The Neverending Story (original 1985; edition 1997)

I was disappointed, at first, to find that the book and the movie were almost exactly the same, since I'd begun reading on the theory that books are almost always better than their movies, and I had loved this movie growing up. However, the movie only takes you through the first third of the book, at which point the book continues on in a fantastic and exciting adventure centered around Bastion himself inside the land of Fantastica. What I liked best about the stories is that they were, as far as I can tell, completely original. So often anymore, fantasy adventures rely on all the other adventures that have come before them. They are full of elves and orcs and wizards and battles, or perhaps they draw on mythologies of other countries. In The Neverending Story, Ende creates a world full of its own myths and legends and histories and creatures. It is delightful to learn about each new one in turn, even if you spend much of the time wishing to bop Bastion a good one for being so dumb. ( )

Not as good as I had hoped; but better than the movie that I watched long before I ever knew it was a book first. I am still waiting for the movie version with a greeen-skinned Atreyu and talking Artax. This would make a really good read aloud. ( )

A beloved classic of German children's literature, The Neverending Story (originally published in 1979 as Die Unendliche Geschichte), is probably most familiar to American readers through Wolfgang Petersen's 1984 film adaptation. That was certainly my introduction to the story, and I loved the characters of Bastian and Atreyu, and their parallel (and eventually intersecting) stories, long before I even knew there was a book, or that "Fantasia" was actually "Fantastica!" Imagine my surprise and delight, some years later, when I discovered that the film only covered the first half of the book, and that there was more Fantasia/Fantastica to discover!

The stories of Bastian Balthazar Bux, a somewhat fat young boy, shy and bullied, who finds himself transported - first through the pages of a book, and then in "reality" - to the wonderful world of Fantastica; and of the Greenskin Atreyu, a young warrior of the Grassy Plains, who embarks upon a quest to save the Child-Like Empress, and all of Fantastica; converge in a book that the reader wishes would never end. I enjoyed revisiting some of the scenes from the film that I found so moving as a child, from the heart-breaking death of Artax in the Swamp of Sadness, to the astonishing moment when Bastian realizes that the Childlike Empress is aware of him, and knows he has been following Atreyu's story. I also enjoyed learning "what happened next," and discovering that Ende's story was deeper, and far more complex than the film would lead one to suppose. I even enjoyed the book itself, as an object, finding the alternating color of the text - green or red, depending on whether the passage concerned Fantastica or the "real" world - and the lovely illustrations at the beginning of each chapter, endlessly fascinating!

I continue to love the film, of course - I can still recall how enchanting I found it, the first time I watched it as a girl! - but having now read the novel, I am forced to acknowledge that it has a philosophical maturity, and a purpose, that is entirely missing from the movie. The idea that fantasy - wishing, make-believe, creation - is necessary, but also dangerous; that it would be a tragedy to become entirely divorced from Fantastica, but a mistake to become entirely lost in it; is very much in evidence in the second half of Ende's book, as Bastian's wish-making leads to unexpected consequences, both for himself and for his "creations." Watching him struggle to find a balance, between desire and responsibility, wishing and being, was a curiously moving experience for me.

Curious because, although I can now see the limitations of the the film, watching (and loving) it as a child really increased my appreciation for the book. They each came along at the right time for me, I think. The "simple" fantasy-film about the importance of story, and using one's imagination, was most welcome to the young girl who often lived in her own made-up world; whereas the philosophically mature tale of the limitations of fantasy, and the dangers of hubris, are probably much needed by the woman. How glad I am that I finally picked up this lovely fantasy novel, thanks to the International Children's Fiction Club, to which I belong - it was high time! ( )

This is a rather brilliant book and I could see it being a life changing book for some readers.

It’s about reality & fantasy, escape, power, free will, friendship, individuality, isolation, grief, choices, wishes, courage, growth, altruism, friendship, change, self acceptance, meaning, memory, identity, love, introspection, and imagination & stories.

From the beginning, it reminded me of The Lord of the Rings and The Phantom Tollbooth, and other books too.

Even though I knew this formula, I found it suspenseful.

It was clever, as was its format: there are two colors of text: purple for real world reality and green for fantasy/the story in the book within the book, and each chapter’s first word starts with A-Z and that letter is very fancy and includes an illustration, and the X worked just fine here. I really liked it, especially the two colors of text.

I have to say that I do identify with Bastian and if only this had been published & translated to English by the time I was eleven or twelve, it would have been a very meaningful story for me. I wish there had been a bit more about the main character in the real world because there I also found him fascinating, and I did like the much shorter reality part of the book as much as the long fantasy portion.

I probably wouldn’t have felt this way earlier in my life, but as of my reading this week, the book seemed to go on a tad too long for me. The incessant multiple naming of everything and everyone just thrown out there, the story that will be told at another time (which I suspect was meant to be humorous but I took every aspect of this story oh so seriously) and just the very, very, very long journey made me at times long for the book to be over, but I did enjoy it, and I considered giving it 5 stars because it has a lovely premise.

I will say that I do want a luckdragon; I particularly loved the character Falkor.

I’ve never seen the movie and I didn’t know what this book was about when I began reading. I read it for the International Book Club at the Children's Books group, and I’m really glad that I finally read it. ( )

Eighth-and-a-half during the twenty-four hour readathon; finished it up this afternoon, once the readathon was over. You'd think I'd want a break, but no, not I. Just an early bedtime.

I think perhaps I came to The Neverending Story too late. I think I would have been absolutely enchanted by it as a younger child, but I already knew so much about it and had heard so many people doting over it that it couldn't help but be a bit of a let down. I've never seen the film, and this was the first time I read the book, but I already knew so much about it...

I did love quite a lot about it. The fairytale feel, and some of the scenes were beautiful... I love the characters of Atreyu and Falkor, and I liked some of the stories that grew up around Bastian when he was in Fantastica. I liked the Child Empress.

But Fantastica is not an utterly magical place to me, not like places I learned to go when I was quite a bit younger: Narnia, Earthsea, Avalon, Sherwood Forest... Which makes me sad, a little. I wish I'd read it then. ( )