Unabridged Book Review: The Neverending Story

⁣“Every real story is a Neverending Story.”

***WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD***

If you could visit any fictional world, where would you go?

This is, perhaps, one of the most popular questions book lovers like to ask each other. Every reader has at some point fervently wished to be, literally, sucked into a story. Who wouldn’t want to embark on a grand adventure in a fantasy world with their favourite characters?

(Do I really want to go to Mordor to destroy the One Ring with Frodo Baggins though? On this I’m rather undecided, but this is a conversation for another day.)

I love stories about stories and books, so I was really excited to read The Neverending Story by Michael Ende. (It was originally written in German and translated into English by Ralph Manheim.) I had simply expected the book to be a fun and light read, partially because I thought it was written for children, but I should’ve known better. ⁣After all, didn’t C.S. Lewis say that

“A children's story that can only be enjoyed by children is not a good children's story in the slightest.”

The Neverending Story is a good children’s story.

Yes, this book can be read and enjoyed by children, but I think adults can enjoy and appreciate it just as much, if not even more. This book touched me in ways I did not expect. It reminded me why I love stories so much, why stories are so magical and powerful, and why stories are so important.

The Neverending Story is about a boy named Bastian Balthazar Bux (isn’t that an amazing name??). ⁣When the reader first meets Bastian, he is a very timid, awkward, and lonely boy. His mother died when he was younger, and since then his father has been very emotionally distant. He struggles with his studies at school, is constantly bullied, and does not seem to fit in anywhere. Yet Bastian loves stories and has a vivid imagination, often entertaining himself by creating stories in his mind. When he chances upon a mysterious looking book titled The Neverending Story in a bookshop, Bastian feels as though some magical power is drawing him to it, so he steals the book and hides in his school’s attic to read it.

At first, Bastian is merely a reader, and the reader reads the story Bastian reads, getting acquainted with Fantastica, meeting some of its inhabitants, and learning about the danger it is in. The narration alternates between Bastian’s version of The Neverending Story, and the reader’s version of the book, granting access to Bastian’s thoughts and therefore understanding what kind of person he is. It’s like having dual POVs, but in a very unique way.

Bastian has a pure and just heart, and he greatly admires values such as courage, honour, and resilience, even though he himself may lack some of those qualities. Yet when Bastian enters Fantastica, he begins to change. He receives a magic stone that grants all of his wishes, but for every wish that is granted, he loses a memory of the real world and, consequently, a key part of himself.

⁣At the core of this novel is the theme of how we shape and change stories, and how stories shape and change us in return. As humans, we are gifted with the ability to create. In the book, this is reflected in the fact that only Bastian can bring changes to Fantastica, a fictional world, because only humans from the real world possess the gifts of imagination and creativity. However, at the same time, The Neverending Story tells us that if you use these gifts to satisfy your own base desires, that abuse of power will only send you down a slippery slope which will result in the loss of self. Bastian’s memories are his past, and they make up parts of who he is. As he slowly forgets himself with each granted wish, his desires also become increasingly more centered on power and dominance, so much so that he becomes violent, suspicious, and paranoid.

I found this change in Bastian extremely jarring, and it took me completely by surprise. I could hardly put the book down because in my great dismay at Bastian’s poor choices, I wanted so badly to see where and how his story would ultimately end. For a while, it genuinely seemed as though the ending could only be a tragic one, because just when you think things cannot get any worse, it absolutely does.

Bastian’s journey of self-discovery is combined with that of self-acceptance. Bastian dislikes his physical appearance and his inability to fit in, which results in a low self-esteem that gets him into trouble as soon as he enters Fantastica. He immediately wishes to change his chubby, plain self into a handsome one; when Fantastica’s inhabitants practically put him on a pedestal for his ability to create stories, he becomes drunk on the sense of superiority and creates what he thinks are amazing and helpful situations, but are actually dangerous and problematic; he desires ultimate power and control, and tries to gain those things by forcibly proclaiming himself Emperor.

By the time Bastian repents his actions, he only has two memories left—his father and his own name. Bastian then wishes to be unconditionally loved. Once he fully experiences being unconditionally loved by a maternal figure and is healed of the loneliness and neglect he suffered in the real world, only then does Bastian finally discover what he truly wishes for. Bastian’s ultimate wish is to have the ability to love others, yet in making this wish, he loses his final memory and thus all of himself.

When all seems lost, Bastian is saved by Atreyu and Falkor, the characters that he had loved before he entered Fantastica, and the friends he had grievously wounded when he began losing himself in Fantastica. Despite the harm Bastian brings them, there is neither resentment nor blame in Atreyu and Falkor. They are patient, understanding, and willing to selflessly put themselves at risk for Bastian’s sake.

I think Atreyu and Falkor’s relationship with Bastian is a great reminder of why we become so emotionally attached to fictional characters, and why we turn to our comfort characters again and again. These characters always have qualities that we admire, and we look to them for inspiration and strength when we cannot find any within ourselves. We know that no matter how much of a mess we are, these characters will never judge us, but instead quietly take our hand and, through their own story, give us the resilience and motivation to keep going.

In the end, Bastian experiences an allegorical baptism and rebirth by drinking and bathing in the Water of Life.

“But then he jumped into the crystal-clear water…He drank till his thirst was quenched. And joy filled him from head to foot, the joy of living and the joy of being himself. He was newborn. And the best part of it was that he was now the very person he wanted to be. If he had been free to choose, he would have chosen to be no one else. Because now he knew that there were thousands and thousands of forms of joy in the world, but that all were essentially one and the same, namely, the joy of being able to love.”

When Bastian returns to his world, he discovers that his experiences in Fantastica have changed him internally. He is still kind and honest, yet he has also shed his timidness and low self-esteem. Moreover, Bastian now knows how to love others, and he heals his father’s grief and mends their fractured relationship.

It is often said that reading is a transformative experience, and I think The Neverending Story does a fantastic job showing just how and why that is. I think the reason why every story can be a neverending one is because once we read it, it lives forever in us. If a story changes us, it becomes part of our life story, and our life story becomes, in a way, an extension of that story. As long as that story is read, it can be neverending.