Mary poppins-- so different!

[FlutterbyMommy]

Has anyone read the original book AFTER seeing the movie?

 

I had seen the movie several times in my life, but had never read the book. I decided to read it aloud to my DD and I am shocked by just how different and somewhat dark it is by comparison.

 

Of course movies rarely if ever do a book justices. And of course I am aware a musical is generally going to be pretty different than a book. But wow, am I amazed at just how different the original story is!

 

Was anyone else shocked by the original Mary Poppins story?

[Nestof3]

Yes, I was shocked. I always enjoy the book more than the movie except in this case. There were a few things that annoyed me about the movie, but Mary Poppins is a much more enjoyable character in the movie. The book reminded me a little of the Madeline L'Engle books.

 

Really, I have to admit, I did not like the book.

[Ellie]

Yup, read the whole series, acquired two complete sets of hardcovers, one for each dd, plus I have some extras for me. :-) We like both the movie and the books. :-)

[lulubelle]

I read the book this past year to my boys. We all liked it. It was very thought provoking to me. I thought Mary was more of a Mother Nature or God-like character. I didn't think it was necessarily dark. The movie just focused more on the fun and whimsical parts of the book.

[LibraryLover]

We love the series. She is such a snit!!! Our fav chapter is in the thrid book: The Marble Boy. Great sutff. We are continually flabbergasted that Mary is so *not nice*. LOL

 

We find the shock value priceless. We also find the prose wonderful! We're read certain passages aloud over and over.

[FlutterbyMommy]

We love the series. She is such a snit!!! Our fav chapter is in the thrid book: The Marble Boy. Great sutff. We are continually flabbergasted that Mary is so *not nice*. LOL

 

We find the shock value priceless. We also find the prose wonderful! We're read certain passages aloud over and over.

 

Yeah, the shock value really came into play today. My DD was playing while I was reading and decided to crawl into my lap and really pay close attention after Mrs. Cory pulled two of her fingers off for with Barbara and John to play!

 

Now that I am hearing about a "series" I am thinking I may not have the original. I am reading the Odyssey Classics version. Is this just a first book or perhaps an abridged version?

[LibraryLover]

Yeah, the shock value really came into play today. My DD was playing while I was reading and decided to crawl into my lap and really pay close attention after Mrs. Cory pulled two of her fingers off for with Barbara and John to play!

 

Now that I am hearing about a "series" I am thinking I may not have the original. I am reading the Odyssey Classics version. Is this just a first book or perhaps an abridged version?

 

 

There are 8 books in the MP series. The stories started out as stand- alone stories in a Britsh mag, I believe.

[IsabelC]

I never saw the movie and hadn't read the book until this year. I was under the impression that it was a nice, sweet kids' classic, so I didn't bother to preread it like I usually do with our read-alouds. What a disappointment! It was honestly the worst book I've ever read them, in my opinion. Bad plot, inconsistent writing style, story all about detached parenting and the eponymous heroine practically physically and psychologically abusing the kids. The only value we found was a few opportunities to discuss the historical aspects. Um, yeah, I didn't like it :lol: But hey, I guess most people do, otherwise it wouldn't be so perennially popular.

[FlutterbyMommy]

Also, I am curious about a couple of things. I seem to be picking up on some things and I am not certain if it is just a perception of mine or if it is intentional. I just read a couple of chapters that made me pause in places.

 

What is the author's worldview? Mrs. Cory and the chapter at the zoo had some curious tones and potential symbols. Of course my 5 year old is not focusing in on these things, but I am curious. Does anyone know more about the author and the inspiration for these books?

[jenn&charles]

Also, I am curious about a couple of things. I seem to be picking up on some things and I am not certain if it is just a perception of mine or if it is intentional. I just read a couple of chapters that made me pause in places.

 

What is the author's worldview? Mrs. Cory and the chapter at the zoo had some curious tones and potential symbols. Of course my 5 year old is not focusing in on these things, but I am curious. Does anyone know more about the author and the inspiration for these books?

