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3.85 AVERAGE
3.85 AVERAGE
I honestly read this only to get a badge on audible, but I'm glad I did. Really cute! Even today, the story really holds. But as any classic children's book, it's so different from today that it's hard for me to FULLY enjoy it. So 3 stars is good, it's so good for what it is. Also the audiobook was amazing. I'd most likely read this to my children.
Captain James Hook has become one of my favourite tragic villains!
Having only watched the film adaptations until now, this is not the simple adventure story I thought it was. I never knew the story to be so profound, the characters so complex, and the tone so bittersweet. It is, on the one hand, a story about the loss of childhood innocence, a childish adventure with pirates and fairies and mermaids. Yet, on the other hand, it is about colonialism and the British Empire, it speaks of gruesome violence and the marching of time. Peter is hardly a hero; he is cocky and selfish. Captain James Hook is hardly a villain! He is a rebel who denounces the King of England, a man haunted by his past at Eton, and bullied by a cocky 9-year-old kid. Persecuted by the ticking of a clock, his fleeting life, and consumed by a crocodile. Bad form!
Having only watched the film adaptations until now, this is not the simple adventure story I thought it was. I never knew the story to be so profound, the characters so complex, and the tone so bittersweet. It is, on the one hand, a story about the loss of childhood innocence, a childish adventure with pirates and fairies and mermaids. Yet, on the other hand, it is about colonialism and the British Empire, it speaks of gruesome violence and the marching of time. Peter is hardly a hero; he is cocky and selfish. Captain James Hook is hardly a villain! He is a rebel who denounces the King of England, a man haunted by his past at Eton, and bullied by a cocky 9-year-old kid. Persecuted by the ticking of a clock, his fleeting life, and consumed by a crocodile. Bad form!
adventurous
lighthearted
medium-paced
Expensive, gigantic, beautiful book! I have only read Peter and Wendy so far, including the annotations on those pages, but the book is full of much more content, essays, defenses, reactions, images, and more.
The story itself is fantastic if charged with unwelcome racism and sexism. Some of this can be explained away by a writer trapped in the prejudices of his own time, but some of it is harder to take. There is also the shadow of rumor and allegation about J.M. Barrie himself, and the book leaves the reader with some disquieting questions at the end.
There are incredible depths to be found in the tension between children and adults who don't often act their age in the story, and a suggestion that perhaps there is little difference between these two arbitrarily defined age groups. At the end, though, with Peter Pan's petty ageism, the story suggests to me the limitations of a real world bound in mortality, and an unexpected insight that perhaps the key to Peter Pan is not that he is forever a boy but that he is immortal. Like many fairy tales I have been reading lately, I have been finding unexpected connections with the modern world, especially one undergoing tremendous technological and demographic change, suggesting that fairy tales may soon serve as guides to a magical and strange new reality.
The story itself is fantastic if charged with unwelcome racism and sexism. Some of this can be explained away by a writer trapped in the prejudices of his own time, but some of it is harder to take. There is also the shadow of rumor and allegation about J.M. Barrie himself, and the book leaves the reader with some disquieting questions at the end.
There are incredible depths to be found in the tension between children and adults who don't often act their age in the story, and a suggestion that perhaps there is little difference between these two arbitrarily defined age groups. At the end, though, with Peter Pan's petty ageism, the story suggests to me the limitations of a real world bound in mortality, and an unexpected insight that perhaps the key to Peter Pan is not that he is forever a boy but that he is immortal. Like many fairy tales I have been reading lately, I have been finding unexpected connections with the modern world, especially one undergoing tremendous technological and demographic change, suggesting that fairy tales may soon serve as guides to a magical and strange new reality.
Wow, this is not really a kids' book. So impressed that Josh made it through and was interested.
"You see, Wendy, when the first baby laughed for the first time, its laugh broke into a thousand pieces, and they all went skipping about, and that was the beginning of fairies."
Peter Pan is so much more than it seems. It touches on themes of childhood vs. adulthood, the fear of growing up, motherhood, abandonment, memory, fairness, and acceptance.
A lot of the characters are metaphors (Peter is childhood, Hook is adulthood, the ticking crocodile is time). I think this book may be aimed more at adults than at children, as longing return to a carefree childhood is a feeling adults can relate to (whereas children are still living it). The omniscient narrator even explains that “we too have been [to Neverland]; we can still hear the sound of the surf, though we shall land no more,” now that we are adults and can no longer access the land of children's imagination.
I think this story is beautiful, but it's also a product of its time. There are some passages that I wish weren't included in the novel (most notably the Native American stereotypes), but overall this was a magical read that hit me with a wave of childhood nostalgia.
Luego de leer este libro debo decir que Disney ha hecho la adaptación más fiel al libro.
Mientras leía el libro, descubro que cada palabra, hasta las comas, tienen magia. Porque la misma magia esta en todas partes, desde una vela hasta la naturalidad de darles días libres a tu mascota-niñera
Mientras leía el libro, descubro que cada palabra, hasta las comas, tienen magia. Porque la misma magia esta en todas partes, desde una vela hasta la naturalidad de darles días libres a tu mascota-niñera
Read for ATS2519 - Children's and young adult literature
I was obsessed with with 2003 live action film of this as a child, and I obviously read this back in the day.
I was obsessed with with 2003 live action film of this as a child, and I obviously read this back in the day.
adventurous
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism