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mrs_galaxywanderer091825 's review for:
Mary Poppins
by P.L. Travers
I came into this book not knowing what to expect as I know Disney tends to change stories when they are making a book into a movie. Best example: Hans Christian Anderson's The Little Mermaid ISN'T Disney's The Little Mermaid. Since Ms. Travers wasn’t a fan of Disney’s movie version of her book I knew to expect something very different from the movie my brother and I both adored as kids.
Travers's Mary Poppins is a more realistic person as she has her vanity and can be curt with people as she feels she is superior over others. She’s more like a governess figure as she can keep Jane, Michael, John and Barbara in line when they act up as toddlers and babies will do. She is also not liked by the adults in this book but is competent at her job and not a dramatic person, so no adults want to get rid of her. There are a lot of adventures that happen throughout the book that made the it very interesting. Honestly, I probably would have enjoyed reading these adventures as a child as they are wonderful fantasies that seem normal yet astoundingly abnormal to children as they've been told by adults logically "it is quite impossible."
This book focused mostly on the four Banks children (Jane, Michael, and the Twins John and Barbara) with the adults (Mr. and Mrs. Banks, the cook, the butler, the maid) being mentioned when they are needed in adventures.
I didn’t like that there is virtually no mention of Mary Poppins and Mr. Banks meeting EVER so that surprised me as I wouldn’t pay anyone I had never met to watch my young children. Still it was a different time and seen as “woman’s work” to talk to the governess and its household unless absolutely necessary circumstances arose. I did like how we had a whole chapter where we say Mary Poppins and Bert interact together. I love the relationship between those two! Am really sad that one chapter was really all we get though. He’s only mentioned once afterwards because he signed a portrait he drew of Mary Poppins.
I’ll be honest and say that I like Disney’s Mary Poppins more than Travers’s version but that doesn’t mean I don’t like this book. Julie Andrews's portrays Mary Poppins as a kind and delightful person that draws people to her with her beauty, grace, and kindness so it makes sense that I’d be drawn to her version more than a crosser and snappish commanding Mary Poppins that Travers wrote about. I can see why it’s been considered a classic for so long as it does combine reality and whimsy with a character who seems unlikely to have or enjoy fun.
Travers's Mary Poppins is a more realistic person as she has her vanity and can be curt with people as she feels she is superior over others. She’s more like a governess figure as she can keep Jane, Michael, John and Barbara in line when they act up as toddlers and babies will do. She is also not liked by the adults in this book but is competent at her job and not a dramatic person, so no adults want to get rid of her. There are a lot of adventures that happen throughout the book that made the it very interesting. Honestly, I probably would have enjoyed reading these adventures as a child as they are wonderful fantasies that seem normal yet astoundingly abnormal to children as they've been told by adults logically "it is quite impossible."
This book focused mostly on the four Banks children (Jane, Michael, and the Twins John and Barbara) with the adults (Mr. and Mrs. Banks, the cook, the butler, the maid) being mentioned when they are needed in adventures.
I didn’t like that there is virtually no mention of Mary Poppins and Mr. Banks meeting EVER so that surprised me as I wouldn’t pay anyone I had never met to watch my young children. Still it was a different time and seen as “woman’s work” to talk to the governess and its household unless absolutely necessary circumstances arose. I did like how we had a whole chapter where we say Mary Poppins and Bert interact together. I love the relationship between those two! Am really sad that one chapter was really all we get though. He’s only mentioned once afterwards because he signed a portrait he drew of Mary Poppins.
I’ll be honest and say that I like Disney’s Mary Poppins more than Travers’s version but that doesn’t mean I don’t like this book. Julie Andrews's portrays Mary Poppins as a kind and delightful person that draws people to her with her beauty, grace, and kindness so it makes sense that I’d be drawn to her version more than a crosser and snappish commanding Mary Poppins that Travers wrote about. I can see why it’s been considered a classic for so long as it does combine reality and whimsy with a character who seems unlikely to have or enjoy fun.