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3.85 AVERAGE
3.85 AVERAGE
Grownups and children and living in the in-between. Peter Pan is a story that knows it's a story. A narrative that doesn't exactly care if you ruminate on the topics it tenderly brings to light as it knows its truth will remain unchanged, "all children, except one, grow up."
The stars wink at you. Fairies step over you while you rest. Dreams reach out to you and yet it all goes unnoticed. As we settle into our mind over time and tame our imagination to what is only the minimum, our vision becomes impaired. Imagination ages into something we consciously control ourselves rather than the vehicle it used to be to take us somewhere sacred. When we’re young the scale of the world is perfect for our imagination, fairies are small and therefore closer. As we get older we feel larger than the world and have trouble noticing what lives outside of us. "After a time he fell asleep, and some unsteady fairies had to climb over him on their way home from an orgy...any of the other boys obstructing the fairy path at night they would have mischiefed, but they just tweaked Peter’s nose and passed on." "They [the stars] were crowding round the house, as if curious to see what was to take place there, but she did not notice this, nor that one or two of the smaller ones winked at her."
Our mind is a map that only becomes harder to make out as it ages. Where did this go and where did this thing come from and what used to be here and how do I get back to this place? In childhood the map is fully intact, albeit chaotic. "It would be an easy map if that were all, but there is also first day at school, religion, fathers, the round pond, needle-work, murders, hangings, verbs that take the dative, chocolate pudding day, getting into braces, say ninety-nine, three-pence for pulling out your tooth yourself, and so on..." Reading this story felt like a sneaky way to patch the shabby map of the childhood mind and take a peek into a world we can no longer be fully immersed in.
It's a little challenging to wrangle your feelings towards Peter. He's quick, selfish, sensitive, a live wire. Charming yet oblivious to the hurt he causes and still a piece of you wants to be like him. Peter is experiencing more adventures than anyone since he is far removed from finite reality. Yet there are several nights where Peter cries over nightmares that "had to do, I think, with the riddle of his existence." He is aware he is grieving something he has never known but he forgets! Then he remembers. Then forgets! He is an everlasting boy who remains in a never-ending cycle of remembrance of what he lacks, constantly experiencing every loss and every joy for the first time again.
"He had his first laugh still." Peter believes time will wait for him and it will. Time bends in his favor but it will not make an exception for anyone else, not Wendy and especially not us. Wendy discovers a place that lives between the vivid world of childhood and the reality of growing older, the site of remembering. Though Wendy cannot fully return to her childhood, there’s a place of remembrance and empathy (especially present when spending time with her young daughter) that brings her close to her very own adolescent mind.
Wendy is grown and sees Peter once more in her daughter’s nursery, Peter has yet to realize Wendy has broken her promise to never grow old. He doesn't grasp how long it has been since he told Wendy, "Just always be waiting for me, and then some night you will hear me crowing." Wendy saw growing older as a pleasure and remembers her childhood with a mature fondness but still upon seeing Peter, "Something inside her was crying Woman, Woman, let go of me."
The stars wink at you. Fairies step over you while you rest. Dreams reach out to you and yet it all goes unnoticed. As we settle into our mind over time and tame our imagination to what is only the minimum, our vision becomes impaired. Imagination ages into something we consciously control ourselves rather than the vehicle it used to be to take us somewhere sacred. When we’re young the scale of the world is perfect for our imagination, fairies are small and therefore closer. As we get older we feel larger than the world and have trouble noticing what lives outside of us. "After a time he fell asleep, and some unsteady fairies had to climb over him on their way home from an orgy...any of the other boys obstructing the fairy path at night they would have mischiefed, but they just tweaked Peter’s nose and passed on." "They [the stars] were crowding round the house, as if curious to see what was to take place there, but she did not notice this, nor that one or two of the smaller ones winked at her."
Our mind is a map that only becomes harder to make out as it ages. Where did this go and where did this thing come from and what used to be here and how do I get back to this place? In childhood the map is fully intact, albeit chaotic. "It would be an easy map if that were all, but there is also first day at school, religion, fathers, the round pond, needle-work, murders, hangings, verbs that take the dative, chocolate pudding day, getting into braces, say ninety-nine, three-pence for pulling out your tooth yourself, and so on..." Reading this story felt like a sneaky way to patch the shabby map of the childhood mind and take a peek into a world we can no longer be fully immersed in.
It's a little challenging to wrangle your feelings towards Peter. He's quick, selfish, sensitive, a live wire. Charming yet oblivious to the hurt he causes and still a piece of you wants to be like him. Peter is experiencing more adventures than anyone since he is far removed from finite reality. Yet there are several nights where Peter cries over nightmares that "had to do, I think, with the riddle of his existence." He is aware he is grieving something he has never known but he forgets! Then he remembers. Then forgets! He is an everlasting boy who remains in a never-ending cycle of remembrance of what he lacks, constantly experiencing every loss and every joy for the first time again.
"He had his first laugh still." Peter believes time will wait for him and it will. Time bends in his favor but it will not make an exception for anyone else, not Wendy and especially not us. Wendy discovers a place that lives between the vivid world of childhood and the reality of growing older, the site of remembering. Though Wendy cannot fully return to her childhood, there’s a place of remembrance and empathy (especially present when spending time with her young daughter) that brings her close to her very own adolescent mind.
Wendy is grown and sees Peter once more in her daughter’s nursery, Peter has yet to realize Wendy has broken her promise to never grow old. He doesn't grasp how long it has been since he told Wendy, "Just always be waiting for me, and then some night you will hear me crowing." Wendy saw growing older as a pleasure and remembers her childhood with a mature fondness but still upon seeing Peter, "Something inside her was crying Woman, Woman, let go of me."
adventurous
funny
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
JEEZ, I did not expect this one to go as hard as it did. The last twenty pages are terribly sad. It’s interesting to see how well Disney did at adapting it 400 years ago, like they stuck very closely to the source material, but that last chapter is a doozy, dude!!!! A total sad-fest!!!!!
Diverse cast of characters:
No
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
medium-paced
MPSRC - Book more than 100 years old (1911)
How can you not love Peter Pan? I can't believe it took me this long to read it. Of course, I know the story - we all know the story. I was impressed with how true the Disney movie (or at least my recollection of it) stayed to the book. I listened to the audio book - not the Audible original with bunches of different voices and sound effects - the straight reading by Christpher Cassanove. It was everything it should be - fanciful, exciting, at times slightly misogynistic (again - 1911. Don't skip it, talk to your children about it.) or scary - a sheer delight that I will be sure to read again.
How can you not love Peter Pan? I can't believe it took me this long to read it. Of course, I know the story - we all know the story. I was impressed with how true the Disney movie (or at least my recollection of it) stayed to the book. I listened to the audio book - not the Audible original with bunches of different voices and sound effects - the straight reading by Christpher Cassanove. It was everything it should be - fanciful, exciting, at times slightly misogynistic (again - 1911. Don't skip it, talk to your children about it.) or scary - a sheer delight that I will be sure to read again.
it would get 5 stars if the entire existence of the "red skins" wasn't so uncomfortable
adventurous
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No