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A review by yukirarin
Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie
4.0
I think we all know the story of Peter Pan. This year was the year I decided to finally tackle reading the original text.
I came into this knowing it would be wildly different from the disney version of the story. I also realised that I would have to try to ignore racist and clearly outdated stereotypes of people because of course this book was written before modern sensibilities. Through all that though, I came for a story of adventure and growing up and it delivered.
Peter in this book is a much cockier version of the disney version, and he stays true to that throughout the whole book. He truly embodied so many aspects of childhood in his make-believe, his young and cocky nature and his vulnerability. I think maybe because I'm so used to the peter pan of my childhood being almost a teenage boy, it's easy to forget that the original text really depicts him as a true child and nowhere near a teenager. It was fun to read in the original text the depictions of neverland and its inhabitants.
The ending felt so bittersweet to me as a grown up. It's sad to think that we lose our innocence as we grow up, which I feel was displayed metaphorically here. Childhood innocence is so precious, but so many of us were in a hurry to grow up and miss it again when we're older. Peter pan is always a good reminder to protect that childhood innocence for as long as we can, because once it's lost it is truly gone.
I came into this knowing it would be wildly different from the disney version of the story. I also realised that I would have to try to ignore racist and clearly outdated stereotypes of people because of course this book was written before modern sensibilities. Through all that though, I came for a story of adventure and growing up and it delivered.
Peter in this book is a much cockier version of the disney version, and he stays true to that throughout the whole book. He truly embodied so many aspects of childhood in his make-believe, his young and cocky nature and his vulnerability. I think maybe because I'm so used to the peter pan of my childhood being almost a teenage boy, it's easy to forget that the original text really depicts him as a true child and nowhere near a teenager. It was fun to read in the original text the depictions of neverland and its inhabitants.
The ending felt so bittersweet to me as a grown up. It's sad to think that we lose our innocence as we grow up, which I feel was displayed metaphorically here. Childhood innocence is so precious, but so many of us were in a hurry to grow up and miss it again when we're older. Peter pan is always a good reminder to protect that childhood innocence for as long as we can, because once it's lost it is truly gone.