The story of Peter Pan is so familiar to most of us-- I grew up with children's books and I think even an audio version of it. After "Finding Neverland" came out, I read an article that said the original Peter Pan is much darker than the versions we are familiar with, and that intrigued me. While there is a very playful quality to the writing of the book, and some of the comments that the narrator makes are quite witty (the writing seems like it would be above most children), Peter himself is not a very admirable character. He is unreliable, conceited, selfish, and proud-- even though he is still somehow admirable to those around him: the Lost Boys follow him unquestioningly, and all of the females (Wendy, Tiger Lily, Tinker Bell) seem to be in love with him.
I've always thought that "Hook" was a fabulous movie, but after reading this I have confirmation-- so many of the lines and phrases, and even the way they chose to continue the story... They did such a great job of choosing passages and lines directly directly from Barrie's original (except for the fact that Captain Hook is still alive), and adapting them to the new story. Even one of my favorite lines from the end of "Hook" is an adaptation from Peter Pan; after Peter saves Tiger Lily and Wendy, he is exhausted and stranded on a rock in the lagoon with the water rising, and he thinks to himself "to die will be an awfully big adventure".
| Title: | Peter Pan |
|---|---|
| Author: | J. M. Barrie |
| Date published: | 1911 (original publication; electronic edition 1991) |
| Genre: | Fantasy / Children's Literature |
| Number of pages: | 132 |
| Notes: | Read electronic text freely available (in the U.S.) from Project Gutenberg. |
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