The Neverending Story by Michael Ende
I recently reread The Neverending Story, not because I enjoyed the book the first time I was required to read it for Subreshmen English, but more to give myself a new perspective on the story now that I have been thoroughly disappointed and know, more or less, what to expect. My opinion didn't change much after the second time reading it unfortunately. As much as I wanted to enjoy reading the book for a second time I just wasn't satisfied with a somewhat long, dragging story and many characters that appeared for a few pages at a time.
Bastian Balthazar Bux is a pudgy 12 year old boy who is the main character that the book follows for the entire story. I personally thought he seemed a little snobby and towards the end of the book kind of betrays his friends which upset me quite a bit because I thought that the main character in a fantasy would be a likable person, but Bastian ended up being my least favorite character in the whole book.
The book follows Bastian as he reads a book he stole in the attic of his school and he becomes part of the story. He discovers that the his fantasies in the book world are mostly egotistical and selfish. This represents the discrepancy between wishes and reality where Bastian is a fat young boy, but in the book has power and wants to use it to only benefit himself. The book flashes back to the real world every so often when Bastian mostly makes remarks about how his life and surroundings the book are related. After a lengthy adventure that I found difficult to be constantly interested in he manages to tear himself away from the fantasy world of the book, returns the book to the bookseller he stole it from and returns to his father. Bastian's return seemed very unrealistic considering it was supposed to be a contrast between the fantasy world which is the metaphor this book is trying to create and it felt a little short compared to the rest of the book. He returns and his neglectful father barely notices and most things return to normal.
Doing a negative review was a new idea for me as I most often want to talk about books that I enjoyed and could recommend to other people, but it was quite interesting to find the parts of the book that I didn't like in particular and think about what made me dislike the book in the first place. I would not recommend this book to anyone unless they enjoy long and unnecessarily drawn-out stories. My brother asked me if this book was worth reading and I said no without hesitation because I knew it would be difficult to finish and the goal of most books is to tell a complete story. Most Freshmen were required to read The Neverending Story last year, but I still enjoyed giving my second take on it, especially since it reconfirmed everything that I disliked about it previously. If you did happen to enjoy the book then that is good, but I most certainly did not and don't even get me started on the movie based on this book...
The book follows Bastian as he reads a book he stole in the attic of his school and he becomes part of the story. He discovers that the his fantasies in the book world are mostly egotistical and selfish. This represents the discrepancy between wishes and reality where Bastian is a fat young boy, but in the book has power and wants to use it to only benefit himself. The book flashes back to the real world every so often when Bastian mostly makes remarks about how his life and surroundings the book are related. After a lengthy adventure that I found difficult to be constantly interested in he manages to tear himself away from the fantasy world of the book, returns the book to the bookseller he stole it from and returns to his father. Bastian's return seemed very unrealistic considering it was supposed to be a contrast between the fantasy world which is the metaphor this book is trying to create and it felt a little short compared to the rest of the book. He returns and his neglectful father barely notices and most things return to normal.Doing a negative review was a new idea for me as I most often want to talk about books that I enjoyed and could recommend to other people, but it was quite interesting to find the parts of the book that I didn't like in particular and think about what made me dislike the book in the first place. I would not recommend this book to anyone unless they enjoy long and unnecessarily drawn-out stories. My brother asked me if this book was worth reading and I said no without hesitation because I knew it would be difficult to finish and the goal of most books is to tell a complete story. Most Freshmen were required to read The Neverending Story last year, but I still enjoyed giving my second take on it, especially since it reconfirmed everything that I disliked about it previously. If you did happen to enjoy the book then that is good, but I most certainly did not and don't even get me started on the movie based on this book...
Thanks for reading!
Having also been required to read this for Subfreshman English, I agree with you that the story for the most part felt boring, to put it simply. I also thought that the world of Fantasia has so many amazing adventures in store, but was soon disappointed. I liked how you summarized the book without giving away too many details but still informing the reader of what your problems come from. Good job.
ReplyDeleteI don't think I could force myself to reread this book, so I'm impressed that you got through it a second time. Although I didn't like the book because of the drawn out plot, I think it's important to acknowledge positive elements of the book as well. The writing itself was good and created vivid and creative scenes. For example, the scene with Grograman (the multicolored lion). I know you said not to mention the movie, but I would like to point out that the movie we watched was just the first part of a trilogy.
ReplyDeleteI applaud you for being able to read The Neverending Story once again. I, and I assume most of our class, agrees with you about the book being long and boring. I never thought about the fact that Bastian's character was not relatable, mostly because I did not enjoy the story enough to think deeply about it, so good job in pointing that out. Nice job trying something new!
ReplyDeleteI also remember reading this book subbie year, and I didn't enjoy it either. I thought the book was too long and complicated to keep track of where the characters were and what they were doing all of the time. Another thing I didn't like much about this book is that there are kind of two different stories within the same book, and you think the book is about to end when you're only about halfway through. Good post, and I am impressed that you had the courage and willpower to read this book a second time.
ReplyDeleteI remember reading The Neverending Story as a subfreshman and not enjoying too. The book tended to drag on most of the time and I found myself bored with it more often than not. Bastian also just annoyed me a lot and, in my opinion, wasn't a great main character. I don't think I could (or would) ever read it again. But, I enjoyed this review and revisiting what it was like to read The Neverending Story.
ReplyDeleteThis review captures spot on the absolute worst aspects of the book. I completely agree- the plot is overdone and confusing and it's just too much happening. I can't remember a single characters name, even after reading this review. It's just too much- and overall there were too many overdone characters that none of them were memorable! I agree with you that the ending also made no sense- overall just not a good book at all. The only thing I can remember from the story was that dragon saying 'I like children." I don't know why I remember this line but I do.
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