I found Chaney's biography of J.M. Barrie absorbing. She describes his early life in detail and explores how his early life in Scotland provided the material for works like A Window in Thrums, and Sentimental Tommy. She includes a great deal of historical context, including the history of the theater, which helps the reader understand who he was and how he rose to such prominence. At times this material is not as well integrated into the story as it might be. For example, there is a brief paragraph on Beatrice and Sydney Webb, the Fabians, and then they are never heard about again. It leaves you wondering why they were mentioned at all. She also includes references to, say, the reception of the first New York performance of Peter Pan, pages before she tells you that it was performed in New York. These flaws are regrettable because without them it would be a far better book given the wealth of research she has done and the analysis of works that many people may not have read. There's a real treasure trove of material here.

Barrie's life ends in a welter of misery and Chaney does not spare the reader. I rather wish she had, but her decision to include details such as his heroin addiction may have been made on the basis that Barrie, himself, a man whose ability to conjure up imaginary worlds was renown, never shrank from the harsh realities of life. Chaney redeems herself, in my opinion, with a powerful epilogue that contrasts Barrie's use of the imagination to better understand the difficult questions of life and death, with the passive way in which we commonly engage our imaginations today through watching television and streaming movies. ( )

Im on page 62 so far and finding it inspiring. Think fivecats would enjoy this one. ;)

Awesome, not only reviews his work of Peter Pan, but many of his (lesser know today) plays and journalism. Good comparative discussion of the period's views on sexuality and childhood. Covers his early life and later years. Interesting to read of his connections with other writers of the period. ( )

A very indepth and well-done book about Barrie's entire life. It also gives background information on all significant characters in his life and the history of his surroundings, which gives the reader a very good picture of the whole scenario.

The only thing I find confusing is the timeline. Lisa Chaney doesn't do a very good job of keeping the reader informed of -when- everything happens, and oftentimes we jump back and forth for a few years. ( )

This was a very thorough biography of a very enigmatic figure, J.M. Barrie. Even though he is known mainly for the writing of Peter Pan, he was a very prolific and successful author of plays. The most successful of his time in fact. Here we see him from many angles. He was a very complex and intriguing individual who I think may have suffered from bipolar disorder from the description of him in this book. We see clearly his struggles within his family and within himself. I learned a lot about a very interesting character. ( )

This is perhaps the second most over-written book I've ever read. Apparently, neither the editor nor anyone else told (or convinced) Lisa Chaney that just because she has material it doesn't necessarily need to be included in the book. Nor does she believe "less is more." Thus, the reader is bombarded time and again with long portions of books or plays, long passages in letters (his or others), and lots and lots of unnecessary (and frequently boring) material on those Barrie knew and on Barrie.

When she wasn't overloading the reader with material, her writing was dry and frequently uninteresting. Perhaps her text just appears that boring because I just finished a big biography by David McCullough, who makes even the driest material fascinating. Chaney seemed very impressed by all the literary figures that Barrie had contact with and was at pains to tell us about every one. Her literary name dropping was uncalled for and unimpressive.

On the positive side I now know more about Barrie than anyone would care to know and have lots and lots of tidbits to drop into cocktail conversation should I meet anyone I think would be even moderately interested. ( )