Supposedly a children's classic, this book is quite disturbing, and not at all suitable for young or sensitive children. Perhaps the abridged versions make it more acceptable; the film versions sanitise it somewhat, too.

But this original, written 120 years ago, is not just dated - it's inherently sexist (the remarks about mothers are very bizarre), racist, and extremely violent in places. There's a mixture of 'reality' (in an odd kind of way, with a large dog as nurse) and fantasy, but far too much commentary from the author, and asides that don't fit in at all with the plot - such as the evil Captain Hook reminiscing about his boyhood years at Eton School.

As for Peter Pan, the 'boy who never grew up', he's manipulative, demanding and selfish... not someone I would wish to know.

Longer review here: https://suesbookreviews.blogspot.com/2024/04/peter-pan-by-jm-barrie.html ( )

I still can't get the fairy orgy out of my mind. I mean, even if Tinkerbell and her flickering friends really were getting at it in the forest just to kill the time, did Barrie really have to unveil this to us before the kids had gone to bed? ( )

Writing: 4.5; Theme: 4.5; Content: 4.5; Language: 5.0; Overall: 4.5

The adventures of Peter Pan, the Wild Boys, and the Darling children. Highly recommend.

***April 8, 2024*** ( )

It’s great when you’ve seen the Disney film before reading the book. Parts of it seem weird when you’re imagining them as the Disney characters rather than the versions of them in the book. Especially with the conflict between Pan and Hook. However in this Pan is completely different to how they portray him in the Disney version (as that’s the only film I’ve seen) because the Book Peter is weird to say.

Despite having a different feel to modern books it was a decent read. Commonly reading it in school also made it a great read.

And still with the 150 page length, I still took a long time to read it. ( )

I started reading this to better understand a more recent novel, Darling Girl by Liz Michalski. Not sure I can finish this. It is so scary and inhumane. I am shocked. The original could not have been written as a children's story. How many people know this?? ( )