Peter Pan: A Book Review

So I don't know if I just don't have a broad enough imagination or what, but I really didn't care for "Peter Pan" by Sir James Barrie. The plot seemed too...... it seems as if Sir Barrie made it up as he went along. Actually, there was no major discernible plot as far as I could tell. But here's the summary (thanks to Commonsensemedia.org):

"One night Peter Pan flies through the window of the Darling nursery in search of his shadow. There he meets Wendy, Michael, and John, teaches them to fly, and leads them to the home of the Lost Boys in Neverland.
... There, among pirates, Indians, and wild animals, the children have innumerable adventures.
But Captain Hook, the evil leader of the pirates, is determined to wipe out the Lost Boys, and especially the cocky Pan. He concocts a plan to kidnap the boys and Wendy, poison Peter, and make the boys walk the plank while Wendy watches. But Tinkerbell the fairy saves Peter from the poison, setting the stage for a final confrontation aboard the pirate ship."

I can't say I found any of the characters lovable, nor could I identify with any of them. They were all so... I don't know the word- the author describes Peter multiple times as "conceited" or "cocky," which I found to be true, but that wasn't the word I was looking for. The Darling children are described as "selfish," which was true towards the end, but again, not quite the word. I suppose it's that they're either so stereotypical, or that they're so outside the box that you couldn't quite believe that they were real.

The time concept just threw me off completely, I really couldn't discern what was happening when and where. And then the ending did not satisfy me at all. (I shan't say what the ending was, for the sake of *trying to* keeping this spoiler free, but it was VERY annoying and dissatisfying. Well okay- *spoilerish* practically everyone forgot)

I'm trying to think of something positive to say about it... it's very interesting to watch all of these characters, with their idiosyncrasies, interact with one another. The cocky Pan, the motherly Wendy, oblivious Smee, scheming Hook, etc.

After seeing the Disney movie, it's interesting to note that Captain Hook was voted the second scariest villain in children's literature (The White Witch from "The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe" came in first)(And I have to admit, I thought Hook was indeed scarier in the book than the Disney version).

Well, I'm afraid I'm just rambling now, so I'll stop. But wait- before I stop, I wanted to mention that the reason I read "Peter Pan" was because a theatre is putting on a production of it here and I was thinking of taking part in it. I still haven't decided if I will, but if I do, you can all be sure that I will tell you ;-P. Okay, I'm really stopping now. Cheerio!!