lectrixnoctis's reviews
57 reviews

Rupi Kaur is an Indian-Canadiens bestseller novelist and illustrator best known for her two poetry collections "milk and honey" plus "the sun and her flowers". While Kaur was at the University of Waterloo, she started working on her first poetry collecting. 

This collection is described as the journey of surviving  through poetry by the author herself. The collection has four parts: 

The main topics throughout the gathering are love, dealing with loss and trauma, healing from abuse and femininity. 

-the hurting-

 

 I did not expect this book to also talk about child abuse which was a bit graphic description for a poetry book. Nonetheless, I enjoyed reading this part since it also emphasised how the connection with our partners can shape and even damage us.

-the loving-

Especially in this part, I recognised how weird the linguistic choice of the author was for me. Kaur does not use any punctuation except sometimes dots. The lack of rhymes also made the poems dull to read since everything was straight to the point. The most discussed topic in this part was sex which was described a bit uncanny.

-the breaking-

This was adequately my least favourite of all. Reading this thought of someone else for their ex was just a bit cringy. Sometimes I wished it was not as descriptive as it was.

-the healing-

The last part was by far the best one. It has a feminist and uplifting tone, which was a beautiful end to this collection. The message given through these lines is the most important, especially for young readers!

Overall, I enjoyed reading this small collection of relatively short poems. It was not mind-blowing or anything extraordinary, so be warned. I think it gives a delightful reading experience. Still, the lack of punctuation and the sometimes only one-liners were dull. Moreover, the diversity of the type of poems was not there. I would have wished for it.

Madeline Miller is an award-winning American novelist known for "The Song of Achilles" and "Circe". Her books became bestsellers within weeks, and she has worked as a Greek and Latin teacher while writing "The Song of Achilles". She lives in Pennsylvania, the United States of America.

"Circe," tells the story of the daughter of Helios, the god of the sun and mightiest Titan, called Circe. Circe is neither the look nor the voice of divinity and is rejected by her kind. While isolated, she turns to mortals to have at least a bit of companionship. Therefore she discovers her power which is forbidden for god: witchcraft.
When Circe falls in love with a mortal, she asks her grandmother to turn in immortal. She learns that her crush has died to marry another nymph called Scylla as the dead is done. Through her pure jealousy, she transforms the nymph into a various headed monster. Zeus banished her for her regretful Baha'i or to the ornate island of Aiaia.  There she perfects her craft and draws on the strength of nature itself. 
However, she is not always alone; many are destinations to visit in her exile, like Hermes, Daedalus or wily Odysseus. 
In the end, Circe has to decide which side she chooses; the gods or the mortals she grew to love along the way. 

This novel was written in the first-person narrative in the past tense. Everything happens in Ancient Greece on the many islands. 

In the second half of the book, Circe has been alive for more than a thousand years. She becomes more thoughtful about her experiences during many interruptions and when Circe's story takes a darker turn. At those junctions, Miller is thoughtful and reflective. In the book's more sad moments, the author explores Circe's loneliness, alienation and how her experiences or misunderstandings may have warped her perceptions. 
Through the bond of the gods, Titans, Olympians, lesser gods, mortals etc., the book studies the significance of having power and how it is derived, affecting how people associate with each other. Moreover, using a variety of classic Greek Legends to tell a story provides an excellent base and a wide situation to delve into important questions about morals and goodness and pragmatism and ambition and coordinating it all with the requirement to survive and protect yourself.

Overall, I Did enjoy the story; however, I didn't anticipate a bit. I had to understand Greek mythology so much before going into this. If you don't know anything about mythology, do yourself a favour and google a bit before bed; however, the writing is the bomb, and I would highly recommend reading this.

Elizabeth Acevedo, the author of "With the Fire on High" and "The Poet X", won the "National Book Award for Young People's Literature" plus many more awards. She is a National Poetry Slam titleholder and carries an MFA in creative writing from Maryland.

