Peter Pan [Leather Bound] [Jan 01, 2014] J.M. Barrie

Obviously I knew the story already, but wanted at last to read it. I was shocked at how racist it is. Won't be reading again. Yes I know it was a different time, but perhaps the racist language could be amended or a warning put on

Honestly, to read some of these reviews you'd think that Tinkerbell was giving BJ's in the back seat and that indigenous people were being massacred by the millions in this book. It's the classic story of Peter Pan. Yes they use the word "red skins" when talking about natives/indigenous persons/Indians/aboriginals/have your pick, but nothing here is said or meant in a racist way. They don't use negative generalizations that I shan't type here. As for people thinking Tinkerbell is sexualized, honestly, that's more in their head than anyone else's. It's a book, made for kids. It uses dated words like "bo'sun" (which I have since learned is a name for a sailor) and "gay" (to mean happy) along with many other words we wouldn't use or would use differently today. But there's absolutely nothing wrong with it unless you're looking to be offended... Which apparently a lot of people are.

Here we have three tales by James Matthew Barrie, the last of which Peter and Wendy is the most read, as this is the one we usually just refer to as Peter Pan. Before this we have The Little White Bird and Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens. If you read the Little White Bird though, then there is no reason to read Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens, as this story is just the pieces regarding Peter Pan from the first novel, indeed the second book was originally put out by the publishers due to the success of the play Peter Pan, before the author wrote the actual novel of his play. The first book here then is not really a children’s book as such and was meant for adults as a fantasy tale where we meet an aged bachelor and his interest and involvement with a young couple and their child. Indeed reading this these days does at times raise the issue of paedophilia, although of course that was not the intention at the time. As we read this the narrator along with following this family and their boy tells us of certain legendary incidents in Kensington Gardens, and how fairies inhabit the area. Along with some chapters about a certain boy known as Peter Pan, who never grows up this was first published serially. The second book is as I have already mentioned just those chapters from the previous book that feature Peter, and then of course we have the most famous book, one that we all read as children ourselves, and is still a mainstay of children’s bookshelves. This is not only the most famous tale here, but is the best written, with lots of action and adventure as Wendy and her brothers are whisked off to Neverland by Peter Pan and Tinker Bell the fairy. With a host of colourful characters, of course we have the nasty Captain Hook and the ticking crocodile. Getting into a number of scrapes so we see what happens when the Darling children return home, with others in tow, and what happens with Peter and Wendy over the years. Personally I would think that if you just have the best known tale here then you probably will not want to read the others, but if you do decide to get this book do not expect the first two tales to be as good as or written in quite the same way as the latter.

As one reads Peter Pan, one doesn't have to do much thinking to figure out why its story has achieved such worldwide acclaim. I had ridiculously high expectations of Mr. Barrie's imagination before purchasing this title, and he has fulfilled them completely. Many parts of the story are nothing but nonsense, which I enjoy above all else. Mr. Darling, the head of the Darling family, commands his children to take their medicine after he hides the medicine he's supposed to take. He brags about how noble he is for drinking a medicine that tastes so much worse that theirs. Unfortunately for him, during his bragging his medicine is found, and the whole family agrees to take their respective medicines on the count of three. Sure enough, when three is reached, everyone except Mr. Darling takes their medicine, and Mr. Darling once again tries to hide his. This kind of scenario is what I'd call Mark Twain nonsense. You can imagine it being true, even though it's quite high up on the ridiculous scale. Then there's what I would classify as over-the-top nonsense - AKA bull - which there is plenty of in Barrie's original story of Peter Pan. Going back to Mr. Darling, if we take a look at how he's doing near the end of the book, we find him going to and from work in a dog kennel. Ah, yes...grown men in pet taxis. What could be more fun than the "he-didn't-even-try-to-make-this-belivable" silliness of such a scene? To be honest, I don't know if I'd even read books if they all left out fun stuff like this. Other silly parts of the book involve Wendy growing up a day quicker than most girls; the narrator claiming he hates Mrs. Darling only to call her his favorite character a few sentences later; the lost boys asking Wendy to change the characters her story just two sentences into it; the narrator using the phrase "woke into life" because Peter likes the word "woke" more than "wakened;" and my favorite, Captain Hook using a stale cake as a missle and then falling over it in the dark. I believe the novel version of Peter Pan was written after the author had already established Peter Pan as a successful play. That may explain a lot about the colorful narration, which takes many, many literary liberties. We see everything from blatant narrator interference with the characters in the story to the shameless attempt at informing the audience that the narrator only chooses to make the events in the story happen a certain way so certain characters in the book won't be disappointed. Perhaps without these wacky (and maybe even insane) traits in the narration, there'd be no reason to read the book, since it would be no different from the play. After reading the Peter Pan novel though, I'd have to say it almost seems criminal to watch an adaptation of Peter Pan without any wacky narration. Contrary to most adaptations of Peter Pa...