Margot McGovern’s Neverland is a complex look into mental health through the lens of a mythical world that most people will be familiar with. Kit, who has repressed memories from traumatic events in her past, finds herself on the island that was her childhood home, now a facility for mentally ill teenagers. As she struggles to accept the changes to the island and the truth about her life that are rising to the surface, the lines between reality and Kit’s make-believe world of Neverland blur.
Using motifs from mythology and classic literature, McGovern explores Kit’s trauma by crafting her own mythology that she returns to whenever she feels that she isn’t able to handle real life.The novel covers all types of mental health issues and how they affect young people. It explores
the idea of the “problem child” and the reasons that young people might act out, but it never reduces its characters to victims. Kit and her friends are responsible for their actions, and face consequences. The novel reflects how the path to recovery is not linear, and Kit must put in a lot of work in order to get on the right track. Her trauma is not immediately fixed as soon as she decides to seek out help, which is why her victories feel so rewarding.
Even though the book handles some very serious themes, it never diminishes these with the sense of magic that it creates. Kit’s imagined Neverland is beautiful, but it is also dangerous. The monsters in her mind manifest as real monsters in this world, so it’s clear that even though Neverland is Kit’s escape, it’s not safe for her to stay there and ignore the dangers of the real world.
McGovern’s text is beautifully descriptive and often chilling, creating suspense that builds up and leaves the reader desperate for answers. She expertly combines the magical and the mundane so that the readers sometimes forget they aren’t reading a swashbuckling fantasy novel. The readers find themselves swept up in the world just as easily as Kit, giving Neverland a uniquely mystical feeling for a novel with a modern setting.
Bram Stoker’s Dracula, which has been deemed by both critics and the general public as a staple in both horror and gothic literature, readers are introduced to Jonathan Harker, who travels to the region of Transylvania to meet with Count Dracula in order to assist him in his real estate affairs. It is not long, …
Take Three Girls is the collaborative effort of YA writers Cath Crowley, Fiona Wood and Simone Howell. It follows the lives of three boarding school girls as they find themselves under attack from a cyber bullying presence and form an unlikely friendship. `The novel covers all the intricacies of female friendships in a way that [...]
Highway Bodies is the second novel from Australian author Alison Evans after their debut novel Ida, which received a mixed opinion from readers, reviewers and critics. Set to be released in the February of 2019, Highway Bodies tells the tale of three distinct groups of Melbourne teenagers as the world around them falls victim to …
Melina Marchetta’s coming-of-age novel is a refreshingly mature young adult adventure that captures the feeling on the crux of growing up and watching all that was familiar with the world shift into something new. On the Jellicoe Road transports the reader to a world caught between the dreams of childhood and the horrors of reality, …
The Conference of the Birds offers readers with a fifth dive into Ransom Rigg’s world of the much-adored literary peculiars. In this novel, which carries on directly from ‘A Map of Days’–released as the fourth book in 2019–Jacob and his peculiar friends return to uncover the mystery surrounding their newest companion Noor, most namely piecing …
The penultimate novel from the world of the Magisterium series is set one year after the events of The Silver Mask. Callum Hunt has been framed and is now residing in prison. But, after being broken out, Callum is captured and detained on an island out in the sea, forced to continue his study on …
Book Review – Neverland by Margot McGovern
Margot McGovern’s Neverland is a complex look into mental health through the lens of a mythical world that most people will be familiar with. Kit, who has repressed memories from traumatic events in her past, finds herself on the island that was her childhood home, now a facility for mentally ill teenagers. As she struggles to accept the changes to the island and the truth about her life that are rising to the surface, the lines between reality and Kit’s make-believe world of Neverland blur.
Using motifs from mythology and classic literature, McGovern explores Kit’s trauma by crafting her own mythology that she returns to whenever she feels that she isn’t able to handle real life.The novel covers all types of mental health issues and how they affect young people. It explores
the idea of the “problem child” and the reasons that young people might act out, but it never reduces its characters to victims. Kit and her friends are responsible for their actions, and face consequences. The novel reflects how the path to recovery is not linear, and Kit must put in a lot of work in order to get on the right track. Her trauma is not immediately fixed as soon as she decides to seek out help, which is why her victories feel so rewarding.
Even though the book handles some very serious themes, it never diminishes these with the sense of magic that it creates. Kit’s imagined Neverland is beautiful, but it is also dangerous. The monsters in her mind manifest as real monsters in this world, so it’s clear that even though Neverland is Kit’s escape, it’s not safe for her to stay there and ignore the dangers of the real world.
McGovern’s text is beautifully descriptive and often chilling, creating suspense that builds up and leaves the reader desperate for answers. She expertly combines the magical and the mundane so that the readers sometimes forget they aren’t reading a swashbuckling fantasy novel. The readers find themselves swept up in the world just as easily as Kit, giving Neverland a uniquely mystical feeling for a novel with a modern setting.
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