Peter Pan in Scarlet

[Isa]

Yes, maybe she would have expanded it if she hadn't been so sick, who knows? It's interesting to think about what turn her career might have taken if she had lived on, she died at such a young age...

[Kristie]

i know that persuasion was the book most like her own life and for that reason maybe it isn't as enthralling as the others. i mean, why do we read books? usually to take us to places and times we've never been and experience things that will never happen in reality. and so when there was something that was like a real life it just got boring. i feel sorry for austen if her life was as mundane as she wrote in this book. i understand why she would want to, i mean that's why people write (auto)biographies, but it just fell short of her other works in the fiction aspect...

[Isa]

Maybe the reason I like it so much is because I studied it in class and my prof was really good at pointing out how with this novel she achieved a level of artistic integrity she hadn't reached in her previous novels, and that's what stuck with me. It's hard to tell if I would have enjoyed it as much otherwise... it's not my favorite Austen novel, but it's definitely not my least favorite either. But I guess every Austenite has his/her own favorite/least favorite novel!

[czarval]

The writing itself was brilliant, and the plot had promise. Its just that the characters were so boring.

[Kristie]

i agree with that...maybe that's why i didn't enjoy it much

[czarval]

That was my biggest problem. The characters are always the best part.

[Kristie]

I just finished reading Peter Pan in Scarlet by Geraldine McCaughrean. I was a bit skeptical at first, because it's another author sequel. But I actually liked it just like the first Peter Pan. I think that McCaughrean did a wonderful job capturing James Barrie's writing style and style of adventure for the characters. She did an excellent job throughout. One thing I loved about this was making the abstract concepts, like music, tangible. McCaughrean introduced a new character, Fireflyer (a fairy) and he ate the music notes as Slightly played his clarinet. It followed Barrie's style very well. She did leave the ending somewhat open so another book could be written. That'd be fine with me and I'd read it too, but I don't ever want Peter to actually leave Neverland. He's youth and joy and where else can he stay that way but Neverland?
(I'm going to repost this on the thread I started for this book)

[Wendy]

Hello everyone!

I am currently reading Peter Pan in Scarlet and while I was sceptical at first, too, I would never judge a book before reading it. I mean, yes, most other-author-sequels happen to be bad, but so do most movie adaptations of books, and still we keep running to the movies to see if maybe this time, it turned out better. And sometimes it does!

Peter Pan in Scarlet (I'm halfway through) is certainly not comparable to Barrie's excellent work, but Geraldine McCaughrean tries and succeeds at times to capture his way of storytelling, to throw in nice little details that make Neverland come alive.

The plot, if any of you are still intersted, is that Wendy and the (formerly) Lost Boys need to return to Neverland - a difficult task in itself as they're all grown up - and when they get there they discover that quite a lot of things have changed.
There's piracy, there's adventure and Peter is the most changed of all. Still cocky as hell but different.

I really like that I still don't know what's going to happen in the end but I do expect Hook to return somehow... or maybe not.

@the Janeites: I totally agree, Persuasion was the only boring novel by Jane Austen. My favourite is Emma! ;D

[bookworm148]

I can't believe they made a sequel to Peter Pan! I know it won't be as good.