The Neverending Story

[Fat middle]

by Michael Ende.

I read this book when i was 10 or so, and a second time two years later for school (we read it durig the classes).

I remember that i enjoyed the book till chapter L or M, but then it turned very boring.

I think that the book was a bit lame. It had some good points, some characters (now i cannot remember the names)and episodes, the development of Bastian BB, the idea of the parallel world and its interaction... but he could do that in a shorter format. IMHO he wanted to do a phantasy book a la Alice in Wonderland, but he got lost in the details.

I know there was a movie, but i didn´t see it. I saw how had they made the dragon (Fujur?) and i decided it should be a very bad film.

Has anybody read it?

[bmilder]

I think I saw the movie.

[Elanor the Hobbit]

I saw all three movies. :P Never read the book.

I liked the weirdness and the uniqueness.

[The One Ring]

Very good book.... pretty bad movies. The first was all right (and still not very good), but the second and third ones just didn't have the right touch. If you read the book, you'll find it wouldn't work to film, what with the red and green print symbolizing Bastian's journey into the book itself. If you can get past the weirdness and tangent stories, it's an incredible book. Of course, Michael Ende's other book that I've read, The Gray Gentlemen, makes the Neverending Story look normal.

[Loopy]

I haven't read the book, but I heard it was great.

I love the movie, despite the bad acting and god-awful special effects. It's such a great story.

[The Black Lieutenant]

Sorry to be dragging ancient threads up from the darkness they have lain in for long ages, but I just had to put my two cents in.

For those of you who haven't seen the movie, don't even bother. The movie was ****. Read the book instead. One of the great things about this book is that it's rich in symbolism, and much of that symbolism is lost or distorted in the film. Here's part of a report I wrote on this excellent book:


In his search for the secret of the Nothing that is destroying Fantasia (or Fantastica, as it is in the English translation of the original German name for Ende's world) Atreyu goes to Tortoise Shell Mountain, which to me represents the Earth Mother. Tortoise Shell Mountain turns out to be a giant tortoise called Morla the Ancient One (or Aged One). She is both a tortoise and a mountain; both symbols of the Earth Mother. The Earth Mother represents the ground of being, yet it is also the reality of death, and the indifference of the universe to the human condition. She sums up her wisdom in a single paragraph:

We're old, son, much too old. Lived long enough. Seen much. When you know as much as we do, nothing matters. Things just repeat. Day and night, summer and winter. The world is empty and aimless. Everything circles around. Whatever starts up must pass away, whatever is born must die. It all cancels out, good and bad, beautiful and ugly. Everything's empty. Nothing is real. Nothing matters.

For the knowledge of the Earth Mother is also the knowledge of the Cycle, the Circle, the Wheel of Fortune. How right that the way to Tortoise Shell Mountain should be through the Swamps of Sadness, where the warrior Atreyu loses his faithful horse. Their heartbreaking farewell echoes the farewell that every human being has to make eventually, when we lose someone close to us. Yet even after having experienced this loss, the one who is left behind moves on, for something deep within urges him to keep going. It is then that he comes up against the inexorable wall of stone that is the world's indifference to his pain. But he objects to it, and rejects the apathy of the Aged One. He will not give in to the Nothing. He continues forward in his seemingly hopeless quest, because he alone has hope.

I'll let someone else respond and if anyone's interested in reading the rest of my report maybe I'll come back and add to this later on.

[Miranda]

So glad I found a thread on this book!!! I loved the books and the films!! The technology they used was pretty cool for Falcor, the dragon, considering when the films were made but I thought the acting slipped quite dramatically when they replaced the original Atreyu. The books never fail to amaze me everytime I read them. I read them before I read Tolkien and it was one of the books that really got me into other world/fantasy writing. Always annoyed me though that the world is called Fantastica in the book but Fantasia in the film- why change it? Mx

[ArwenEvenstar]

I read it in grade 4, i read a lot of books in grade 4 when i think about it!

[Andúril]

I read it when I was 8. I was given the book at the end of 2nd grade, for "outstanding academic achievement" or whatever the award was called, at the annual prize-giving ceremony. I enjoyed it tremendously.

The first movie was good the first few times I watched it. The others were utter faeces.

[samwise of the shire]

It took me two years to read the bloomin' thing...but that was because I stopped in the middle of it because it bored me to near death. I liked the entwife or whatever she was. And the lion. But other then that I couldn't find any redeeming qualities in it.
I saw the first and second movies. The first was ok. I liked Falcor (reminded me of a flying dog. Very cool.) and the gnomes. The second movie was just...*winces*. I haven't seen the third and I dont want to thank you kindly.
Cheers
Sam

[Miranda]

Originally posted by samwise of the shire
It took me two years to read the bloomin' thing...but that was because I stopped in the middle of it because it bored me to near death. I liked the entwife or whatever she was. And the lion. But other then that I couldn't find any redeeming qualities in it.
I saw the first and second movies. The first was ok. I liked Falcor (reminded me of a flying dog. Very cool.) and the gnomes. The second movie was just...*winces*. I haven't seen the third and I dont want to thank you kindly.
Cheers
Sam

The third is even worse than the second- I wouldn't recommend it! Mx

[Yapaluna]

I read the book the first time when I was a student in Berlin. I bought an unauthorised print of it in a pub I used to frequent and I really bolted it down. This book fell apart when I read it the third time (or so) and I bought an official edition but it wasn´t the same thing.

The movie, well, if you don´t know the book it might be quit nice. Michael Ende retired from the production because he thought that the movie betrayed his intention.

[Laurus Nobilis]

Loopy, if you liked the story in the movie, you'll like the book much much better! The movie doesn't do it justice at all.

I don't think it's a boring book at all. It's long, yes, it's complicated, and it requires a lot of thinking. But it's definitely not boring. I think that if those who managed to survive LotR will certainly survive The Neverending Story.

I understand that it can be heavy for some people, though. If you don't grasp all the symbolism, it sounds almost silly. But, believe me, once you get it- Everything Makes Sense. It's amazing. (Of course, there are people who simply don't *like* symbolism; then it's not their book.)

I love it so much I even read it in German! That's an Adventure in itself, but definitely worth it. :)

Has anyone read any of Ende's other books? I read Momo (I think it might be also known as The Gray Gentlemen) and I loved it. It's heavy on the symbolism, too, even if it's supposed to be a children's book.

[Andúril]

Laurus Nobilis:
Has anyone read any of Ende's other books?I've read Momo as well, but I didn't find it that great.

[TwirlingString]

Originally posted by The One Ring
Very good book.... pretty bad movies. The first was all right (and still not very good), but the second and third ones just didn't have the right touch. If you read the book, you'll find it wouldn't work to film, what with the red and green print symbolizing Bastian's journey into the book itself. If you can get past the weirdness and tangent stories, it's an incredible book. Of course, Michael Ende's other book that I've read, The Gray Gentlemen, makes the Neverending Story look normal.

Other way around, though thinking about it I can't stand Neverending one either. The book got very boring somewhere in the middle and never picked up.

[Yapaluna]

Michael Ende wrote a series of books which describe the story of a small island called Lummerland. I t is reigned by a king named Alfons the quarter-to-twelfth. Once the postman brought a mysterious package which contained a black baby. The little boy was called Jim Knopf. When he became twelve years old, the king decided that they had to abandon the locomotive of the island railway because it would be too small for all the people. Lukas, the engine driver decided to follow Emma, the locomotive into exile

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