Frank H. (perryfran) reviewed on 7/12/2019 + 1180 more book reviews

A few years ago, I saw the movie "Finding Neverland" which is about playwright J. M. Barrie and his relationship with a family who inspired him to create Peter Pan. After seeing this, I wanted to read the novel, Peter Pan, and finally got around to it. The novel is actually based on the play which was produced by Barrie in 1904. Of course, there have been many productions of the play as well as movie productions including the Disney classic which has always been a favorite. The novel actually coincides pretty directly with the movie version including the story of the Darling family who use a dog, Nana, as a nurse for the three Darling children, Wendy, John, and Michael. Then the children encounter Peter who teaches them to fly and whisks them off to Neverland where they encounter the Lost Boys, and interact with fairies (including Tinker Bell), pirates, mermaids, and redskins. Captain Hook is the bad guy and he is afraid of a ticking alligator.

But overall, the novel is much grittier than the Disney version. There is a lot of death and mayhem with most of the "redskins" and pirates getting killed. Peter seems to be very self centered without caring about most anyone else with the exception of Wendy. And of course the book is very dated using such euphemisms as redskins and other stereotypes. Wendy seems to be only good for being a mother and doing the chores required of her such as cleaning up and darning socks!

I'm glad I finally read this one but can only mildly recommend it.

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