Customer Reviews

Peter Pan (Aladdin Classics)

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"Why can't you fly now mother?"
"Because I am grown up, dearest. When people grow up they forget the way."
"Why do they forget the way?"
"Because they are no longer gay and innocent and heartless. It is only the gay and innocent and heartless who can fly."
Wendy to her daughter Jane

If you think this is simply a children's book, and that as an adult you should just ignore it, well, then you're absolutely crazy. This is one of the few books that have ever made me cry. Yes, I actually cried when I read this book, because the story is just that good.

It is beautifully written by Barrie, with all the different characters that can be found in Neverland and throughout the great galaxy, even the stars are friends with Peter, well except when he tries to sneak up behind them and blow them out. There's mermaids and Indians and Pirates in Neverland, all the ingredients for a wonderful adventure for Peter and the lost boys.

If you've seen the Disney movie don't let that stop you from reading this. Disney's version is for kids. Barrie's version is for adults. I believe I've actually read somewhere that Barrie wrote this book for adults not children, and I do believe that adults will get so much more out of it then children will. Not that it won't be a good entertaining read for them, but an adult will be left with so much more afterwards.

The part of this book that really cinched the fact that it's perhaps one of the best books ever written is the final chapter, which is absolutely heart breaking and had me in tears. After the adventures the Darlings return home with all the Lost boys. All the boys grow up eventually forgetting the adventures they had, and become engineers and office workers never remembering what they had done already. Then there's Peter, who promises to come back for Wendy every spring, at first he remembers and comes back for her. We find out however that he has no recollection of his past adventures that the new ones have pushed them from his mind. He doesn't remember Hook, or Tinker Bell, he recons she must have just died since faeries don't live very long. Alas, Peter eventually forgets about Wendy, and she grows up and has a daughter of her own, Jane. Then one day he shows up and gives no notice to the fact that Wendy's all grown up, since he's to busy thinking of himself. Instead he takes Jane to do his spring cleaning, and afterwards every Spring he remembers he returns to take his mother for spring cleaning (As I sit here re-reading the final chapter for this review I'm crying again, how sad).

It doesn't surprise me particularly that the book "Peter Pan" (or, as it was originally titled, "Peter Pan and Wendy") is not read very often by children. Today kids have their Peter Pan animated movies, live action movies, television shows (of which the less said the better), musicals, stage plays, and what have you. There are a million different versions of the story out there, so it's no wonder the children feel that they don't need to read the original tale. I myself read it for the first time just now at the ancient age of 26, though I had been warned away from it many times. I knew about its more peculiar aspects (for example, that whole business involving Mrs. Darling's "kiss") so these didn't always shock or surprise me. They just weirded me out from time to time. What really did catch me unawares though was the wit in the book. This tale has its peculiarities, no question. But it also has amazing snatches of excellent writing. I just wish it had more of the latter and less of the former.

As every good schoolchild knows (or is liable to learn from Disney) Peter Pan is the boy who does not age. Living in Neverland, a kind of ageless fantasy-burg for kids, he is attended by the silly Tinkerbell, a fairy prone to continually shouting, "You silly ass". When Peter looses his shadow in the home of the Darling family, he meets Wendy for the first time. Wendy is entranced by Peter and with the promise of stories he agrees to take her and her brothers Michael and John with him to Neverland. While there, the kids encounter mermaids, pirates, Indians, and great swashbuckling adventures. They meet the Lost Boys and come face to face with the dreaded Captain Hook. But in the end everyone must grow up. Everyone, that is, but Peter Pan.

INTERESTING FACTS THEY NEVER TELL YOU ABOUT THE BOOK "PETER PAN":

1. Smee is declared to be the only Nonconformist in Hook's crew.
2. The fairies will occasionally stumble, "home from an orgy".
3. Tinker Bell is prone to wearing a negligee.
4. Hook attended private school and is said to bear a resemblance in his manner and dress to Charles II.
5. Peter Pan is an awful bore.

