Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie Book Review

I desperately wanted the magic of Peter Pan (1911) to sweep me off my feet, but instead this classic children’s book left me wanting more.

The story of Peter Pan by Scottish playwright and author J. M. Barrie begins in London with the Darling family.

One night when their parents are out, the children Michael, Wendy, and John receive a visit from a strange boy.

Together they travel to the fictional island of Neverland.

Neverland acts as a metaphor for a child’s active imagination, where anything is possible. A world where you can fly, where you can swim with mermaids, where a crocodile has a clock stuck in its throat, where your next meal can be imagined into existence.

The promise of adventure and escape to a place where you never have to grow up is incredibly alluring even to adult readers. I am sure many of us during lockdown would have appreciated being able to fly out our bedroom windows to a fantastical land where instead of the threat of coronavirus, there be pirates.

Peter Pan first enchanted the public as a theatre production in 1904. It was due to the enormous success of the play that Barrie turned it into a book for children.

While the story is indeed magical and shares an idea that has collectively endured in many of our imaginations, unfortunately the writing is not as beautiful and descriptive as I would have liked.

I feel the story did not translate so well into a book, and my overall assessment of this children’s tale is that it’s one of the classics you can skip.

Whether I felt unenchanted because I had high expectations, or because I was reading Peter Pan for the first time as an adult, it’s difficult to say.

As the book is so short the story’s wings feel clipped — just when you’re trying to feel at home in Neverland it’s time to leave again. The events feel episodic and short-lived, similar to Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865).

The main thread of the plot is contained in Captain Hook’s seeking revenge on Peter Pan — not because Peter is responsible for the loss of his hand, but because he loathes Peter’s ‘cockiness’.

The book also plays on the darker aspects of play fighting as the boys casually boast about how many pirates they have ‘killed’.

The book is of its time, so outdated gender roles are normalised and idealised. Wendy is the ‘mother’ and stays at home to clean and darn the boy’s socks, while the boys go out to play or fight.

Oddly, I felt the most engaging and poignant moments of the book were at the beginning and end.

In the final chapter, when Wendy is grown up, there is a great sense of sadness at the feeling of having lost something.

However happy-spirited and humorous Peter Pan may be, there is a sad story behind the book drawn from the loss of Barrie’s older brother who died in a skating accident when he was just 13-years-old.

Throughout the book, Barrie intervenes as a matter-of-fact narrator, as though telling the story to children in real time. Despite never having any of his own, Barrie loved children.

The Darling children were inspired by Sylvia Llewelyn Davies’s children — Daphne du Maurier’s cousins. Barrie struck a friendship with the family after a chance encounter in Kensington Gardens.

In his will, he even gifted the copyright of Peter Pan to London’s Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children. The book continues to be published in association with the charity, meaning royalties from UK stage productions and publications are still bequeathed to the hospital.

Peter Pan remains one of the most frequently adapted classic tales.

Nostalgia plays a key part in the magic of the story, both thematically and through our own memories. When I was younger I remember enjoying the animated Disney film of the same name, and the 1991 film, Hook. Both of which I enjoy watching today.

I’d love to know your thoughts on Peter Pan — did it live up to your expectations?

Rating: 3 out of 5.

The edition pictured above was published by William Collins, an imprint of HarperCollins in 2015.

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