History Literature / Momo1973

* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: Gigi's biggest dream is to become famous (in the book by telling stories, in the movie by becoming a singer). When his dream comes true, he eventually feels lonely and empty and even says "Momo, the most dangerous things in life are idle wishes that come true."

Not to be confused with ''Momo'', the English translation of ''La Vie Devant Soi'' by Romain Gary, or the infamous Literature/{{Momo|Creepypasta}} Challenge. [[WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb Ducks]] or [[WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender winged lemurs]] also have nothing to do with this story.

''Momo'' takes place in an unnamed Italian town which is home to the eponymous homeless girl, who is known to be wise and has an almost supernatural ability to listen and help people come to terms with their problems. At the beginning of the book she leads a happy life, living in an old amphitheater on the outskirts of the city, surrounded by a community of friends who bring her food and share their problems with her. One day strange men with pale skin, grey suits, and grey hats appear in town and offer people to take their spare time into an account and pay it back with interest at a later time. More and more people agree to the offer and give away more and more of their spare time, and gradually give up any activities that are not considered completely necessary and eventually lose all their emotions. When the grey men approach Momo, one inadvertently reveals that that they are trying to drain the people's time away for their own uses. And unlike everyone else in the city, Momo can remember them after they have left.

One night, a tortoise named Cassiopeia appears and leads her to the house of Master Hora, who guards the stores of time against the grey men, but needs Momo to help him. Meanwhile, the gray men are bringing all their powers against her, since they know that she is the only one who can stop them.

* ChattyHairdresser: Herr Fusi / Mr Figaro, the barber, starts out as one, until the Grey Men get their claws into him and he becomes obsessed with dealing with each customer as quickly and efficiently as possible.

* DubNameChange: Several of Momo's friends have different names in the English translation, mostly due to different cultural ideas about which names sound male or female. Girolamo has the nickname "Guido" instead of "Gigi", Nicola the bricklayer becomes Salvatore, and Herr Fusi the barber becomes Mr Figaro.

* FlawExploitation: After failing to trick, corrupt and capture Momo, the Grey Men are wondering if there may be some way to bribe her at least. One Grey Man points out that Momo's weak point are her friends. If they take her friends away from her, leaving her utterly and unbearably alone, Momo can be willing to cooperate with them to get her friends back.

** At first glance, Momo herself, with her listening power, might qualify. Until that scene with Gray Man BLW/553/c, where she gets him to betray himself. The earlier scene of her inviting the builder and the bar/restaurant also counts; all she does is listen and yet they make up. The book makes a point that she often listens to people pouring their heart out and that helps them realize important truths: like after such a session, a person who thinks they are a dime a dozen will feel like they are irreplaceable and one in a million, and so on.

* YouAreNumberSix: The grey men don't have names, just a code in the form of a string of letters and numbers.

Not to be confused with ''Momo'', the English translation of ''La Vie Devant Soi'' by Romain Gary, or the infamous WebOriginal/{{Momo}} Challenge. [[WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb Ducks]] or [[WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender winged lemurs]] also have nothing to do with this story.

* DealWithTheDevil: When Beppo Roadsweeper ends up in a BedlamHouse, [[spoiler:the Grey Men approach him with two deals. The first one is that they will get him released if he stops trying to tell everyone about them. The second is that they will release Momo from their custody if he manages to save up a hundred thousand hours (about 11.5 years). They don't have any means to hold up their end of the second deal, but Beppo, not knowing this, accepts both deals.]]

* DoesNotLikeShoes: Momo refuses to wear shoes unless it's winter.

Not to be confused with ''Momo'', the English translation of ''La Vie Devant Soi'' by Romain Gary, or the infamous WebOriginal/{{Momo}}. [[WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb Ducks]] or [[WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender winged lemurs]] also have nothing to do with this story.