In "With the Fire on High", we follow the story of Emoni Santiago, a 17-year old Afor-Latina teen mum whose passion is to cook wonders in the kitchen. Whenever people taste Emoni's food, some deep insides move them deeply. She is an aspiring chef and dreams of attending a culinary school to improve on her already high skills. However, she has to work things out before von thinking about following her passion. Her grades are not bad, but she could improve in school.
Moreover, she works at a fast food place to earn someone to help her grandmother out, who has been raising her after her mum dies in a childbed. Furthermore, she is a teen mum of a two-year-old girl called Emma, as already mentioned. This is not always easy, and Emoni always tries to be her best self and even if she cannot afford to go to culinary school, she is determined to give her Babygirl a better life.

When her school annoyed a new culinary class with a weeklong apprenticeship in Spain, she feels she has at least tried to get in. Emoni has the chance to participate, but she does not understand yet how much responsibility she has taken on; however, she stays hopeful until the end. Additionally, a new student has transferred to Emoni's high school at the beginning of the year. His name is Malachi who is quite a sensitive boy despite his sometimes dirty jokes. After a while, the pair become friends, but it will happen more and what about Tyrone, the dad of little Emma and Emoni's ex?

The story is written in the limited third-person perspective, and almost the whole plot is set in Philadelphia beside the week trip in Spain. Additionally, the novel was written in the present beside the recurring back flashes. The story was also parted into three parts with a recipe at the being of each component.

The central theme is the struggle of ten motherhood and how it can and will affect your everyday life. Emoni got pregnant at age 14 and gave birth to Emma at 15. Her boyfriend at the time, Tyrone, was only 18 years old. This situation is super complicated, and it weighs heavily on one's shoulders. Despite your body still in development, it is cratering another human being right at the same time. The author has writing The storyline of the protagonist motherhood exquisite and realistic. We follow her feelings thought the pregnancy due to flashbacks and her struggles. It is hard to be pregnant, and I cannot imagine how difficult it must be to still be in high school and Ben going to Sumer school to gain the lost credit back. Not even mention how your fellow pupils will react. This storyline was extraordinary and deserved all its praise.

However, the romance between Emoni and Malachi fell a little bit flat. I enjoyed that they were taking things slow and that Tyrone was all up in Emoni's business. Still, for me, the author could have put more emphasises on that, especially since Emoni is a mum. It was lovely to read that Malachi did not have anything against that, but it just felt a bit too quick solved in the end. Furthermore, his tragic backstory was not discussed in this book, and I found it hard to believe it was realistic.

At the end of the book, the drama between Pretty Lesley and Emoni felt a bit childish since Emoni has dealt with a lot worse, and it felt weird to over drag this little fight so much. The book was sometimes a bit dragged out.
 
I loved the presentation of this book: The main characters being all BIPOC and even Emoni's best friend, Angelica, being a lesbian and deeply in love with her girlfriend Laura, was just too cute. Furthermore, I enjoyed that the book touched on heavy subjects like racism or death very caring and informative.

Overall, I would recommend this book to anyone who would like to read a light and humourless story with darker tones. I found that the book was traced to a slightly younger audience and that some plotlines were more vital than others.

V.E. Schwab is probably one of the most famous authors of Young Adult books of our time. She is a Bestellung authored not only "The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue" but many more, for example ", The Shade of Magic"-series. She is known for her beautiful writing style and her dedication to her books. I am pretty sure you already read a work of her, but be sure to pick one up.

We follow the story of Adeline LaRue, a young woman who wants to be free and live her life like she wants to. But perhaps being born in the 17th century is not ideal for her dream of living an independent life. She runs off on her wedding eve as she ought to marry another local of Villon-Sur-Sarthe, France. In the woods of Villon, she pleads to unfamiliar gods. After endless begging, a god or perhaps a devil finally answers her calls. However, now she has to make a decision that will change her life forever. Does she want to be free, even if she has to give up her soul? As the darkling, who's named Luc, intends to leave Adeline alone in the woods, she finally decides to give up her soul to be free, but under the condition that she tell him when she is done with her life, he can have her soul. The presents grant her wish, but under the condition that everyone she meets will forget her after not leaving her alone for a split second. 
But after almost 300 years, she finally meets someone who can remember her even after a day. She is complete shocked by this and wants to learn more about this particular human. His name is Henry Strauss, and he is in his late twenties. Not forgetting to mention almost double of the darkness reaping souls. The only thing that secrets them from appearance-wise is their eye colour; while Luc, the darkness, has poisons green eyes, Henry's are a bright blue shade. Addie finds herself in a sticky situation after falling for Henry. What will the future hold for her? Does she finally give Luc her soul?

