Peter Pan (1911)

Children’s literature from the 1900’s is certainly not anything like we have today. While Disney kept quite close to this original story, they softened much of the darker plot points. The fighting and death near the end of the novel and how nonchalant Michael Darling is about killing the villains is spine chilling. The use of profane language by Tinkerbell made me love her character so much more! One thing I could not get over was how horrible Mr. Darling is to his children, and wife and how this seems to have been presented as normal behavior for the time. I recommend this book for anyone interested in original literature and if you are prepared to have a fairytale classic completely reshape for you. ( )

Delightful classic and original story of Peter Pan. I have read many modern versions, seen many movies of Peter, but had never read the first story. I thoroughly enjoyed it and found it a rather interesting point of view from the narrator who does not hesitate to rely his (I am assuming) feeling about the bratty, selfish children who leave their parents without a thought. Glad I read it! ( )

"You know that place between sleep and awake, that place where you still remember dreaming? That's where I'll always love you. That's where I'll be waiting."

This is surely going to be an unpopular opinion and likely to give me some hate, but I didn't like this one much. Some social commentary, some 19th/early 20th-century racism, some platitudes, a crude story and a lot of wound up nonsense.
3* for some thoughts and the literary and cultural merit it seems to have earned only.
Edit: I've got to lower its rating down to 2*. The book is far too boring and not ok for me to get a neutral rating. ( )

Of course, I'd seen the Disney version many times before reading the original. I'd also read the delightfully adventurous Peter Pan and the Starcatchers series by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson. No surprise that the original from 1911 was quite different from either - especially in the character of Peter Pan himself. In the original he is portrayed as much younger, more naive, selfish, and unable to focus on anything of import for more than a few minutes... just like a five or six year old child generally is. Wendy's portrayal seems slightly misogynistic by today's standards, as even in Neverland, she seems happy to stay home darning the boys socks while they go off on adventures. And the racist portrayals of the "redskins" is atrocious. Nonetheless, I was surprised to find a few tears slipping down my cheeks as I read the last couple of chapters. The book is, after all, about both the joys and the tragedy of growing up, and losing the magic of childhood. ( )