Readers of "Peter Pan" have to face up to several indisputable facts when perusing the tale. First of all, Peter's not that great a guy. I mean, it's a lot of fun to swoop around fighting bad guys and playing around all the time, but Peter's got a nasty streak about him. He's conceited and cruel (laughing when Wendy's brothers plunge out of the sky to their near deaths time and time again). He hates mothers as a rule and even goes so far as to try to trick Wendy into thinking her mother has forgotten her (though he repents at the last minute). He forgets anyone who loves him and is a combination of the worst aspects of all children. This isn't to say that his book doesn't make for interesting reading. I mean, it's not hard to work your way through "Peter Pan" and it has a lot of rewards. Barrie has an odd habit of sometimes getting wrapped up in his own peculiar thoughts for a moment before rushing back to the story in a hurry. The book is thoroughly English, containing such sentences as, "children at play are for ever beaching their coracles". Decipherable, but odd. If it weren't for statements like the ones about Mrs. Darling's kiss (creepy city) it would be an idea book. To my mind, it could stand a thorough editing job. As an author Barrie doesn't really seem sure as to who he's rooting for. One moment he's cruelly mocking Mrs. Darling and the next he's calling the children, "heartless" for leaving her in the first place.

No one familiar with the peculiarities of J.M. Barrie's personal life should be surprised by the book's moral. Mainly, that growing up is bad. This is the kind of moral kids like to hear and grown-ups, who idealize children in unhealthy ways, think is good. J.M. Barrie was perfectly aware of the cruelty of kids, but seemed to think it a good thing. When Wendy, her brothers, and the Lost Boys grow up it's written as a tragedy of epic proportions. For a healthier view of maturity, check out Madeline L'Engle's, "A Wind In the Door". Aside from its moral, however, "Peter Pan" is definitely a classic. It has influenced countless people around the globe for roughly a century. It has become a part of our culture and is vastly adored. I cannot love it wholly because I feel that it is a flawed novel. Nonetheless, I give credit where credit is due and say that it is one of the necessary books to read in the English language. If you have not familiarized yourself with it yet then you are denying yourself access to an important work. Lord, it isn't great, but it's well written and interesting. Few books can say as much.

This was an interesting book, full of adventure but also has a more serious side about the need to grow up and grow in wisdom. It makes us realize the consequences of our actions and also the importance of family and friends.

The questions it left unanswered for me were:
-What school is it that Hook went to? What is known for its slouch and walk?
-The question of fairies that are unsure of their sex? Androgynous like angels?
-Forget fairies and you kill them the power of naming or unnaming

A great read for children of all ages, and if you like Peter Pan then check out Capt. Hook: The Adventures of a Notorious Youthby J.V. Hart for an introduction to Hook as a young man.

(First written as Journal Reading Notes in 1999.)

Full of imagination, adventure and wit, but NOT for 4-8 year olds as listed here on Amazon. My intelligent 10 year old struggled through it and my 7 year old looked like a deer in headlights. This book is more appropriate for high school ages at best. Also, beware of Tink's potty mouth and the use of the word "orgy".

This book is all about imagination. I agree that it's really for adults, although not bad for kids. That's because kids are still there, in Neverland, and can't get the point! An important theme in the story itself is just that: the generation gap. This story has layers of symbolism, and nothing is there for its own sake. The most charming, lovely, bittersweet story ever!

Peter Pan is classic tale of youth and the joy it brings. It is also the tale of the dangers of being too grown up and living life far too seriously.

The Peter Pan you are used to from The Disney Company is not what you find in this classic From J.M. Barrie. I was surprised to find a lot of death and killing in this book, but I suppose Disney had to filter that to younger viewers. I really enjoyed this book and took up reading it because my son was on a Peter Pan kick and I wanted to know as much as I could about him.

Basically, Peter was a boy just like any other but he gave up growing up and decided to remain youthful forever. He is quite conceited and at times down right hateful and selfish, but then again what young person doesn't act this way. At first, I found I disliked Peter and the way he acted. He was too carefree and was only focused on himself, but then I realized that was who and what he represented. Life is a singular event and can only be lived moment by moment. We forget that when we become "grown up" and this book helps us to remember far better and less worrisome days.

Peter Pan is a delightful read and the characters are classics never forgotten. Peter, Captain Hook, Wendy, Mr. Smee, John, Michael, the Lost Boys, and the infamous Alligator live in between these sentences and will forever haunt your soul far after the last page and sentence are absorbed. Read this book and feel young again.

