BOOK: The NeverEnding Story



It is, indeed, a great pleassure being able to read this unique adventure.


8.0

Articule's type:

A short Brief.

Just like Cortázar did it on his singular story in Rayuela, Ende challenged the readers by defying —reinventing
 the narrative structure. I find myself before a story which cannot be denied or ignored. The opposite to Rayuela or, for example, The Lord od The Rings, The Neverending Story can be valued and recognized as one of the most interesting and cautivating books ever made. Because Michael Ende´s story breaks up the structure, challenging the reader to see beyond, to seek further, and that goal isn´t common. The Neverending Story is, in the surface, about saving an entire world, but deep down, is about self-estime and accept the way things are, good or bad.  

This story is about Bastian Baltazar Bux who is trying to get rid of his young life's issues as a student and a son. So, one day he discovers a mysterious book which front cover seems very particular and makes him feel attracted to it. After a brief chat with the owner of the bookshop where he found the book, Bastian himself decide to steel it and suddenly he runaway until he arrives to his school´s atic and starts to read... The Neverending Story.  

Such book starts like any other you may know. The difference is meanwhile the boy is joining the main character on his travel, the story is building itself all along the way. That, among other things, is what makes it so special, because it borns through the "heart" of imagination. I suppose Ende wanted to me, as a reader, to explore the magic of reinventing a story, no matter what it could be, in the end, is all about believing. 

In his journey Bastian will meet Atreyu and Falkor, great and also main characters on the story who will try their best to save the world of Fantasia (The Neverending Story) and to do that they (Atreyu and Falkor) must find the ruler of this magic world. Bastian soon discovers he is this person. To save their world, he must give a new name to the person who rules this amazing world: the Childlike Empress. 

Although the movie was premiered on 1984, I saw fragments in the late 90s. Nothing more... or that´s what I thought before seeing the comedic recent reference. After seeing those ancient trailers, I begun to think that the creatures who appear on this story look very alike to those who belong the Lord of The Rings, or at least it seems so. Maybe I am wrong. Anyway... 



Through several adventures, enemies, all kind of creatures and more Bastian Baltazar Bux will learn the true power within: believing in oneself. So, I really come to think that is indeed very clever the fact that the author use distincts metaphore to speak to me about self-caring, self point of view or the inevitable truth: no matter who I am, my worth is within. I hope I can see the whole movie one day, specially for the music theme which reached my heart and I heard it in several moments of this reading.

And I came to conclude that...
The Neverending Story is a fantastic adventure, created from various components designed as allegories that work to convey the message about the importance of life: love and value yourself. 

3 comentarios:

  1. Tengo mis dudas respecto a Michel Ende, recuerdos haber leído “Momo” en la secundaria, y realmente detesté la historia. Aburrida totalmente y sólo la concluí porque debía presentar examen de lectura. Aunque en la descripción mencionas que La historia interminable se considera uno de los
    Mejores libros jamás escritos, tengo mis dudas ya que también intente ver la película, y me quedé dormida. En fin, supongo que las lecturas de fantasía no son de mi agrado. Y sí, la canción de la película es bastante buena.

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  2. I was around 6, maybe 8 years old when my dad got a VHS (yep, I'm a total elderly) of The Neverending Story and because of the age —me as a child—, the story and fantastic land, the movie enthralled me and became one of my faves until now.
    Time passed and I was maybe 11 or 12 years old visiting gramma's when I found the Ende's book and I devoured it in a single afternoon.

    My then fascination revolved around the intricate universe, the wide range of characters and lusciousness of that fantasy. I read it again, recently, and such fascination came again into the discovering a world of metaphors sailing within each character, in every landscape, from the parallel lines with a shy boy running away from his personal issues, to the different existential struggles that beating us inside like a broken moral compass without its north, all those drawn between the lines.

    Fantastic and Sci-Fi genres are nobles with the author since they let disguise those incendiary topics and speeches among symbolisms and overstatements, but allowing a much closer reality in the themes. Ende uses this vastness of human imagination as the device that lead society to redeem and find themselves truly.

    Since the german author's view the production mechanisms numb creativity and impoverishes the spirits. With his natural sharpness, Ende notices an social illness that not only persist today, but it has worsen with the arrival of new techs determined to lock our emotional and intellectual cocoons tighter. The unplugging as a remedy for the integration is a magic paradox that imagination offer us, but this imagination shall not master and isolate us from the surroundings or we will lost or mere being in the course. Furthermore, both ends aren't right resolutions, however it's absolutely right that the way of fantasy can improves our wretched humanity, big time.

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