The second half of this book totally renewed it for me and made it a wonderful read. The explanations in this book are incredibly accessible. What a beautiful way of talking about physics.

There was definitely a little bit of "I'm not like other girls" rhetoric here, and the pacing to the plot at times felt a little awkward, but overall a fun read that touched on some tough topics pretty well!

This book did not age well... Usually when I read a classic I try to move past the casual racism or sexism present, but in this case it just affected the story too much. It was the entire motivation for the story, and what makes it worse is that it's in a children's book. Barrie seems to know how twisted some parts of the book are to the point that it seems purposeful that the children are "heartless" creatures and that every other character is unlikeable. Maybe what we expect of children's books today is a sharp contrast from what expectations used to be. Disney and others created some beautiful retellings of this story and Tinker Bell's, but as far as the original book goes, Peter Pan was a pretty big disappointment. What I expected to be a lovely, imagination-inspiring children's book turned out to just be depressing. The fairies weren't even whimsical!!

Molly Keane shows us the difference between the superficiality of simply adhering to social norms through "good behavior" and genuine good-doing, as well as the difference in happiness between polite passivity and authentic, purposeful living. She does this so subtly through her superbly written characters. Not once does she lecture her meaning, rather, she speaks through the actions of her characters, their thoughts, and the inevitable consequences that often appear small but are layered in meaning.