The Neverending Story

A fantastic book about a fantastic book and the journey that Bastian Balthazar Bux undertakes with (and in) it.

Probably more people are familiar with the movies, especially the first one, but that only covers the initial journey Bastian unknowingly undertakes as he follows the adventures of Atreyu (and Falkor, the Luckdragon) in Fantastica, while being lead to the Childlike Empress who needs a new name to live; a name that only a human can give.

Conscious of his looks, Bastian is hesitant to do what the Childlike Empress needs. She resorts to her last option: a visit to the Old Man of Wandering Mountain and a retelling of the Neverending Story (in computer terms, an infinite, recursive loop) that can only be broken by an outside force: her new name which Bastian declares to be Moon Child.

Now in Fantastica, Bastian is given Moon Child's amulet, AURYN, with the instructions, "DO WHAT YOU WISH". And so he does, wishing for adventures that his heart desires. But it is only later that he discovers that every wish removes a memory of his real life; and a terrible fate awaits those humans that lose all their memories without returning to their world.

As Bastian is reduced to his last few wishes, he finally realizes just what he really desires. And with the help of Atreyu, he finally discovers the gateway back to his world, and with it a way to make both our world and Fantastica better. The story ends with hints that there are other ways to get to Fantastica, but that, of course, is another story.

An interesting feature of the book is the way the telling of stories and people experiencing the stories intertwine. For example, Bastian tells a story about the history of a city to its inhabitants and that story becomes the real past of the city, complete with buildings and magical items that, until a moment ago, only existed in Bastian's imagination. It is an interesting way to keep the reader wondering whether Bastian's adventures existed in Bastian's mind only moments ago, or were foretold long ago in Fantastica, and only now being experienced by Bastian. This crops up continually in the second half of the book and adds more meaning to the phrase, 'Neverending Story.'

In America, there is pretty much one type of person that will consider reading this: those who have seen the movie. So how does it compare? Will it ruin childhood memories because of how different the book is from the movie? Or is the movie much better than the book? Ultimately, this will depend on what type of story you are in the mood for.

Both the book and the movie start out similar. Sure, Bastian is fat in the book, but he is still bullied, still has a dead mother, and still struggles in his relationship with his father. He also, of course, still steals the book. The main difference here is that the book does not set this up like the movie does. It is much more concerned with Bastian getting to the point when he reads the book than anything else. Up until the Southern Oracle portion, the book and movie moves... relatively along the same plot lines. The Nothing is different, the horse is different, Falkor is different... but based on limitations of the film medium and making an appealing adaptation, these changes are understandable and in some cases work better. However, once we reach the Southern Oracle, the book and movie only resemble each other in a bare bones sort of way. And then, a third of the way through the book, you find out that the book continues much further than the movie ever did. And for the rest of the book, Bastian plays a huge part and actually takes center stage.

It is at this point that one will realize the different focuses of movie and book. Arguably, they both depend on the character journey of Bastian... but that is mostly hogwash. In the movie, the character of Bastian is nothing more than a spectator. His entire journey is essentially him reading that book. That is it. Sure, there's this idea that man lacking imagination is destroying Fantasia, etc. etc. but the film is mostly just a whimsical story of a ten-year old who may be reading a book that is above his reading level.

In the book, Bastian has to change and struggle. He learns a message and becomes a better person, etc. And the ties between Fantastica (as it is called in the book) and are world are considerably more varied and... complex. There are several meanings to the term 'Neverending Story', imagery straight out of the prose of Jorge Luis Borges, and various other hermetic symbolism (we are even treated to a version of Crowley's "Do what thou wilt", though Michael Ende denied this was the case).

Essentially, this book, episodic and simplistic in language as children's books tend to be, is filled with very intellectual ideas. It might recognize its audience as having a limited vocabulary, but it does not decide that its audience is stupid and needs to be pandered to as such. As a result, I think it strikes that balance of being exciting and stimulating to children and providing Easter Eggs and deeper meanings for older readers (presumably the parents).

So, to recap and organize:

1) The book is more episodic than the movie.
2) The book is more ambitious than the movie.
3) Liking the movie does not guarantee that you will like the book.
4) But, they are different enough that it would not be a waste of your time.

Final verdict? Kids who have seen the movie and have those sort of expectations may struggle with the book. I do not know, I'm just kinda assuming that kids are pickier with what they like. Adults (like myself) who have seen the movie as kids and were always curious about the book will enjoy the book so long as they can divorce it from the movie. That way, each has its own special place and is not always being compared to the other.

And if you know a kid that has not seen the movie, go ahead and get them the book first. Perhaps it's time we treated children as being smarter than we give them credit for.