The Neverending Story

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Whilst I am a born-again reader and have been avidly living the dream of reading as many books as I can for the past decade, it would undoubtedly surprise a number of you to find out that there are so many ‘classics’ that I just have not read. For example, I’ve never read Treasure Island, nor Moby Dick, nor The Wind in the Willows, the list goes on.

But I am slowly rectifying this. This week, the classic of choice was The Neverending Story.

Considered one of the most iconic staples in any fantasy-buff’s library, The Neverending Story chronicles a handful of adventures within the fantasy realm of Fantastica where the Childlike Empress is gravely ill. A young boy named Atreyu is charged with going on a great quest to save the Childlike Empress, but what he discovers, he could never have imagined: a human boy, by the name of Bastian Balthazar Bux, who is currently reading about Atreyu’s adventures in a book, is the fated savior of Fantastica, but how can he reach a world and save an Empress that only exist in a storybook?

 The Neverending Story is a classic children’s tale for a number of reasons. First, it’s got all of the classic fairytale tropes: a hero, a quest, conflict, monsters, and adventure. Second, it takes the hero’s journey and twists it around so that it becomes something else entirely. Indeed the narrative took a turn I did not expect and I have to admit that I thoroughly enjoyed the rollercoaster of emotional jolts that I was subjected to: empathizing with Bastian, then totally hating him, then pitying him, and then finally reconciling and feeling happy for/with him.

Third, all of the fantastic creatures and characters. Between Falkor the luckdragon, Dame Eyola, and even a few of the monsters, the book is a vibrant and wholly original smorgasbord of fantastic beasts that would even stun Newt Skamander!

Image credit: Hotel Rome

The writing is simple and clean, painting wondrous pictures in the mind without bogging the reader down with mounds of descriptive exposition. The pace is lively and fast, exactly what you want in a book like this, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Truthfully, The Neverending Story is a real classic that everyone needs to read at least once in their lives. It’s a story that everyone must know!

The Neverending Story was written by Michael Ende and published as Die unendliche Geschichte in Germany by K. Thienemanns Verlag in 1979. This translation (translated by Ralph Manheim) was first published by Doubleday & Company Inc. in 1983.