I am not sure if Peter Pan is well written. I am not sure if I could diagram the plot. I am sure I would never have written that story the way Barrie wrote it . . . which is why only Barrie could write Peter Pan. Only Barrie could break literary rules and plot conventions so well to create something so timeless.
Peter Pan is in no way real, but the fantasy of it is in some ways everyone's fantasy. Barries seems to have been every child. He understands them, heartless, beautiful creatures that they are. He knows that Neverland is not always very good and it can be very frightening. It is that place right before we fall asleep that mothers try to soften with night lights, but that can be all too harsh when we are left alone with Captain James Cook, the scurvy dog who is never more sinister than when he is polite.
Barrie is the guardian of children's dreams. His work should never be forgotten.

the book was quite good. expecialy for a childrens book the charitars came to life in an instant and it felt like you were there with them on their many adventures. and some thing elts that impressed me was just how dark the book was whitch is why i think that the book was so mutch better than the movie. i recomend this book to evoryone i can.

I love this book, but I have to admit that I watched the newest 'Peter Pan' movie, starring Jeremy Sumpter, before I actually read the classic. Although the movie including many exact or related lines right from the novel and most of the same major scenes, I found that, in the movie, there was that 'puppy-love glow' between Peter and Wendy that just made the storyline so much more interesting and sweet. The novel does show some sense of that, but not as much as the movie. The whole idea that Peter tries to hide his feelings for Wendy yet act completely irrisistable at the same time...or at the end when Peter and Hook are fighting and Hook makes him realize that he is incomplete and so on. How the movie focuses on 'feelings' in the individual stages of childhood, youth, and adulthood are most interesting and are well demonstrating in the movie. Now, I love this book very much, but I suppose I was a little disappointed when it did not include such things.

Everybody knows and loves Peter Pan -- the immortal, flying imp who lives in a floating otherworld, battles pirates, and never has to grow up.

And J.M. Barrie's classic tale "Peter Pan" really hasn't lost any of its charm, although those who have only seen the Disney movie may be shocked at how dark it can be at times. It's a strange, whimsical little story with a bittersweet edge, but it also reminds you about the allure of never growing up... even if it is necessary.

Young Wendy Darling is woken by a strange boy in her room, who has lost his shadow. That boy is Peter Pan, a flying boy from Neverland who regularly eavesdrops at her house because he likes the bedtime stories her mother tells. Since Wendy ALSO knows bedtime stories (and can potentially "make pockets"), Peter whisks Wendy and her brothers Michael and John off to Neverland.

However, Neverland is not a place devoid of dangers -- there is a pirate ship there (don't as me how; if it's explained, I don't remember), led by the villainous Captain Hook. Hook is constantly trying to kill Peter and his Lost Boys, and it doesn't take long for Wendy and the other boys to be captured. Can Peter save them from his archnemesis?

Children are "innocent and heartless" by nature, and it feels like "Peter Pan" was a homage to that -- it's a childish romp in a fantasyland, where kids can fly, fight pirates and have strange little adventures. Nobody really thinks about the families that are undoubtedly freaking out, or the lives they'll miss out on.

And really, that's part of its charm. It's a fluffy little fantasy story that could have been transcribed out of any child's imagination, with a colorful array of characters who could have been taken out of a Victorian kid's imaginary games (mermaids I understand, but why are there American Indians here? HOW did they get there?).

And Barrie spins out this story in the slightly twee style of Victorian kids' fiction, with lots of details and some charming scenes (the Lost Boys actually build a house AROUND WENDY). It gets a little cutesy at times (fairies are generated by.... baby laughter?) and the handling of the Indians is just horrible, but otherwise it's a fairly charming book.

But it's also darker than you would expect -- Tinkerbell tricks the Lost Boys into trying to kill Wendy, and at first it looks like she's managed. And Peter almost DIES. For real. Not to mention the final chapter, which is a giant lump of bittersweet.

Peter himself is a strangely enchanting figure -- he's almost like a lost Greek god, with a capricious ever-changing nature. And no matter what, you can never catch him or pin him down. As such, most of the other characters don't quite stand out as much, but they're all pleasantly handled -- particularly the three "normal" kids who are all too happy to go to Neverland, until they feel like going home again.

"Peter Pan" takes you briefly back into the experience of being a small child, when you can easily imagine yourself going anywhere at all while still staying "innocent and heartless." It has some flaws, but is charming nonetheless