This novel is written in the present and from a third-person omniscient narrator. The storyline springs through the ages from Villon-Sur-Sarthe in 1714 to New York in 2014, while making some stops between them, for example, Munich in 1872 or New Orleans in 1984

This story is about power dynamics and how they can virtually change but still be imbalanced. Humans sometimes hold onto the most toxic relationships that they cannot seem to let go of even if they are hurting them even more. Furthermore, it reflects how desperate a human being can be to search for their happiness and what they will give up to be not alone. We get to see the good and the ugly. We read about the lowers points of Addie's long way to happiness and the hurt that has to build up all these centuries. It also highlights how mental health can be such a hard thing to maintain. 

I am not in the LGBTQIA+ community nor BIPOC, and I do not want to speak over their voices. I believe that this book has some good representation. Being LGBT+ Or BIPOC is not the main character trait of the main/side characters, which is refreshing. They have more levels, and every character feels super fleshed out and complexed. Maybe it is because every character has flaws, which makes them seem like they're real.

One of the main themes of this book is forgetting and remembering. While this may seem quite dull: I can tell you it is not. Just imagine you remember everything while the person with who you shared mane memories cannot recognise you for the life of them. At the same time, the only one who can remember you for enuresis is you charming yet abusive devil who ought to terrorise you till you are willing to surrender your soul. V.E. Schwab has done beautiful things with the character, Luc since he is intriguing and easily romanised but still maintains his role as an abuser so well. Henry, who is feeling a lot of mental health problems like depression, seems like a beautiful broke person who wants to be loved so badly and think for once that he is finally enough. Lastly, Addie is a solid female character who knows what is worth fighting for and when to give up on a sure thing. 

I am entirely overwhelmed by how I grew to love this story and how beautiful Schwab's writing style is. This book is a masterpiece, and I do not use that word lightly. Now I know why everyone loves her stories and characters so much. If all her books are like this, I am going to be extremely broke.

Dacre Stoker, an author athlete and working in films and movies, is the great-grandnephew of the legend himself, Bram Stoker. He decided to carry on with the family duty and dive into the world of the undead. 
The co-author Ian Holt studied creative writing and later became an author himself.

In "Dracula the Undead", we follow the story of the surviving characters from Bram Stoker's Orginal "Dracula", which are now 25 years older and still profoundly traumatised. Everything takes place in the year 1912 in London. Quincey Harker, the son of Jonathan and Mina, named after Quincey Morris, who died in the original novel, just left his law studies for the stage.  In the upcoming production, he encounters Bram Stoker himself, who is currently working and bring his book "Dracula" to life. In the play, plunges Quincey discovers the dirty secret of his parents and how these affected them. Maybe he is still out there? Waiting...
Meanwhile, the Blood-Countess Elizabeth Bathory come to England and brings pure misfunction on our once beloved heroes. She is pure evil and is present to destroy everything in her way. Will history repeat itself our can Van Helsing's allies stop these evil monsters?

This novel is writing in the past tense, and we view it in the third person. It is not an epistolary novel like the original, and it is writing in very accessible language.

If I could give this novel negative stars, I would trust me on that. I have never read such utter rubbish in my entire life. Suppose you loved "Dracula" by Bram Stoker as I do, please never consider reading this "novel". The story does not feel like it is a continuation of the original. 

For example, Jonathan Harker is a drunk and cheating arse trapped in a loveless marriage, while Mina is mourning her loss of Dracula, whom she despised in the original.

Additionally, the authors refer to Dracula as a prince who would be is correct if you speak of Vlad Draculae, the real person, but not Dracula, the fictional character. The language, as already mentioned, is highly accessible, and you can tell that this. The book was written more than 100 years after the Frist one. 

