#heartless

Also the characters:

Not really, unfortunately. I didn’t get many recommendations and generally was familiar with most of it already. Two of my personal favorite “obscure” retellings are the books Midnight in Neverland by Perry Bradford-Wilson and Michael Norris and Heartless by HG Parry. Another fun one is Hooked by Bobbi JG Weiss. (Some mild spoilers ahead.)

Midnight in Neverland takes a slightly more realistic approach to the island as a place you can actually get to on the seas, though there are definitely still supernatural elements with Peter as a sort of almost vampiric creature. But what I really like about this take is the unique depth of character development in Mr. Smee, who in this version is a sort of missionary priest in the Caribbean and whose selflessness and gentleness really shines. Also, Hook in this version is looking for Neverland as a “cure” to his terminal illness which is never explicitly named but which is implied to be a brain tumor given his awful headaches and slow descent into madness. It’s a tragic take on the character for sure.

Heartless is brilliant in the themes it touches on of the importance of storytelling (and the stories we tell about ourselves), growing up and taking responsibility, and forgiveness. Neither Hook nor Pan is truly evil in this version. Rather, Peter is “heartless” due to the fairies’ attempts to bring him back from the brink of death. They essentially resurrect him but he’s clearly missing something that makes him essentially human. And Hook eventually realizes that the pain Peter caused him and others was not as intentional as he’d initially believed. He’s able to accept his role as being portrayed as a villain and accept even his own death with a sort of gentle, sad grace that few Hooks are given.