Peter Pan (100th Anniversary Edition) by J. M. Barrie
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Book Summary Author: J. M. Barrie Illustrator: Michael Hague Edition: Hardcover Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published) Published: 2003-10-01 ISBN: 0805072454 Number of pages: 176 Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR) |
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Book Reviews of the Peter Pan (100th Anniversary Edition)
Customer Review: Astoundingly creative, but subtly perverse
Summary: 3 Stars
Although I give Peter Pan only three stars, there are aspects of it I love: the writer's astounding creativity, the magic he weaves in giving children the ability to fly, and his glimpses into the perfection and timelessness of childhood. But I think what I loved most were the childhood memories the book brought up for me, though this might just have been the book triggering my own memories of the Disney movie!
Okay, now to the negatives.
The mild: The book DRAGGED, and had so many pointless tangents. A good modern editor could have worked wonders here. Even the opening - it took FOREVER. But considering it was written a hundred years ago, pre-TV, pre-movies, and pre-Disney, I can overlook this flaw.
The extreme: The perverse sexual dynamics. I feel the author set up Peter Pan and Wendy and Tinker Bell as a vile little love-sex triangle. If you think I'm nuts writing this, look at all the obvious romantic dynamics between Peter and Wendy alone, and then add in the EXTREME jealousy and rage of Tinker Bell over this, and note how the author radically sexualized Tinker Bell - how she was an adult woman, how she flaunted her sexuality, how she dressed in ways that best showed off her body. (Even the OLD version of the book I have shows Tinker Bell as a definite woman, not a girl, dressed sexy and flirting with a DEFINITELY pre-pubescent boy.)
To back up my point, imagine the genders of the characters flipped, with Peter Pan being a little prepubescent girl and Tinker Bell a man, constantly flaunting his adult body for a girl's attention, and flying into rages and trying to literally kill off the romantic competition? Sick!! It would be called pedophilia.
And then the whole dynamics with Wendy being Peter's mother-lover: not healthy!
My question: Why is an adult man writing about slightly veiled sexual dynamics that use children as props?
When I read the author's personal history (impotence, asexuality, accusations of pedophilia), I wasn't so surprised.