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3.58 AVERAGE
3.58 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I didn’t hate this book. For the most part it was good, but the ending. I didn’t really like the ending. I felt that so many things were left unanswered.
dark
emotional
slow-paced
What can I say? I'm a sucker for a dark Peter Pan retelling.
To be honest, I enjoyed this book more than I was expecting to. A dark retelling of a chiildren’s fantasy classic is the type of thing that can have a tendency to be too cynical even for my shrivelled black heart. And while Wendy, Darling is definitely cynical and dark in all the places you expect it to be, it also has central shreds of empowerment, self-affirmation and acceptance that alleviate the grimness. Some of its messaging can come across as heavy-handed or clumsy, the plot is minimal and in cases bogged down by excessive introspection, and some elements feel repetitive even in this short novel. But the characters are well-rounded and have (mostly) believable interactions, and the writing is pleasant enough to make this an engaging read.
We find ourselves returning to London in 1931 to meet a grown-up Wendy Darling, who is now married and has a daughter of her own- round about the same age that she was when she was whisked away to Neverland. On her return, some twenty years ago, she tried to explain the things she experienced, but those around her dismissed them as stories. As time passed and she refused to give up the ideas, her family start to treat her a more and more insane, and she responds unfortunately with increased insanity and violence. With their parents dead, and brother Michael having returned from the Great War a shell of his former self, brother John puts Wendy into an asylum. There she suffers many of the horrors present at such institutions in the early 20th century- needless to say, if she didn’t have psychological damage beforehand, she certainly does now.
On this particularly night in 1931, Wendy hears a familiar fluttering from the window in her daughter’s room. By the time she gets there, it’s too late; her daughter Jane has been taken by Peter Pan. The rest of the book follows as Wendy sets off on a quest to rescue Jane from neverland- we meet the inhabitants again, and re-examine them and the structure of the land in the new light of Wendy’s adulthood and trauma. We also get some chapters from Jane’s POV- she is another great character, and it allows us to see Peter’s actions through a completely fresh lens as well, someone who has no prior experience to draw on. I think more of a contrast between Jane & Wendy would have been beneficial, but still provided enough context to explore from different angles.
There are definitely some interesting examinations of the acceptance of guilt and PTSD, as well being the acceptance of consequences. That’s one of the main ideas of Peter never wanting to grow up in my opinion; the whole aspect of staying a child forever means never having to accept the responsibility of adulthood, and therefore never having to really answer for your actions. This is ruined slightly by the novel >! Making Peter not actual a selfish child but in fact some kind of ageless demon from another realm !<, which definitely lessons the impact in my opinion; removing the potential for greater psychological interrogation and replacing it with a mystical explanation.
There are also some great attempts to reclaim the stories of the native American “Indians” from the original work, which are handled more or less acceptably. Re-examining a story like this through a modern lens means you absolutely need to challenge the outdated ideas, and Wendy, Darling absolutely does- whether or not its done well or deftly is harder to argue.
The story allows Wendy a lot of time to come to terms with her previous trauma; both in Neverland and at the Asylum. This can sometimes be at the detriment of the plot though; in one particularly memorable chapter, Wendy takes a step on the beach, then reminisces about something that happened in Neverland for three pages. She then takes another step and touches a tree, before going off into a different reminiscence for another 5 pages. It can make the story feel incredible weighed down- and given that a lot of the thoughts and feelings are similar, we get a strong sense of repetition too; overall this means that the book drags a bit in the middle.
There are some smaller elements too about dealing with other types of trauma or otherness; Michael coming back from the war, or Wendy and her husband both dealing with different sexualities- it seems unlikely for the 1930s, especially given how much pain is taken otherwise to firmly anchor the story in the reality of the era, but it’s still nice to read.
Overall, a short and unsurprising plot which serves primarily as the vehicle for a character study of Wendy, how her time in Neverland affected her, and how she can come to accept what happened and to move on. It’s a decent story with some good character work, but there is definitely a lot of room for improvement.
We find ourselves returning to London in 1931 to meet a grown-up Wendy Darling, who is now married and has a daughter of her own- round about the same age that she was when she was whisked away to Neverland. On her return, some twenty years ago, she tried to explain the things she experienced, but those around her dismissed them as stories. As time passed and she refused to give up the ideas, her family start to treat her a more and more insane, and she responds unfortunately with increased insanity and violence. With their parents dead, and brother Michael having returned from the Great War a shell of his former self, brother John puts Wendy into an asylum. There she suffers many of the horrors present at such institutions in the early 20th century- needless to say, if she didn’t have psychological damage beforehand, she certainly does now.
On this particularly night in 1931, Wendy hears a familiar fluttering from the window in her daughter’s room. By the time she gets there, it’s too late; her daughter Jane has been taken by Peter Pan. The rest of the book follows as Wendy sets off on a quest to rescue Jane from neverland- we meet the inhabitants again, and re-examine them and the structure of the land in the new light of Wendy’s adulthood and trauma. We also get some chapters from Jane’s POV- she is another great character, and it allows us to see Peter’s actions through a completely fresh lens as well, someone who has no prior experience to draw on. I think more of a contrast between Jane & Wendy would have been beneficial, but still provided enough context to explore from different angles.
There are definitely some interesting examinations of the acceptance of guilt and PTSD, as well being the acceptance of consequences. That’s one of the main ideas of Peter never wanting to grow up in my opinion; the whole aspect of staying a child forever means never having to accept the responsibility of adulthood, and therefore never having to really answer for your actions. This is ruined slightly by the novel >! Making Peter not actual a selfish child but in fact some kind of ageless demon from another realm !<, which definitely lessons the impact in my opinion; removing the potential for greater psychological interrogation and replacing it with a mystical explanation.
There are also some great attempts to reclaim the stories of the native American “Indians” from the original work, which are handled more or less acceptably. Re-examining a story like this through a modern lens means you absolutely need to challenge the outdated ideas, and Wendy, Darling absolutely does- whether or not its done well or deftly is harder to argue.
The story allows Wendy a lot of time to come to terms with her previous trauma; both in Neverland and at the Asylum. This can sometimes be at the detriment of the plot though; in one particularly memorable chapter, Wendy takes a step on the beach, then reminisces about something that happened in Neverland for three pages. She then takes another step and touches a tree, before going off into a different reminiscence for another 5 pages. It can make the story feel incredible weighed down- and given that a lot of the thoughts and feelings are similar, we get a strong sense of repetition too; overall this means that the book drags a bit in the middle.
There are some smaller elements too about dealing with other types of trauma or otherness; Michael coming back from the war, or Wendy and her husband both dealing with different sexualities- it seems unlikely for the 1930s, especially given how much pain is taken otherwise to firmly anchor the story in the reality of the era, but it’s still nice to read.
Overall, a short and unsurprising plot which serves primarily as the vehicle for a character study of Wendy, how her time in Neverland affected her, and how she can come to accept what happened and to move on. It’s a decent story with some good character work, but there is definitely a lot of room for improvement.
adventurous
dark
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Loved this book! My only issue is that the chapters were too long. 55 pages is too much haha