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A review by lovelymisanthrope
Darling Girl by Liz Michalski
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I received this book as a gift and was excited to read a new take on the Peter Pan story.
"Darling Girl" follows Holly Darling, the granddaughter of the infamous Wendy Darling. Holly's life is going as well as can be expected, until she receives a phone call that her daughter, Eden, who has been in a coma for the last decade, is missing. Desperate to find Eden, and to protect her son, Jack, Holly might just have to face Peter Pan himself.
This was a really fun, new take on the Peter Pan story. In the original "Peter Pan" story, Peter Pan is much more sinister than the Disney story, so I enjoyed seeing a story play more into that side of Peter Pan. I also really appreciated that this is not a retelling, but rather a new story that expands upon what could have happened years after the original story. No matter how the original "Peter Pan" ended, the Darling family would have been greatly impacted by what happened for decades afterwards, and I really enjoyed getting to see a new generation of Darlings have to face Peter Pan and his evil ways.
Holly's life has been filled with a lot of tragedy, and her reasoning for her decisions felt a little skewed in my opinion. The reader learns fairly early on that something about Eden is helping to keep Jack alive. This small fact feels kind of wrong, and it made me question Holly as a mother. Why did she value Jack's life over Eden's? I wish she would have fought harder to figure out what was going on with Eden and try to help her more. Additionally, I do not understand why she had to keep Eden from Jack. Jack was too young when the accident occurred to remember Eden, but I feel like Holly could have talked about Eden with Jack as he got older.
This story was fine, and I had a fine time reading it, but I probably will not think about it much in the future.
"Darling Girl" follows Holly Darling, the granddaughter of the infamous Wendy Darling. Holly's life is going as well as can be expected, until she receives a phone call that her daughter, Eden, who has been in a coma for the last decade, is missing. Desperate to find Eden, and to protect her son, Jack, Holly might just have to face Peter Pan himself.
This was a really fun, new take on the Peter Pan story. In the original "Peter Pan" story, Peter Pan is much more sinister than the Disney story, so I enjoyed seeing a story play more into that side of Peter Pan. I also really appreciated that this is not a retelling, but rather a new story that expands upon what could have happened years after the original story. No matter how the original "Peter Pan" ended, the Darling family would have been greatly impacted by what happened for decades afterwards, and I really enjoyed getting to see a new generation of Darlings have to face Peter Pan and his evil ways.
Holly's life has been filled with a lot of tragedy, and her reasoning for her decisions felt a little skewed in my opinion. The reader learns fairly early on that something about Eden is helping to keep Jack alive. This small fact feels kind of wrong, and it made me question Holly as a mother. Why did she value Jack's life over Eden's? I wish she would have fought harder to figure out what was going on with Eden and try to help her more. Additionally, I do not understand why she had to keep Eden from Jack. Jack was too young when the accident occurred to remember Eden, but I feel like Holly could have talked about Eden with Jack as he got older.
This story was fine, and I had a fine time reading it, but I probably will not think about it much in the future.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Terminal illness, Medical content, Car accident, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Mental illness and Kidnapping
Minor: Rape