Title: Hook's Tale: Being the Account of an Unjustly Villainized Pirate Written by Himself
Author: John Leonard Pielmeier
Genre: Fiction
About the book…
Written as the first person narrative of James Cook (wrongly known as Hook), consisting of an account of his childhood, how he arrived in Neverland, his experiences there, and why he left and returned again.
What I think…
Being especially sick of both books and movies that try to make the villains sympathetic or to write a "better" version of the story or just water them down to happy cheerful things, I was somewhat hesitant about reading this book when I came across it. However, I have nothing but good things to say about it!
Pielmeir very clearly admires James Barrie and his works. The characters are in many ways, Cook/Hook excluded, in keeping with their original counterparts and rather than coming across as trying to improve upon them, Pielmeir manages to make them his own while still respecting Barrie's presentation of them. Done equally well is the way he takes classic elements of the story that everyone is familiar with and presents them in a fresh manner.
I also liked how the story begins with a reference to The Little White Bird , which I liked as so few people seem to ever talk about it (the first stories about Peter Pan appear in it).
It was well written and in a style that was reflective of writing from the 1800's and early 1900's. It was also quite hard to put down once I picked it up.
There is a considerable amount of humor used in it (one of the sailor's names is preceded by the word Bloody, not because he's horrible, but because he tends to have a lot of accidents and Daisy the crocodile being Cook's pet offers some fun elements), but in a way that works with the how he's told the story and that balances some of the darker elements.
To sum it all up...
An engaging read for anyone who love Barrie's Peter Pan and one that I wish wouldn't have come to an end so soon. ♥
