Book discussion: The Neverending Story
The first book I ever read in German that wasn’t a translation was Michael Ende’s Die unendliche Geschichte, known in English as The Neverending Story. Although it’s considered a children’s book, it has enough interesting ideas and scenarios to hold the interest of an adult fantasy fan. Its main characters are children, and the language is less difficult than the average adult novel, but that doesn’t keep it from being a fascinating read.
I’m aiming this article largely at our German discussion group sponsored by the Portsmouth Library, und ich sage bedingungslos: Die unendliche Geschichte ist ein sehr spannender Roman. Viel spannender als SchnarchenSchäfchenwolkenhimmel und nicht zu schwer. Oh, sorry, back to English.
A movie was made of it in 1984. Ende didn’t like it. It has some scenes that live up to the book, which is saying a lot. As a whole, though, it fails. It stops about halfway through the novel and tacks on a nonsensical ending. The most gripping or frightening scenes from the book are omitted or toned down.
(more…)
Piranesi without saying too much. As in an adventure game, the world-building comes to the foreground. The narrator lives in a huge house which is his entire world. It has hundreds of halls and thousands of statues. The staircases seem scaled for giants. The House is so large that it has tides, seasonal snowfall, and a wildlife ecosystem. Yet as far as the narrator knows, it has only two inhabitants. The narrator is as much of a mystery as the house is, even to himself.