I wish that some things were a little less spelled out, but I still enjoyed reading it, and really liked the concept of the book overall.

Betwixt And Between by Jessica Stilling is a beautifully written book that uses the Peter Pan legend to explain where little boys go when they die. Neverland becomes their temporary home until both they and their grieving loved ones are ready to let them go. This is a story that unfolds on many levels as we read of the death of Preston at the hands of a deranged killer, the grieving process that his parents, Claire and Matthew, work through, the solving of Preston’s murder, and the author also delves into the original Peter Pan story and gives us her version of how Wendy Darling came to Neverland.

These many different story threads are distinct and easy to follow. Both emotionally draining and uplifting this was a unique and interesting way to explore the themes of loss, grief and redemption. I thought this using of Neverland as an in-between place with Peter Pan as the immortal ferryman was a clever and original idea that actually enhances the myth. All the familiar characters are here, Tinkerbelle, Captain Hook, the Lost Boys, the Mermaids and Indians, but each has their own role in the author’s vision of Neverland.

Betwixt And Between was a one-of-a-kind read and one of the most individualistic renditions of another literary masterpiece that I have read. The author’s embodiment of this legend reveals her rich imagination and produced a book that I will long remember. ( )

Stilling awkwardly connects the murder of 2 boys to Barrie's Peter Pan. Offsetting her realistically detailed description of the horrendous loss, grief and mourning by the 2 sets of parents with the circus-like atmosphere of Neverland where dead boys materialize on their way to the After is bizarre and ludicrous. Boys get to play in Neverland but there are pirates to avoid, cowboys and Indians who fight each other, fairies who speak their own language and a teenage boy, Peter, to care for them! Other than giving tours and flying lessons what does he really do for the Lost Boys?

Preston seems to be different than most of the others; he misses his mom and realizes the killer is still loose, and his friend may be in danger. He asks Peter to help. Peter takes him on a stupid "adventure" with Captain Hook to distract him.
Peter eventually does do the right thing but why would he need to be pushed to do it? Seems he needs Wendy to "mother" him but in this book that isn't right. She and Peter marry but directly after the ceremony Wendy returns home to London to grow up. When Peter finally visits her in London, he is turned off because Wendy (Winifred) is a wife and mother... an adult! It takes her a long time to prove she is truly Wendy.

(Didn't John and Michael ever play anything but pirates and say "en garde?")

I don't believe this novel works well. There are two disparate stories pushed together like oil and water and they don’t mix. ( )

When 10 year old Preston is poisoned and dies, he ends up in Neverland, a place between the Before and the After. Here, Peter Pan is the leader of all the Lost Boys who die in childhood whose parents and loved ones haven't quite let go. Preston is content to play in Neverland, which is a bit different from all the stories he remembers from Before, but when one of his friends ends up in Neverland, Preston becomes fixated on finding out who killed them both and somehow telling his mother in the Before so that no other children die. But only one person has come to Neverland and then left again: a girl named Wendy whose memory still haunts Peter.

An intriguing reimagining of Peter Pan, this novel definitely isn't a light read. With perspectives that alternate from Preston, his mother, Claire, and the Darlings in turn of the century London, there are multiple strands of narrative that intertwine in surprising ways. The book starts out with a punch in the gut as we watch Claire learn that her son has been killed and her grief is a devastating force throughout. However, Stilling's view of Neverland and her takes on the mermaids, pirates, and cowboys and Indians of Neverland are a fascinating new take on Neverland. My only quibble with the novel is that it was poorly copy-edited with distracting spelling and grammar errors cropping up a bit too frequently for my tastes. Definitely recommended if you're a fan of Peter Pan but be prepared as this novel isn't all fun and games. ( )

This one is hard to classify, and I wanted to take my time sorting out my thoughts because it is hard to describe what this book is about without giving too much away. It takes the story of Peter Pan and transforms it into something else while still letting it exist within its original structure, if that makes any sense. I love fractured fairy tales and so this was right up my alley. According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, betwixt and between is defined as "in a midway position : neither one thing nor the other". In Stilling's book, this is what Peter Pan is - Betwixt and Between. He is a conduit between two worlds - our current physical world and the After. Neverland is a type of way station for boys who have died too soon, whose friends and relatives cannot let them go. And also a place for children who have experienced too much pain to heal before moving on. The rules have changed in this re-imagined Neverland. Pirates are not just villains, they are the worst kind of evil - men who have intentionally hurt and murdered children, who have preyed on them. And the Indians and the Cowboys each have their own defined parameters, too.

The book begins with the murder of Preston - he has eaten a poisoned cookie and is the newest arrival in Neverland. As Preston meets Pan and tries to piece together his memories, back in the world that he came from his mother Claire is mourning and trying to understand what has happened. The reader shifts between Claire's thoughts and Preston's, and to these a third story is added - that of the original Wendy. Because Preston did not arrive in Neverland in the usual manner, he has arrived as only one other before him, a girl who gave Pan a first name and who captured his heart. When Preston's friend Peyton arrives in Neverland, the race is on to figure out who is poisoning the cookies because the man who was arrested is clearly not the murderer.

Stilling does an excellent job of weaving these voices and these stories together. The transitions are beautifully and seamlessly done. Her Neverland is richly imagined and her Peter has depth. This is her first novel, and it shows just a bit when she is explaining her vision of Neverland. The reader gets too much too soon as Peter explains things to Preston. I would have liked to see this tapered out through the chapters more, but this is a small distraction. What really shines here is Claire's grief - we feel it and we understand how all encompassing it is. I also really loved Wendy's story - this is a clever reinterpretation of how she came to be in Neverland and what happened to her afterwards. The mystery here is not the star of the show, and the ending of that portion of the book felt rushed, but Claire's voice and Wendy's story more than made up for that.

"Claire looked out at the ocean once more. It reached back and forth, the heavy crashing of the waves, white crests cascading into the empty, that all reaching darkness. It was just so big, so magnificent, so beautiful, she could not look away. One more second, just one more look...and then Claire thought, what am I waiting for, for the waves to stop, for the ocean to exert less power? It was never going to end. The waves would not cease to fall into one another, the full-mooned tide ebbing and flowing out to that earth-covering sea. There was no end ever. The ocean would never cease to be this big, this dark, this powerful. She had to make the decision to turn her back and so she looked out once more, took a deep breath and walked away..." ( )