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Avg. Rating: 5
Fantastic
This book is alot longer than the beloved movie version, but fantastic nonetheless.
I was disappointed when my faovrite scenes weren't in the book:
"Atreyu, why are you so sad?"
(sobbing) "I've failed you, Empress!"
(she smiles) "No . . . you haven't."
Yeah, I'm a nerd and I love the end of the movie. But let's not toss aside the book. It's wonderful because not only does all the cool stuff in the movie happen, but once sebastian has saved Fantasia, he gets to have his own written adventures in the imagined world.
I can't remember, but I believe there was a battle with a witch and her giants, an archy contest, and much more, before Sebastian finally learns what he came to Fantasia to learn and is sent home to his father -- who awakens from the grief of lossing his wife and remembers his son.
If you love fantasy and adventure, check this book out, even if you don't buy it right away.
The Best of the Best
The Neverending Story by Michael Ende is a fantastic book that has been around for years and will continue to be. This well written book takes you to a world of fantasy where you can become lost in the book and not want to put it down. In the story anything can happen and most of the time it does. Bastian, the main character, is taken to Fantastica to give the Childlike Empress a new name. But, to give her this new name he must go on a journey,far away from Earth. He learns about friendship and how to trust people you don't really know. Although he gets conceited towards the end he learns that he doesn't want power, but all he wants to be is loved. His wishes are running short and he's losing all memories of his world. To make it home he must find the true meaning of why he wants to go home. He makes it home to find his months of long journey in Fantastica was only a day on earth and his father, which he hasn't been close to since his mother died, was shocked when Bastian returned with many, many stories. Over all, I recommend this book to all ages, 9 to 99. So if you haven't read this book, go out and buy it!
This book is the key to spiritual enlightenment!!!
I don't know if anybody else has noticed this, but Micheal Ende must have been spiritually enlightened, to have written this book.
For starters, the fact that Bastain reads a story and becomes part of it, is Ende's way of telling the reader that everything is just a story, even Bastians "Reality".
Fantastica is a creation of the human mind. For a human to exist they're mind needs to be full of stories. That's why fantastica dies when no human makes up stories for it.
At the Southern Oracle, Ende perfectly descirbes what it is to become spiritually enlightened.
Atreyu must pass through three magic gates.
The first one Is guarded by two sphinxes. If the sphinxes open their eyes as atreyu is walking through he will be rooted to the spot until he has answered all the riddles in the universe.
The second gate is a magic mirror gate, in which you see a reflection of yourself. It states in the book that some people run screaming from what they see in that mirror. That's because alot of people aren't aware of their true self, and if someone were to show them what they really are, they would be terrified. Sometimes people go to seek emotional help, and they find out who they really have become, and it's not easy. That's what Ende was showing us with the Magic Mirror gate. It shows the truth.
The third gate, doesn't open unless you forget why you wanted to go through it. This is one of the most amazing ideas ever.
If you want to become enlightened you can't, because to become enlightened, you must let go of your story (your mind). So for the mind to "want" to get enlightened, it gets in the way. Your story needs to be gone, before you can become enlightened. You can't "Want" to become enlightened. So that's what the third gate is.
Then we come to the Old man of Wandering mountain, where we learn that the Neverending story is a story that has already been written, and is unchangable before and after, and in starting to read the story from the beginning creates a vicious cycle that will never end unless Bastian breaks it. We learn there that our whole life is just a story in our imagination.
Later in the book, Bastain learns that Fantastica lies on a bed of memories. This is because we would not exist without memories.
Think about it. Your whole lives story is a memory. Fantasica is a story of the human mind, and the human mind is based on memories. Then he must forget who he his, to go back to his world. In other words become enlightened. Let go of the "self", the "I" that is just an illusion.
This is a brilliant book. I've read it 2 or 3 times, and am in the middle of reading it again. It is SO amazing.
The old man of wandering mountain (chapter 12) is one of the most brilliant sections of writing I have ever read. It nails the nature of the universe more clearly than any science book, astrology, or anything that's meant to teach what Michal Ende put so brilliantly into this book.
If you've already read it, read it again with this in mind. It's like a different story.
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