Review – The Neverending Story by Michael Ende
I asked for The Neverending Story for Christmas last year, and I knew if I didn’t read it before this Christmas, there was no way I’d get the new books I’ve got on my list.
You’ve probably seen the movie, if not read the book. It’s a children’s book, but so well written that adults could get into it, too.
The book is basically in two parts: the first part, which the movie is about, is Bastian stealing the book The Neverending Story from a bookstore and taking it to school to read in the attic. While he’s reading, he learns that Fantasia* is in dange from The Nothing, and Atreyu, a young hunter, is sought out to find what’s killing Fantasia and The Childlike Empress. After finally finding out that the only thing needed to save Fantasia is to give The Childlike Empress a new name, Bastian does so and gets sucked into the story.
In the second half Bastian is instructed to rebuild Fantasia through wishes that are granted by Auryn, a pendant given to him by The Childlike Empress. Bastian doesn’t realize that he must get back to his world, that he can’t stay in Fantasia forever, and every wish that he makes wipes away part of his memory of Earth, so pretty soon he doesn’t even want to go back to Earth. But Atreyu, the good friend he is, sees these changes and tries to help Bastian, but Bastian rebuffs his friend and comes dangerously close to being stuck in Fantasia forever.
I had a great time with this book, with all of the imaginary creatures. I can’t wait to have children so that I can read this book with them and discuss some of the themes running through the book: friendship, power, love, family, and imagination.
Rating: 90 out of 100
*The book calls this other world Fantastica, but the movie calls it Fantasia, and I liked the movie better, so I’m calling it Fantasia.
Have you seen the movie? Read the book? The movie is hands down my favorite children’s movie.
| Tags: book review, Books, michael ende, the neverending story 22 comments »
November 28th, 2008 at 7:48 pm
as a kid, the movie was a well-established favorite before i even realized there was a book. so, this is one of the rare instances in which i like the book better than the movie. i did read the book (though many years ago) and remember that at times it did feel never-ending… haha.
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November 28th, 2008 at 7:48 pm
my mistake – like the movie better than the book*
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November 28th, 2008 at 8:14 pm
hmm, I have not seen the movie and not heard abt it either.
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November 28th, 2008 at 8:29 pm
I absolutely adored this movie when I was a little girl. I didn’t know it was a book until I was an adult, though, and haven’t read it yet. It’s been on my wish list for ages!
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November 28th, 2008 at 10:19 pm
Oh, I saw that movie as a kid. It was, I think, the first time I ever had a nightmare from something I saw. I still remember the nightmare, better than the movie.
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November 28th, 2008 at 10:21 pm
was the copy you read in red and green ink (one for when he’s reading, one when he’s back in the “real” world?)
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November 29th, 2008 at 12:00 am
I should read this with my kids!
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November 29th, 2008 at 3:04 am
I loved this movie! I haven’t read the book…didn’t realize there was one until recently. This is one case where I don’t know if I could step away from the movie enough to read the book.
Also, when my Basset hound is lying just right, with his long body, short legs, big head and floppy ears, he looks a lot like a luck dragon!
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November 29th, 2008 at 5:33 am
I’d heard of the movie (but never saw it) and didn’t realize it was a book.
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November 29th, 2008 at 6:27 am
I was a kid during exactly the right time frame for this movie, but I’ve still never seen it. *shame* I’m reluctant to see it now, though, for fear that it’s going to be one of those movies where watching it for the first time as an adult is going to make it nothing special, since I don’t have the nostalgia factor attached.
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November 29th, 2008 at 7:24 am
My copy has the red and green ink! I really like that. I saw the movie as kid and loved it, didn’t discover the book until I was much older. My favorite part of the book is all the stuff about Bastian’s wishes and their consequences, which isn’t included in the movie version at all (unless you count the sequel they made, which was awful).
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November 29th, 2008 at 9:27 am
I love this story, in both book and movie form! I often accuse my cat of doing a very good luck dragon impression.
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November 29th, 2008 at 1:10 pm
Although I have never read the book, this is one of my favorite movies!! Loved it!
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November 29th, 2008 at 2:06 pm
I wasn’t aware that the movie was based on a book. I liked the movie a lot. My little one likes fantasy so maybe I should look this one up.
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November 30th, 2008 at 2:38 pm
This is a favorite children’s book of mine. I read it many times before I ever saw the movie. The movie is great, but I’m partial to the book.
I also did a review on this book back in the summer.
Great review!
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November 30th, 2008 at 3:32 pm
I’ve seen the movie and have not read the book. But I don’t think I remember the movie that well so I wonder if I ever saw the whole thing. I have and aversion to watching non-human creature movies and I seem to remember a white talking dog and lots of snow.
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November 30th, 2008 at 7:52 pm
Jena – Yes, it was! Kind of fun to read ink that’s not black.
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December 2nd, 2008 at 5:31 am
I think I’ve seen the movie…oh…a thousand or so times!!! It is my all-time favorite and has been since I was little.
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December 2nd, 2008 at 1:34 pm
I read this one just before I started my book blog. I was ADDICTED to the movie as a kid (yes, even as a teen). I thought the first part of the book was fantastic (probably because it was the movie verbatim) but the second half dragged for me. Sometimes I felt the writing was a bit juvineille but I couldn’t decide if that was really the case or if it was just the translation from German.
Either way, I was glad I read it, just to spend some time in Fantastia for a while. As soon as I was done reading, I pulled out my DVD to watch the movie again, for old times sake. You should go to youtube and check out some of the Neverending Story music videos there – they are AWESOME. This is the official one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3khTntOxX-k
Watch it if only to view the haircut of the lead singer
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December 2nd, 2008 at 6:50 pm
That was one of my family’s favorite movies when I was little — I didn’t read the book until I was 16 or so, but I loved it.
The plot of the second half, by the way, is the basis for the sequel to the movie (at the very least, the part about Bastian’s wishes causing him to lose memories is).
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December 9th, 2008 at 8:14 am
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December 9th, 2008 at 8:15 am
I love the book AND the movie. I keep trying to get other books by Michael Ende, but I haven’t had a lot of luck.
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