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Sentimental Tommy #1
Sentimental Tommy
Written by J. M. Barrie, the Scottish novelist and dramatist who is best known for inventing the character of Peter Pan. His two 'Tommy' novels, Sentimental Tommy (1896) and Tommy and Grizel (1902), dealt with themes much more explicitly related to what would become Peter Pan.
324 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1896
About the author
J.M. Barrie
2,390 books2,240 followersJames Matthew Barrie was a Scottish novelist and playwright, best remembered as the creator of Peter Pan. He was born and educated in Scotland and then moved to London, where he wrote several successful novels and plays.
The son of a weaver, Barrie studied at the University of Edinburgh. He took up journalism for a newspaper in Nottingham and contributed to various London journals before moving there in 1885. His early Auld Licht Idylls (1889) and A Window in Thrums (1889) contain fictional sketches of Scottish life representative of the Kailyard school. The publication of The Little Minister (1891) established his reputation as a novelist. During the next decade, Barrie continued to write novels, but gradually, his interest turned towards the theatre.
In London, he met Llewelyn Davies, who inspired him about magical adventures of a baby boy in gardens of Kensington, included in The Little White Bird, then to a "fairy play" about this ageless adventures of an ordinary girl, named Wendy, in the setting of Neverland. People credited this best-known play with popularizing Wendy, the previously very unpopular name, and quickly overshadowed his previous, and he continued successfully.
Following the deaths of their parents, Barrie unofficially adopted the boys. He gave the rights to great Ormond street hospital, which continues to benefit.
The son of a weaver, Barrie studied at the University of Edinburgh. He took up journalism for a newspaper in Nottingham and contributed to various London journals before moving there in 1885. His early Auld Licht Idylls (1889) and A Window in Thrums (1889) contain fictional sketches of Scottish life representative of the Kailyard school. The publication of The Little Minister (1891) established his reputation as a novelist. During the next decade, Barrie continued to write novels, but gradually, his interest turned towards the theatre.
In London, he met Llewelyn Davies, who inspired him about magical adventures of a baby boy in gardens of Kensington, included in The Little White Bird, then to a "fairy play" about this ageless adventures of an ordinary girl, named Wendy, in the setting of Neverland. People credited this best-known play with popularizing Wendy, the previously very unpopular name, and quickly overshadowed his previous, and he continued successfully.
Following the deaths of their parents, Barrie unofficially adopted the boys. He gave the rights to great Ormond street hospital, which continues to benefit.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
July 21, 2014
Ok, no-one’s brought up the Kailyard thing yet so I feel I must. If you’re allergic to English Lit lectures you can stop reading now. Although I don’t know how you came across this book unless you’re fascinated with Barrie or had seen the word ‘kailyard’ mentioned somewhere and wanted to check it out.
It’s the late 19th century and apparently Scotland has been portrayed in an unpleasantly gritty, miserable way in literature for quite some time. A certain literary critic, William Robertson Nicoll, with a religious and political agenda but also with a keen interest in literature, promotes the heck out of a couple of authors, Ian McLaren and S.R. Crockett, who write happy little stories set in rural Scotland, with quirky characters speaking in broad brogue, and much description of the idyll of the highlands. (Bear in mind that Queen Victoria also discovered Scotland around this time, and made it one of the busiest tourist attractions of the Victorian era.) The books sell like bannock cakes, if you’ll pardon me, fuelled by the nostalgia of Scottish immigrants to the U.S. I’ve only read a bit of McLaren’s most famous book, and it is rather sentimental, and the brogue is hard to decipher. This style of writing comes to be called the Kailyard School, and is soon derided by critics as whitewashing the realities of the lives of the poor in rural Scotland (the backlash gets backlashed). The term ‘kailyard’ comes to mean any sentimentalizing of Scotland, the kitsch attachment of tartan to anything and everything, for example (look up ‘tartanry’), or Mel Gibson’s re-arranging of history for Braveheart. All Scottish art since 1910 feels that it has to react against this ‘kailyarding’ of Scotland. So it’s a bad thing, ya ken?
Enter Sir Barrie; he’s also writing at the end of the nineteenth century, and he is also lauded by Mr. Nicoll, and he does set some of his books in rural Scotland, and he does portray the brogue, and he does have quirky characters. He also has that childlike quality of writing about children that is what we love so much about Peter Pan, so some of his works could be said to be a bit melodramatic and, yes, sentimental. But having read Sentimental Tommy and starting on Tommy & Grizel, I can’t believe that people lumped him with the other kailyard authors. If you think Dickens is overly sentimental and idealistic, then sure. But a small child growing up in poverty in London, the fear of death of his mother, another child whose mother is a prostitute and insane and who is bullied by all other children? How is this an idealized view of anything? Tommy is not a caricature; I find him rather creepy, actually, with his abject surrender to emotions he never really feels; and I think Barrie found him a bit of a monster too, from some of his asides. I’ve never met a protagonist like him. But the book is well-written, funny, sad, emotional (for the characters who really do have feelings), and gives you most everything that Dickens did. Oh, and you can understand the brogue.