 

I'm not sure about the above, but I think I picked up on the same things. I remember one of the books being really, really...seemingly symbolic... and I even skipped a couple of parts because I was a little uncomfortable.

I think we went through the entire series. I really loved some of the writing, but a lot of it was surprisingly dark.

[elise1mds]

I'll walk the Path of Shame and admit I didn't even know there *were* Mary Poppins books, but now I'm curious.

 

I had a similar experience with Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm. I had always assumed the book and the movie were fairly similar, but MAN was I in for a shock. I do love the book, though, but it's nothing at all like the Shirley Temple happy-go-lucky movie.

[nmoira]

 

Has anyone read the original book AFTER seeing the movie?

I'd read the first book as a child and didn't care for it. My girls saw the movie before we read Mary Poppins. We moved on in the series and we all greatly prefer the subsequent novels. The second and third (Mary Poppins Comes Back and Mary Poppins Opens the Door) share the same formula as the first -- in one chapter we meet a member of her family, Mary Poppins has a birthday (or half day), etc. -- but a few chapters are absolute gems. The fourth novel is a bit of a departure from the formula, with longer chapters and more developed fantasies.

[FlutterbyMommy]

This sheds a little light for me...

 

In 1925 while in Ireland, Travers met the poet George William Russell who, as editor of The Irish Statesman, accepted some of her poems for publication. Through Russell, Travers met William Butler Yeats and other Irish poets who fostered her interest in and knowledge of world mythology. Later, the mystic Gurdjieff would have a great effect on her, as would also have on several other literary figures.

http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/424478.Pamela_L_Travers

 

Russell introduced her to Yeats, with whom he attended seances and studied the esoteric.

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/stage/theatre/article401842.ece'>http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/stage/theatre/article401842.ece'>http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/stage/theatre/article401842.ece

 

Travers adopted the Hindu theosophical beliefs of Russell and Yeats. One can see their influence in the symbolism of her Poppins stories, with their emphasis on circles and spheres, and her fascination with duality, with being, and with shadows.

 

Not long before he died, Russell was thrilled to hear Travers’s idea for a story about a witch whose broomstick would fly “just as well by white magic as by black magicâ€.

 

The “witch†took shape in Sussex where in 1931, worried about her health, Travers rented a cottage in Mayfield. There she wrote her first book of Poppins adventures. Tea and whisky were supplied by Doris, a local girl, who came to the cottage as a daily maid. One day, Doris was astonished by Travers’s request to adopt her. Her family declined.

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/stage/theatre/article401842.ece

 

Her love of the Navajo myths had its origins in her study of mythology, which she began with Russell and continued with the major spiritual force in her life, George Gurdjieff, whom she met in France in the 1930s.

 

Gurdjieff, often silent, forbidding, yet inquisitive, might have been reincarnated in Mary Poppins Opens the Door as a friend of the nanny, the Terrapin, who says: “Silent and dark and wise am I, quiet and very patient.â€

 

Published in 1944, the book holds many ideas from her New Mexico days and her spiritual searching in France.

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/stage/theatre/article401842.ece

[FlutterbyMommy]

On a lighter note, we did encounter a reference in the Bird Lady chapeter tonight about Jenny Wren. We had just listened to the poem of The Wedding of Robin Redbreast to Jenny Wren on Storynory. When Jenny was referenced in the chapter, DD immediately said, "She married Robin Redbreast!" It was so cute and interesting we read that chapter today after reading the poem.

[Violet Crown]

I've heard several homeschoolers object to Mary Poppins on the basis of a chapter with racial stereotyping. For the benefit of anyone concerned about that, the chapter was revised by Travers herself in the '80's to replace the objectionable material. The artist also replaced the illustrations for that chapter.

 

I don't usually care for "cleaned up" versions of the classics, but when it's the original author, I'm good with it.

