Buy the book from Amazon UK
Teenage
Simon and Schuster
Hardback £12.99
ISBN: 068983747X
Reviewed by Rhiannon Lassiter
[Armadillo 6.2 Summer 2004]
There is something eternal about J. M. Barries Peter Pan, a quality that reaches out to people and fuels the countless adaptations, interpretations and homages of the story of the boy who never grew up. But Karen Wallaces story stands out from the rest of the pack, because this story touches only very lightly on its inspiration. In fact the connection is sufficiently tenuous that Im surprised the book carries the Peter Pan name on its cover.
Wendys strength is in the artistry with which Wallace portrays of the life of a Edwardian child. Intelligent, curious and watchful Wendy wonders at the strangeness of the adult world that surrounds her. A brutal Nanny, distant parents and her only playmates a girl she dislikes and her two younger brothers conspire to make Wendy introspective. Throughout the novel she broods over the incomprehensive activities of adults, shocked and sickened by what she guesses and imagines about love, marriage and sexuality.
The Darlings are unrecognisable from their Barrie counterparts. Mrs Darling is na«ve and ineffectual, Mr Darling a boastful drunk, John and Michael grizzling annoyances. Wendy loves them all, even when she wishes she didnt, showing a humanity that includes harsh Nanny Holborn and sly Letitia Cunningham. But her best friends are Nana, who she imbues with the personality of a wise guardian, and Thomas a boy who everyone else calls ¥mad.
Unlike the fantasy world of Barries Pan, this novel has a grinding reality. Suffragettes, bankruptcy, the rise of the automobile, its all grist to the mill and no wonder Wendy thinks she may be going mad øfrom listening to grown-ups too much." This story lies like a shadow behind Neverland: a world where growing up is a brutalisation and adults behave like lunatics.
Even though the ending postulates an upturn in the family fortunes, the final link to Peter Pan comes with a story Wendy tells herself of a world she can escape to in her dreams. øHumankind cannot bear very much reality," wrote Eliot and led us into gardens of make-believe. But the reality Wallace has given this book serves to sharpen appreciation of the dreamworld that inspired it.