momo’s friends. None of Master Hora’s plot makes sense, he doesn’t prepare her beyond telling her that her life is a collection of flowers. Therefore, there needs to be a proper reason for Momo’s long nap.
○ Before Momo gets there, the Men in Grey injure her, for example, with the smoke from cigars that cause depression. Master Hora needs time to heal her and Momo has the opportunity to contemplate her life, we can get a bit of backstory, maybe she has to deal with repressed aches and pains.
○ We can see what Master Hora does in his spare time and get some proper magic lore. Master Hora is a wacky, fun guy and we never get to see anything more than babbles about how the Men in Grey must be stopped.
6. Reunion with Gigi and the beginning of the rift.
○ Master Hora lets Momo go back, she decides to recruit Gigi, who has left her a letter including his new address.
○ The original scene with the three women distracting the conversation was disappointing. We see Gigi’s situation, but it is never of much gain to Momo, except for plot needing her to feel alienated, and there’s little showcased in regards to their relationship.
○ In my version, Gigi’s circumstances stay the same – he’s rich and famous, and is on his way to the airport (alone), when he sees Momo outside the gate. She listens to Gigi about his newfound life, that he’s achieved what he wished and that has ruined him, and there is no going back. She sees the pure destruction of his friend and to Momo that’s a massive stab. She sees both of them as strangers to each other, while also knowing the ghosts of each other’s past selves. Even Momo herself isn’t who she used to be, her unwavering optimism has shifted and Gigi notices it too.
○ While the understandings Momo learns are heavy, I wish for Gigi to act in a very friendly way, almost too much, as if he was taking his pet to a vet for euthanasia (euthanasia being the end of their friendship). Gigi eventually has to leave for the airport and Momo accepts all that has happened with a sting or coldness in her heart, relating to the Men in Grey, craving for time, but in her case – to turn it back, to change it or give more to Gigi.
7. The Further.
○ In the book, here is where a certain ‘wandering of the plot’ begins. Momo has lost all her friends and doesn’t know how to get them back, she falls in despair and meets one of the Men in Grey, eventually leading her to find the tortoise, who leads her back to Master Hora and the Men in Grey follow her. This part falls apart, since I’ve changed many things.
○ A problem that leads to further plot development in order to replace the currently existing hole, could be the relationship between Momo and Gigi. It is technically more than just their in-book friendship, it is hard work vs. charity, high-dreams vs. settling for the existing condition, it is depression vs. happiness, it is also a way to further look on the problem of time.
○ From here it can continue in many ways, one of which, where Momo after reaching out to Master Hora is unable to get his help, since Gigi's problem isn't 'supernatural', so she turns to the dark side and it's a fight with Master Hora vs. Momo and the Men in Grey by her side. This would also have a more developed Master Hora.
Conclusion:
○ It wasn't a horrible read, but rather a dull one without any new revelations and less than expected enjoyment from the fantasy portion of this book.
○ I wish there had been a better 'framing' for the Men in Grey, not just villains, but more of that tiny insight we saw at the very end, and 'more' of Momo, not just the empty protagonist, the epicenter of humanity.