[SquirrellyMama]

I was also shocked by the first book after loving the movie as a child and adult. We started on the second book but haven't read it for awhile. I'll probably continue to read them but this is one time that I liked the movie more.

 

Kelly

[Donna T.]

I don't like it. I started it as a read-aloud just a couple of weeks ago. We've read half of it. I haven't been able to make myself read the last half. It is very rare that I just don't like a book. It doesn't make sense to me. It's not that it's fantasy, it's that the writing style is just weird and extremely boring. I have a hard time following the story. The kids like it. My oldest son laughs and goes on and on about how funny it is but I don't get it. It hasn't seemed "dark" to me, but maybe that's because my mind wanders while reading it.

[NanceXToo]

I'll walk the Path of Shame and admit I didn't even know there *were* Mary Poppins books, but now I'm curious.

 

Me too! I'm about to go look on my library's website and see if I can find it, now I want to read it :D

[nmoira]

 

I don't usually care for "cleaned up" versions of the classics, but when it's the original author, I'm good with it.

:iagree:

[Orthodox6]

I had read the entire series, as a child, before the movie even came out. I loved the books !

 

Sometimes I think that parents worry overmuch about how "old" books might warp their children. Mary Poppins books did not lead me to believe in theosophy or the occult, even though one can find articles "uncovering" text supporting Travers' beliefs of that ilk.

[FlutterbyMommy]

I had read the entire series, as a child, before the movie even came out. I loved the books !

 

Sometimes I think that parents worry overmuch about how "old" books might warp their children. Mary Poppins books did not lead me to believe in theosophy or the occult, even though one can find articles "uncovering" text supporting Travers' beliefs of that ilk.

 

Because I detected some symbolism in (actually throughout) the story and inquired here on this thread about it, I decided to share what I found. The articles confirm that there are influences of Eastern religion and other elements I was seeing in the book.

 

Whether a parent makes much ado is not for me to judge. Each family has different standards for what they share with their children and when. I can see why some would not be concerned while others would be very leery of the story.

 

Obviously my 5 year old has not picked up on the symbolism nor the influences of various religions. We have only 2 chapters remaining now and my daughter hasn't raised many questions about this more dark Mary and the symbolism throughout.

 

We had actually started the book several months ago and set it down half way because my daughter's interest was waning. I picked it back up yesterday to give it a go. She was far more interested now. I will finish the book with her today. But because I was not impressed with much of the story and writing style, I would probably not seek out the other stories in the series unless my daughter requested them.

[Caribbean Queen]

I sent my copy of Mary Poppins away. It was so weird I couldn't read it. I like the movie.

[Dmmetler]

I remember LOVING the books as a child. Maybe I should reread them before DD finds them?

[KrissiK]

We're in the middle of reading it right now. The kids wanted to read it after the little sections we did in WWE. I haven't seen the movie since I was a child. My kids are enjoying it, especially my 7 year old. Yes, it is a bit dark and mysterious, but I'm enjoying that, especially compared to how saccharin a lot of children's literature is.

[KarenC]

The books are also very different than the movies.

 

 

Karen

[nmoira]

Try Pinocchio and The Rescuers...

 

The books are also very different than the movies.

And Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (one of our all-time favourite read alouds).

[Caitilin]

And Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (one of our all-time favourite read alouds).

 

:iagree:The book is SO different, much more interesting, and much less scary (child sniffer anyone?--EEEEEWWWWW!), even though the bad guys are gangsters.

[Ellie]

The books are also very different than the movies.

Pinnochio...I wouldn't read that to my children. Blech. But the Rescuers...now *there* was a good series. Loved those.

[Aubrey]

Me, too! We finally gave up finishing the first one--blech! But the movie? My dc hadn't seen it yet, & now it's 2yo's all-time fav. :D I love hearing all of them go around singing songs from musicals.

[gingersmom]

We read the book last summer and loved it.

 

We recently saw the play in NYC and it was amazing!