Moreover, the whole storyline with Elizabeth Bathory is just gross. Yes, she was a serial killer and a horrible person, but did the authors make her a lesbian? NO! Furthermore, they explain her lesbianism to her hatred of God, and it was caused due to her loveless marriage. The bit where Bathroy slept with her aunt felt horrible to read. It was weird to read about her since she was a living human being, although a monstrous one; I am not too fond of the authors' decision to include her. Remember, this book was written in 2009.

Additionally, did they have to include Bram Stoker?! This was not a wise choice, in my opinion, since it burls the lines between reality and fiction, which only made this novel worse than it already was. The rivalry with Oscar Wilde and Bram Stoker felt a bit unnecessary. 

Please, do me a favour and do not buy this book or support these authors. It is a true shame what they did to Dracula and its characters.

Daniel Defoe was an English writer and journalist in the early Enlightenment era. His ordinal name is most likely Daniel Foe, and he was born in London in 1660. Defoe later added the more aristocratic sounding "De" to his name, and on occasion, claimed descent from the family of De Beau Faux. In his childhood, he experienced the Great Plague of London in 1665 and the Great Fire of London in the following year. Additionally, his mother died when he was only about ten years old. Nonetheless, he is probably most known for his novels, although he has many political pamphlets and satirical poems. He is most known for his book "Robinson Crusoe".

"A Journal of the Plague Years" refers to the before-mentioned Great Plague, which killed more than 100.000 people between December 1664 and February 1666 in London. The story is fictionalised based on the events that Defoe has witnessed as a young child. The author of the journal H.F. notes that Londoners believe that the plague might return to London as newspapers report cases in nearby Holland. The first cases in London appeared in December 1664. The city experiences relatively few cases at first until May 1665. The author considers fleeing the city to live with H.F.'s elder brother in the countryside. A Bible passage convinces him to stay in London. The Deaths by July reach around 1,700 per week. H.F. notices that people's temperaments and emotions are changing rather quickly. Fewer people go out, and many starts to shutter up their homes.  Londoners believe as early as autumn 1664 that a calamity is coming to an end them all. They believe this because they have seen a comet over the city. Therefore, they turn to soothsayers and fortune-tellers to find out if they will survive the plague or not. Londoners buy up dubious cures and treatments. H.F. does not believe in these superstitions since he is a devout Christianity.
The plague arrives in December 1664 sets off a great panic in the city. Many Londoners, including the English royal family, flee to the countryside to save themselves. Many doctors and nurses also run. Therefore there are fewer people to treat the sick. H.F. has massive respect for the medical professionals who remain and help those suffering from the disease. After that, the reader follows the extreme damage the plague has left and found out more about the lives of the people who have to remain and their daily life in that epidemic.

The events of this book are told by a first-person narrator who lived during the Great Plague. Sometimes the journal dresses the reader directly by using the second person. The story is written in the past tense; hence, the narrator writes many years after the events. 

The Thames of this book is not surprisingly quite dark, for example, the morbid curiosity of the author throughout the whole book. H.F. mentioned are plenty of disturbing facts and occurrences. He describes the inhumane suffering of the people and the monied way they found their end. Since the author wants to be as accurate as possible, he even ventures outside to track terrifying events, such as the mass graves. 

Another theme is the inhumanity of the people living through this dark age. The plague has brought put the worst in Londoners. The watchman murders if only one person has remained sick in the house they are watching. Many people even broke into homes to steal from those who were either dead or ill.  As mentioned, many cannot find medical care and have to die in horrible ways, leading to the cruel practice of this time. Defoe criticise many arguments for perusing the reader that people have to deal with the plague correctly and mentioned that if people had remained calm and quarantined in houses, the disease would not have this enormous chance to wrap someone's lives out.

Although many Londoners go to fortune-tellers and try to see if they will make it out of the plague, the author remains a robust Christian belief. In his opinion, only Christians can bring salvation and his faith is not proven wrong since eventually, the plague goes away.

This book was very intriguing and quite informative to read. However, reading this in the age of COVID-19 felt a little bit strange. There were many parallels in that plague with our current pandemic, and I have to say human behaviour does not change even after almost 400 years. We may not murder each other, but we still are very short-tempered out of fear. I would not recommend this book to the vast majority. However, I do believe history nerds will find it enjoyable. For me, the description was a bit too dry and unnecessary detailed at times.

