Welcome back to Books With Cause. Let’s dive straight into my latest review.
When I was a young child, Peter Pan was the first story that really captured my imagination. I had a Disney version of a picture book which also had buttons that you’d press with different sound effects. I’d sit on my mum’s lap, she’d read the book to me, and I’d press the corresponding buttons as and when I was instructed to. There’s something about the story of a boy who never grew up living in this mystical land where he flew around and fought pirates with his friends. It’s a life I wanted, and I became obsessed with being Peter Pan.
We had a fancy-dress day at playschool, and my talented grandmother made me an insanely accurate Peter Pan costume. She made the top and cap out of green felt. A feather was painted red and stuck to the hat. I wore green tights, and she got some brown fabric to cover my slippers with. I looked incredible, if I do say so myself. I looked like Peter Pan had literally stepped out of the book and into real life. I wore that costume around the house and ran around pretending to be Peter Pan all the time. It was a sad day when I grew out of the costume, and I couldn’t squeeze into it anymore.
Then the movie Hook came into my life. Initially, I didn’t like it, but upon reflection I realise I was too young to appreciate it. My problem at the time was that Peter Pan is all grown up in that film, and it didn’t sit right with me. He doesn’t appear in the costume until the final part of the film. Robin Williams also has the line “Everybody has to die someday,” and that scared the living hell out of me. Seriously, that one line gave me sleepless nights for ages. But it’s a film I grew into. And then I watched it when it was on TV a few months after my dad died, and I cried all the way through. A few months ago, Cineworld showed it as part of Steven Spielberg season, and I watched the whole thing with the biggest smile on my face.
It was a couple of months ago, when I was reading Near the Bone, that I learnt Christina Henry had written a book set in the world of Peter Pan which explored the origin story of Captain Hook. I think you know where this is going.
Lost Boy is set before the Peter Pan story that we all know and is told in first-person from the point of view of Jamie. Jamie is not only one of Peter’s lost boys, but is also Peter’s longest-serving companion at this point. Jamie can’t remember his life before Peter brought him to the island. They play all day, swim with mermaids, and fight pirates. Jamie claims to be the best fighter and has a calling card where he cuts off a hand from every pirate he fights.
Jamie notices a change in Peter when a very young boy named Charlie is brought to the island. When Peter doesn’t seem to care about Charlie, Jamie takes it upon himself to look after Charlie. In fact, many of the lost boys begin to inadvertently look to Jamie as a paternal figure. This results in Peter being very jealous of Jamie. As Jamie’s memories begin to come back to him, he thinks that Peter killed his mother before bringing him to the island. Jamie realises that he doesn’t want this life anymore. He wants to leave and go back home. But Peter won’t let anybody leave.
There were elements where this book was written for me. As a childhood Peter Pan fan who is now an adult, this is a darker story set in the world of Neverland. There’s a lot more violence and blood than is ever implied in the other versions of Peter Pan I’ve consumed.
This was an enjoyable book and one that kept me thinking throughout too. Naturally, we’re allowed into Jamie’s head for the entirety of this book. We don’t get to know what Peter’s thinking at any point; we’re only allowed to know what Jamie thinks of him. And that’s a double-edged sword with a first-person narrative. It’s one that leaves you wondering how much you can really trust the narrator. It could well be that everything Jamie tells us is 100% true. But on the other hand, does Jamie only ever let us know what he wants us to think? Is Jamie suffering from a case of main character syndrome? This is a character who becomes Captain Hook, after all. How much can we really trust him?
My Goodreads Rating: ★★★★☆ (4 stars)
