Momo - Michael Ende

『Momo』
Michael Ende（German writer of fantasy）
PUFFIN（1973）

　The main character, Momo, is a poor orphan girl who doesn't have any material possessions. The only thing she does have is the ability to listen to others. This is her specialty. Even though listening is something everyone can do, it is very important. This is the main theme of this story.
　Her friends are road sweeper Beppo and merry talker Guido.
　Time-thieves appeared in the town where Momo lived. They stole time from the people in the town. The people in the town, especially those who always say "I have no time", lost their time, literally. Then Momo, Beppo, Guido and some children in the town fought the time-thieves.
　Later Momo went missing. Beppo and Guido always looked for and missed Momo. And Beppo and Guido surrendered to the time-thieves. It was very sad.
　Guido became a famous writer under the control of the time-thieves. He wrote many books that have the same content but different titles. I think this is making fun of some popular writers.

　Michael Ende had foresight. Nino, one of Momo's friend, is a pub master. He changed his business to a fastfood shop called "Nino's fastfood". "Momo" was written in 1973, so this was a kind of prophecy!

　This book is aimed at children in Japan, but I think that the following words used in the book are probably too difficult for children.

surreptitiously
inconspicuous
sympathetically
gesticulating excitedly
unaccustomed to running
as indistinguishable as peas
uncomprehendingly
incalculable risk
unintentionally

　These words might be literal translations from German. What do you think?
　I feel that it is quite strange if this book was written for children. It might be suitable for adult in the U.S. Furthermore, the cover illustration of Momo is not cute, so I don't think that it is aimed at children.
　It is probably a kind of philosophical novel in the U.S. Viewed in this light, I can suppose that it is about psychoanalysis, because Momo's abilities are quite similar to that of a psychoanalyst.
　This book will teach us the preciousness of listening to others and the importance of friendship.
（Lang-8's friends, thank you for your cooperation!）

タグ：Michael Ende