Abraham Stoker is one of the most famous authors who was born in Dublin. He was bedridden due to an unidentifiable illness till the age of seven. After graduation from Trinity College, he began to work as a civil servant and even writing journalism and short stories. Although he has written many books, his most famous one is "Dracula".

The story begins with Jonathan Harker, a young British lawyer, as he travels to Transylvania. Since he plans to meet with Count Dracula, a client of his firm, to finalize a property transaction, when he arrives in Transylvania, the local citizen reacts with extreme terror after telling them his destination: Castle Dracula. Though it makes him slightly uncomfortable, he continues onward. The weird howling of wolves rings through the air as he arrives at the old castle. When Harker meets the Count, he acknowledges that the man is pale, gaunt, and strange behaving. Harker becomes even more concerned after Harker cuts himself while shaving, Dracula lunges at his throat. Soon after that, Harker is seduced by three beautiful female vampires, from whom he barely escapes. He then discovers Dracula's dark secret—a bloodthirsty vampire who only survives because of human blood. Jonathan correctly assumes that he is to be the count's next victim. He attacks the count. However, his efforts are unsuccessful. The Count leaves Harker trapped in the castle and then, along with 50 boxes of dirt, departs for England. As Dracula enters England, the entire nation and even Harkers fiancée has her best friend Lucy Westenra at risk. Only one can help them end the bloodshed: Van Helsing, a Dutch specialist from Amsterdam.

The story is primarily told throughout a collection of journal entries, letters and even written and recorded telegrams by the main characters: Jonathan Harker, Mina Murray, Dr John Seward, Lucy Westenra and Dr Van Helsing. Therefore, the point of view shifts among these characters in the first person. The book is set in England and Eastern Europe and plays at the end of the nineteenth century. 

"Dracula" has many fundamental themes which make this book into a literal masterpiece. One of the first ones that will come to your mind is the consequences of modernity. Early in the novel, as Harker begins to feel uncomfortable in the castle, he notes that modernity can question someone's beliefs and even their systems. It is a powerful division between Victorian London, full of advancements of modernity, and the rundown Castile in Transylvania. When Lucy is under Dracula's spell, modern devotees cannot help her. Only Van Helsing can since he keeps an open mind about ancient legends and proves that all knowledge is worth knowing even if it is not the typical western one. 

Another theme is the threat of female sexual expression. It might surprise someone who has not read this novel yet, but it is packed with sexual undertones, especially those from the Victorian male gaze. There were only two options for a woman in Victorian society: either the beautiful virgin and a model of purity or a mother and wife. If you happened to be either of these, you were considered a whore: The character Lucy Westenra is a depiction of that since she was pure and angelic before she eventually fell under the spell of Dracula and died a horrible death because of her "wild" behaviour. Mina Murray is the complete opposite of Lucy and, therefore, the ideal Victorian woman.

Even the promise of Christian salvation is portrait in "Dracula". The Count is depicted as the most veiled and satanic figure walking on earth with sharp teeth, pointy ears, and flaming eyes. He is bloodthirsty, and those who fall under his spell are turned into monsters who remain eternal while slowly losing their souls. Only the second death of those under the period gets their chance of Christian salivation and regain their purity.

Due to the strange events which have taken place in this novel, characters often question if they are, in fact, sane or not what brings us to the next theme. Jonathan is not sure if his memories after returning to his fiancée are von real or if they were only a fever dream. Renfield, a patient under Dr Seward's care, is depicted as a madman who does foreshadow Draculas's evil plans.

While Dracula is undoubtedly evil and dangerous figure, his national origin makes him threatening the main characters. As a citizen of Eastern Europe, Dracula is portrayed as significantly different from his English, American, and Dutch enemies; as he explains to Harker, their ways are different from his. On Jonathan's last night at the castle, he looks at the sleeping count and thinks with horror that he is helping this "creature" getting into London.

