A Wild Ride Through the Night

by Walter Moers

Book Overview

In a world between legend and dream, A Wild Ride through the Night describes the exhilarating and comic adventures of his twelve-year-old protagonist Gustave, a boy who aspires one day to be a great... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1585678732
• ISBN13: 9781585678730
• Release Date: September 2008
• Publisher: Harry N. Abrams
• Length: 197 Pages
• Weight: 0.94 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.6" x 8.6"

Customer Reviews

A lovely adventure...

This story was a wonderful little journey and a book that I plan to save in case I have children of my own one day to read it to.

Death and Dementia

Most illustrations are built around the prose of a book. Trust Walter Moers to do the exact opposite. In fact, Moers structures the entire story of "A Wild Ride Through the Night" around the classic, exquisite woodcuts of the late Gustave Doré (who also happens to be the book's protagonist). Most such stories would be clunky, but Moers' happily eccentric, mildly silly story fits the illustrations as if they were made for each other. The twelve-year-old Gustave Doré barely survives a Siamese Twins Tornado, only to find himself facing Death and his sister Dementia, who decide to play dice for first dibs on Gustave. Desperate, he manages to secure a deal with Death -- if he can fulfill a series of seemingly impossible tasks, he can go ahead and live his life for a long time yet. Until 1883, anyway. But Gustave is in for a rough ride, as a gryphon takes him to the island of (naked) damsels to slay a dragon, followed by a talking horse named Pancho Sansa who takes him to even worse places. Dealing with forest demons, drowning, dream crones, a valley full of monsters, giants, and other such creatures is only the beginning -- he must also go to Death's own house, which happens to not be on Earth. Walter Moers specializes in the weirdest brand of fantasy out there, with endless wacky creatures and twisting storylines -- think Norman Juster on crack. "A Wild Ride Through The Night" is perhaps the simplest of these books, since it merely follows the increasingly bizarre adventures of Gustave, which get stranger and stranger as the book winds on. Presumably these adventures are supposed to have inspired the woodcuts, which are sprinkled throughout the book -- naked girls attacked by dragons, the Grim Reaper watching a crazy-looking woman, a yawning monster attacking a knight, a falling winged figure (presumably Lucifer), a chariot with winged horses flying toward the moon, and so on. Surprisingly they also nicely fit Moers' quirky, oddball prose ("Goethe!" "You mean... you're Goethe?" "No, the quotation from from Goethe. I'm Death...") which is sprinkled with some beautifully evocative moments ("... the entire plain looked as if it had been dusted with silver"). And he comes up with some kooky twists on the usual heroic obstacles -- such as figuring out anagrammatic giant names, or having a chat with demons about immortality. Gustave himself is a likable little hero with a perfectly reasonable goal -- stay alive, and don't end up with his soul thrown into the sun (now I've given away one of the great mysteries of the universe!). The supporting characters provide plenty of quirk -- particularly the determinedly deadly Death ("Ever heard of an admirable Japanese custom called seppuku?") and the sarcastic horse Pancho. "A Wild Ride Through the Night" is not as complex or long as Walter Moers' other books, but it's still a hilarious quirky, inventive little book -- and it's based on woodcuts.

Walter Moers does it again!

This is a highly entertaining and even thought-provoking story. Moers definitely has a child-like imagination that is extremely fun to follow. But, as with his other books, he is not writing for children.

enjoyable

I found this book to be a good escape out of my own dream and into another's.

An outstanding children's book

This is a must buy for parents who are looking for a book for their kids that has both a great story and is really well written. I read this book at bedtime to my 8 year old and found it almost impossible to put aside for the next night. It is very very funny and maintains a cracking pace throughout. My 8 year old adored every page of it and declared it better than Harry Potter which is saying something for a true Potter fan. It tells the story of Gustave Dore - a 12 year old boy who is given a chance by death to save his life by performing 12 outrageous tasks in one night. Gustave who among other things must rescue damsels (who incidently do not wish to be rescued leading to hilarious results) as well as bring back the tooth from the Most Monsterous of all Monsters travels through the universe accompanied by his faithfull steed Sancho Pansa. The resulting story is both highly entertaining and wonderfully deep at the same time - sadly a rare combination in many children's books. The illustrations which the book is based upon are stunning and feature the works of the real Gustave Dore - a French illustrator. One note of caution - Walter Moers does not dumb down the vocabulary in this book and many of the words will be beyond a child under 13. It is really only suitable as a book to be read out loud by an adult. This adult however was more than happy to climb the stairs to read this gem !