Reviews with content warning for Child death - Peter Pan

Reviews tagging 'Child death'

Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie

16 reviews

emybookworm's review against another edition

3.5

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Disturbing

Content Warnings

thelonelywizard's review against another edition

3.0

adventurous hopeful sad medium-paced

the racism/slurs used towards native americans is obvious enough that I won’t touch on it, but the amount of causal misogyny in this book is more than i was expecting💀

in terms of the narrative tho it holds up fairly well so there’s that at least

Content Warnings

rickycbc's review against another edition

3.5

adventurous dark emotional lighthearted reflective fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

princessazulaa's review against another edition

2.5

adventurous reflective sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Content Warnings

goldorak98's review against another edition

2.75

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

oceanwriter's review against another edition

3.25

adventurous lighthearted fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I've seen the Disney movie, I've seen two different productions of the musical, I've watched Peter Pan Goes Wrong, and I've watched/read other movies and books that retold the story, yet until now, I'd never actually read the source material. I have to admit, I've liked many of the other versions/adaptions better.

I feel as though a book like this needs no recap, so I'll go right into it.

I never expected the pacing to be so fast even though it's a children's book. Maybe being familiar with the plot is part of the reason, but I felt like whenever I blinked I was on a new scene. A lot of the material hasn't aged well, either, which being a classic comes to little surprise yet never fails to catch me off guard. Still, I adore the premise and always have, so I'm glad to have finally read the original novel.

Content Warnings

tigertheory's review against another edition

3.75

adventurous emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

And thus it will go on, so long as children are gay and innocent and heartless.

To read this merely as a children’s book does not do it justice. Even though born in 2000, I grew up watching the 1953 version on VHS over and over again and the discrepancy between the two versions feels like a perfect illustration for the point the story is making about growing up. Reading it back makes me want to both be young again as well as to apologize to my mother.

Content Warnings

tattymouse's review against another edition

1.5

adventurous medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

A huge shock to read this book for the first time in 2024 and be horrified by its contents the entire way through. Which is a shame, because the method of narration and sentence structure in the book are lovely and magical and are the only reason this gets a 1.5. The content issues I had cover all types of concerns: Peter routinely murders both children and adults and this is completely glossed over as something that doesn't alarm the children at all. Yet I see no indication in the text as to why this particular type of violence wouldn't stir them from the childhood spell Neverland seems to cast, especially when they're perfectly capable of remembering many nice things about the real world. The language used to describe the Native tribe is racist enough, but there is also a chapter of generalizations about Native People's versus "the white man" and that chapter in particular was difficult to listen to. Throughout the book there are several mentions of food and body size that I would also be very hesitant to let any child hear. And the father in the book is maybe the most unlikeable character I've encountered in children's literature, and that includes villains.

Reading this book once was enough - it will not get a place on my bookshelves and I hope my children never ask to read it.

Content Warnings