Author: Michael Ende
Themes: Imagination
Quotes: “When it comes to controlling human beings there is no better instrument than lies. Because, you see, humans live by beliefs. And beliefs can be manipulated. The power to manipulate beliefs is the only thing that counts.”
Reading/Listening Time: 13 hours, 46 minutes
Review:
I didn't notice until just now that the author's last name is "Ende" which is funny because in the book he makes a big point of giving his characters ridiculous last names. Like, the main character's last name is "Bux" (Pronounced "Books") and he gets a book in the story. The author's last name could be, like, a play on the title. I don't know if that was intentional, (because the story was originally written in German and I don't know the word for "End" in German) but it's pretty interesting.
All I remember from the movie version is that this kid in the real world is reading a book, and we see what's happening in the book as he reads it. And SPOILER ALERT all this crap happened to the characters in the book (like they died and everything was really sad) but in the end it was just A OK because the kid could always revisit the best bits in his imagination...
So, in his mind, he could go back to when the horse was still alive...and the little boy and the horse were just setting out on the adventure with all this enthusiasm and hope and totally ignorant of the pain and adversity they would face in the future.
(Which sounds totally healthy and appropriate to me...NOT!)
And even as young as I was (I was probably around 10 years old) I just thought it felt like cheating. Like, you're missing out on the whole picture and purpose of it if you just pretend like the bad stuff never happened.
Even though I still think it leaves a lot to be said, I can kinda appreciate where that part of the story is coming from now that I'm older.
What I appreciate even more is that the book version actually has a lot more to say about the purpose of an imagination, and the role escapist literature should play in real life.
The second half of the book could is actually more of a sequel. It gets really metaphysical and it examines the whole mechanism of imagination, and how it can gradually become a malignant force if you let it.
My favorite scene was when the book character Atreyu meets that werewolf who's chained up. It was so cool because they explain the difference between things like an imagining and a delusion, or how does a metaphor become twisted into a lie? Why the imaginary world is important to humans, and exactly why it absolutely shouldn't become "real".
It makes me wanna go back and watch the movie again.
Rating: 4/5 Stars.
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