This book is hands down my favourite novel of all time. I cannot imagine my life without it. Although "Dracula" can be strange to read at first and you have to get accustomed to it, it is highly worth it. I cannot help but love this book. It is a gothic masterpiece everyone should have read at least once in their life. If you have not read this novel, be sure to pick it up now.

Lewis Carroll, pseudonym of Charles Lewis Dodgson, was the eldest son and the third child of his family. He is undoubtedly best known for "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" and "Through the Looking Glass" sequel. He was a British novelist and poet. By the time of his death, the Alice series has become the most popular children's book in England.

"Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" begins with Alice sitting on a riverbank on a warm summer day while sitting next to her sister when she catches a White Rabbit in a waistcoat. The White Rabbit pulls out his pocket watch, exclaims that he is running late, and jumps into a rabbit hole. Alice follows him into the hole and finds herself in a grand hallway lined up with different doors. She finds a key on the nearby table, but it only fits with the most miniature door. She sees a beautiful garden; however, she realises that she cannot work through it. She finds a bottle with the words "DRINK ME" on it and drinks it. She shrinks down to the perfect size to fit through the door; however, the key lays on the table. After many tries she Alice begins to cry as she does; she shrinks down and falls into the sea of tears. The pool of tears becomes a sea, and as she treads water, she meets a Mouse. The Mouse accompanies Alice to shore, where several animals stand gathered on a bank. After a "Caucus Race," Alice scares the animals away with tales of her cat, Dinah, and finds herself alone again. After that, her journey starts in wonderland, where she meets many mad citizens and the Queen of Hearts.

Throughout the book, Alice goes through various absurd and bizarre physical changes, which gives her discomfort. This feeling is often felt during puberty. This can sometimes be a very traumatic experience. Alice wants to be the right size but is mostly too small or too big to Exeter the garden in Chapter 1. In Chapter 5, however, she loses control of the size of specific body parts like her neck. These constant changes can represent how children feel during growing up. However, this could also resent how a person feels when they have an ED.

Alice also encounters many puzzles which she is unable to solve. This becomes very frustrating since she desperately wants to understand the Caucus race or the meaning of the words of the Caterpillar. Alice learns through her journey that some things are unsolvable and cannot expect logic in everything. Carroll represents this way how frustrating life can be and that interpretations often don't help. This could also be interpreted that life itself is meaningless and unsolvable. 

Furthermore, Alice always finds herself fighting for her life, although these threats are never materialised. It represents that death is always closer than you think and that some risks are worth taking. 

While this whole book is somewhat confusing, it is no stripes that all this is happening in a dream.  Dreams often symbols is over the unconscious side and can even be translated to our fears in life.

Overall, I did enjoy reading this book. However, I admit that I like the movie adaptions more since they have more sense in them. So tickets this novel seems a. Bit all over the place, I know it is the goal of it, but some adventures of Alice do not seem that critical than others.

"The Octunnumi" is the debut and prologue of the upcoming series by Trevor Alan Foris. We follow the story of 18-year-old twin brothers called Regious Sedwint Eniexous (Reig) and Tradien. Everwick Thivimus (Trad) who are "Tarelens". These are beings who can regenerate. Also, their consciousness is passed on from regeneration. "Talents" have created "The Octunnumi", an organisation that monitors and protects the gateways between the different universes called "Innesomids". In this book, you will read about many other species and magic living in each other's universes.

This novel was my first high-fantasy book, and I have to say sometimes it was pretty confusing. The main characters interact with different species and visit other worlds throughout the book. This novel also connects this magical world to our human one. Furthermore, we learn a lot o about new characters and different species, which can lead to brain error. Thankfully, the little booklet, which has all the pronunciations of the names of the places/species, helped me a lot. Still, it would have been better, in my opinion, to integrate these definitions more into the story itself. 

The book is pretty funny at times, but I disked how Trad stated that "knitting is only for girls" since it is for "weak beings". Throughout the whole novel Trad who openly misogynistic and was not exactly my favourite character, to be honest. However, I did like his twin brother much better. The humourous side was portrait perfectly and was witty and sarcastic, which can be hard to write. These humourous scenes were mainly between the well-developed relationship between Trad and Reig.

