Reading 2014: Peter Pan.

Wow. What a fun book. At 200 pages it's a quick read. However! The book still covers a lot not seen in the Disney movie, shocker right?

Well, I'm sure most everyone has seen the Disney movie of Peter Pan. So the plot of the book was used for the movie. What I enjoyed about the book so much more is the narrator acts like a living entity in the story!

Suppose, to make her happy, we whisper to her in her sleep that the brats are coming back. They are really within two miles of the window now, and flying strong, but all we need whisper is that they are on the way. Let's. It is a pity we did it, for she has started up, calling their names; and there is no one in the room but Nana. ~ Peter Pan, Pg 188.

It makes you feel like you're a ghost, quietly following the stories and adventures of Peter, Wendy, and the Lost boys. Only rarely whispering into their world, When you do though... Bone chilling. Even just reading that the narrator is doing it pulls you that much tighter to the story. You feel the anguish of Mrs. Darling loss of her children and can't help but want to say something, but then they let you! Ah ha! Success. Such a beautiful means of engaging the reader.

 My only frustration with this book is mostly my own fault. Maybe I am starting to become a grown up and simply can't see it like I could. Multiple times I was reading and realized I had no clue how two events were connected. Some spots were the epitome of a child's mind: idealistic, imaginative, and chaotic. These spots were hard to follow especially when reading late into the night or half awake.

I don't want to talk much about the story so I don't spoil it for people who haven't read it yet. However, don't expect the G-Rated movie in print form.

'It's father!' exclaimed Wendy. 'Let me see father,' Michael begged eagerly, and he took a good look. 'He is not so big as the pirate I killed,' he said with such frank disappointment that I am glad Mr. Darling was asleep;

This was little Micheal! The lost boys were an incredibly violent group, fighting off and killing pirates. The Piccaninny were viewed as native savages; "Redskins". The pirates were nasty being, which being a pirate isn't a righteous job anyways. Still, all of this made an incredibly captivating book for a young adult, not quite so much for a small child you would let watch the Disney movie. 

So that's what I thought about Peter Pan. It was a great classic and a  I believe my next book is going to be "The Catcher in the Rye". That does remain to be seen. If anyone wants to see all my favorite quotes from Peter Pan just leave a comment and I'll make up a post of them all!