Fifteen-year-old Tiger Lily doesn't believe in love stories or happy endings. Then she meets the alluring teenage Peter Pan in the forbidden woods of Neverland and immediately falls under his spell.
Peter is unlike anyone she's ever known. Impetuous and brave, he both scares and enthralls her. As the leader of the Lost Boys, the most fearsome of Neverland's inhabitants, Peter is an unthinkable match for Tiger Lily. Soon, she is risking everything—her family, her future—to be with him. When she is faced with marriage to a terrible man in her own tribe, she must choose between the life she's always known and running away to an uncertain future with Peter.
With enemies threatening to tear them apart, the lovers seem doomed. But it's the arrival of Wendy Darling, an English girl who's everything Tiger Lily is not, that leads Tiger Lily to discover that the most dangerous enemies can live inside even the most loyal and loving heart. (From Goodreads)
Tiger Lily broke my heart. Utterly ripped me up and tore me to shreds. Like all things that are worth it, you just have to go in knowing there isn't a happy ending, but still go through it because it's beautiful and inspiring.
I got off to a rocky start with Tiger Lily. The story is narrated by Tinker Bell, and during the set up to the story I was worried she was too whimsical for me to follow. Once she got through all the introductory elements and the story began, all these worries faded and it turns out Tink is a brilliant narrator. She's the perfect person to observe, and her voice is so full of raw emotion that it practially drips off the pages. Her love for Peter and her fascination with Tiger Lily make her the perfect narrator to expose the gravity and devestation that leaks out of this beautiful story.
I'm so fascinated by Victorian England and colonialism and this book is so full of colonial connotations: An Englishman washes up on shore and after Tiger Lily saves him, he then attempts to convert the tribe to Christianity. This story line is enriched by Tik Tok, the shaaman and Tiger Lily's adoptive father. He is one of the most fascinating characters and I think I felt the need to write down every word that came down out of his mouth. His story line was subtle and underplayed, but it is so important in the larger picture. Because this book goes so far beyond Tiger Lily and Peter Pan. It's about the world getting smaller and magic slipping away. It's about time and what time really means in different contexts. The images and concepts of time were much more than the standard - I don't want to grow up - stubbornness that we've come to associate with Peter Pan. Time is an inevitability, bringing fluctuations in space, cultures, even the people to whom it seemingly has to effect.
Between knowing that Wendy is going to show up and draw Peter away into civilization and knowing that eventually this world will disappear into myth because of that civilization heartbreak is a part of the inevitability of time. But the story has its moments of beauty and happiness - Tiger Lily running around with Peter and the Lost Boys - Pine Sap and all the sweet things he does - Tik Tok's moments of wisdom - the crows that the tribe believe Tiger Lily controls - and the best, when Tink realizes that Tiger Lily and Peter notice her when she's around, even though she doesn't expect them to.
Jodi Lynn Anderson's retelling of one of my favorite classic stories is absolutely brilliant. It's full of love and magic, wildness and beauty. This is a book you cherish, one you hold close to your heart. There's so much more to it than I can even articulate. I know I'll go back and read it and it will give me something new, will become deeper and more meaningful. Despite the heartbreak Tiger Lily caused, I'm still so in love.