"The Octunnumi" was highly fast-paced, which also sometimes led to confusion since you were sometimes thrown into a scene/chapter. The novel is quite complex with all the incredible world-building and its various characters, and sometimes it felt a bit too much. I would have liked it more if we had learned slower about this world and different characters' powers. It felt a bit rushed at times and as if the author wanted to give us as much information and storylines as possible.

Overall, I enjoyed this book. Do not get me wrong, three stars is a rating for a solid book, and I believe it; it was not so confusing and all over. At the time, I would have rated it four stars out of 5 stars. The book was funny, and the writing was relatively accessible, although I sometimes struggled with various characters and worlds. I would recommend this book for all my high-fantasy lovers out there, and I am sure that this book will be a start to something fantastic. I am already excited about the following books! Additionally, Can we appreciate the appearance of the book for a second?! It's amazing!

James M. Barrie was the ninth of ten children born into a working-class religious family in Scotland. When Barrie was six years of age, his older brother David died at age 13 in a skating accident. After that, Barrie tried to cheer up his mother by writing stories, performing plays, and wearing David's clothes. James M. Barrie attended the University of Edinburgh and later wrote for various Scottish newspapers. One of his best-known works is "Peter Pan". However, it was first written as a play and later adapted into a novel. A few years before his death in 1927, J. M. Barrie donated all "Peter Pan" rights to Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital. In the year 1987, fifty years after Barrie's death, the copyright expired under UK law; however, the following year in a unique Act of Parlament restored the royalties, which means that even today, as long as the hospital exists, very sich children benefit from Berrie's generous gift.

The story begins in the nursery of the home of the Darlings, where Mrs Darling put her children to bed. She does seem supposed that all three children are thinking of a mysterious boy named Peter Pan. When Mrs Darling asks about him, her daughter Wendy explains that Peter does visit them when they are all fast asleep. One night when Mrs Darling is in the nursery, Peter Pan comes to visit. As he noticed the adult in the room, he jumps out of the window, but his shadow is trapped by the children's canine nanny Nana.
A few days later, Peter Pan revisit the Darling children. Since Nana is in the garden, Mr and Mrs Darling have left for a party and left the children unguarded. Wendy helps Peter secure his shadow back to himself, and he confesses that he has been listening to their bedtime stories to tell the lost boys them too. When he asks Wendy to visit them on Neverland, she hesitates but agrees. She and her brothers Jon and Micheal learn how to fly and set off to Neverland, where they will encounter various adventures with the lost boys who so desperately need a mother and the wicked Captain Hook.

Much of the humour and sadness in Barrie’s novel arises from the differences between society’s idea of a child and an actual child. So in a certain way, the book is deeply rooted in the adult idealizations of childhood –a thought that emerged in the 17th and 18th centuries, when many nations first instituted compulsory elementary education.

The book was written in the first person omniscient point of view and past tense.

One of the centre symbols in this children's book is the kiss. However, the narrator tells us that Peter Pan is highly hateful and wild toward adults. He does like Mrs Darling's kiss. The "kiss" at the corner of Mr Darling's mouth is, although hits are nothing visible, a charm and an inaccessible depth. The kiss does, like Peter, represent youth: the detachment of growing up. Although Mrs Darling's kiss remained of total freedom yet, it brings safety. It is like something mysterious or rather a magical shield.

Another symbol is the ticking crocodile which represents time itself. It mainly shows the movement of time from beginning to end as if the time runs out. The crocodile remains throughout the novel invent yet vicious since it is only following its instinct. Captain James Hook is extremely afraid of the crocodile siren. It already ate his hand, but it can also be interpreted that he is like almost all citizens of Neverland, fearful of growing up/dying.

Nonetheless, the book does some flaws. Although it was customary at the time, how Barrie described the indigenous people of Neverland is highly offensive, and he does use slurs for them and describes them as "wild". I also think that some scenes are a bit too graphic for a children's book since they have deaths and even murder scenes. 

Overall, I enjoyed reading "Peter Pan", and since it was one of my favourite Disney movies, I was very invested in the story. I like it more than the Disney adaptation itself, and I can recommend it to anyone who wants to read an adventurous children's novel.