If you’re looking to find out more about where Peter and Wendy came from, this book will definitely give it to you. Other critics have sought to remove Barrie from the stain of the Kailyard School, and from what I can see, this book shows why.
It’s the late 19th century and apparently Scotland has been portrayed in an unpleasantly gritty, miserable way in literature for quite some time. A certain literary critic, William Robertson Nicoll, with a religious and political agenda but also with a keen interest in literature, promotes the heck out of a couple of authors, Ian McLaren and S.R. Crockett, who write happy little stories set in rural Scotland, with quirky characters speaking in broad brogue, and much description of the idyll of the highlands. (Bear in mind that Queen Victoria also discovered Scotland around this time, and made it one of the busiest tourist attractions of the Victorian era.) The books sell like bannock cakes, if you’ll pardon me, fuelled by the nostalgia of Scottish immigrants to the U.S. I’ve only read a bit of McLaren’s most famous book, and it is rather sentimental, and the brogue is hard to decipher. This style of writing comes to be called the Kailyard School, and is soon derided by critics as whitewashing the realities of the lives of the poor in rural Scotland (the backlash gets backlashed). The term ‘kailyard’ comes to mean any sentimentalizing of Scotland, the kitsch attachment of tartan to anything and everything, for example (look up ‘tartanry’), or Mel Gibson’s re-arranging of history for Braveheart. All Scottish art since 1910 feels that it has to react against this ‘kailyarding’ of Scotland. So it’s a bad thing, ya ken?
Enter Sir Barrie; he’s also writing at the end of the nineteenth century, and he is also lauded by Mr. Nicoll, and he does set some of his books in rural Scotland, and he does portray the brogue, and he does have quirky characters. He also has that childlike quality of writing about children that is what we love so much about Peter Pan, so some of his works could be said to be a bit melodramatic and, yes, sentimental. But having read Sentimental Tommy and starting on Tommy & Grizel, I can’t believe that people lumped him with the other kailyard authors. If you think Dickens is overly sentimental and idealistic, then sure. But a small child growing up in poverty in London, the fear of death of his mother, another child whose mother is a prostitute and insane and who is bullied by all other children? How is this an idealized view of anything? Tommy is not a caricature; I find him rather creepy, actually, with his abject surrender to emotions he never really feels; and I think Barrie found him a bit of a monster too, from some of his asides. I’ve never met a protagonist like him. But the book is well-written, funny, sad, emotional (for the characters who really do have feelings), and gives you most everything that Dickens did. Oh, and you can understand the brogue.
If you’re looking to find out more about where Peter and Wendy came from, this book will definitely give it to you. Other critics have sought to remove Barrie from the stain of the Kailyard School, and from what I can see, this book shows why.
December 3, 2009
I think that the narrator said it best when he said “There were moments when one liked Tommy” because there certainly were those moments. The drawback was there were also many moments when one disliked Tommy. Barrie does a good job of making Tommy come alive with many faults and many treasures to his personality. Tommy is definitely capable of being a sneaky manipulative young man but his protective nature to Elspeth and loyalty to those that he cares about is very endearing. Tommy’s vivid imagination was an ever present theme.
I enjoyed the narrator and it’s “asides” perhaps best. With the narrator, comes humor in the form of one-liners. Although it speaks of itself in the third person, at times, it works. The narrator’s voice is almost reminiscent of the character’s voices when they are doing “asides” from their world of make-believe.
Knowing other works by Barrie is not necessary to the reading of this story but I found that it contributed to some of the enjoyment. Revisiting “The Little Minister” in the future was charming. Knowing that Tommy and Grizel star in another writing by Barrie was also telling. It was interesting to see Barrie keep with themes present in his other writing in the forms of vivid imagination, “crowing”, and lands of pretend.
The slow rambling pace of the story was true to literature of it’s age and there were many times while reading this book that it definitely was slow and rambling. This equaled slow reading for me, necessitating forcing my self to keep going. The dialects and aged comments in the book contributed to my having to trudge through to the end. At the end, I was glad that I did as the ending almost brought a tear to my eye but I am unsure if that was the content of the story or my emotional state of this hour.
Overall, I am glad I read this book but would not read again and would not necessarily recommend other to read depending on their genre of “likes”.
I enjoyed the narrator and it’s “asides” perhaps best. With the narrator, comes humor in the form of one-liners. Although it speaks of itself in the third person, at times, it works. The narrator’s voice is almost reminiscent of the character’s voices when they are doing “asides” from their world of make-believe.
Knowing other works by Barrie is not necessary to the reading of this story but I found that it contributed to some of the enjoyment. Revisiting “The Little Minister” in the future was charming. Knowing that Tommy and Grizel star in another writing by Barrie was also telling. It was interesting to see Barrie keep with themes present in his other writing in the forms of vivid imagination, “crowing”, and lands of pretend.
The slow rambling pace of the story was true to literature of it’s age and there were many times while reading this book that it definitely was slow and rambling. This equaled slow reading for me, necessitating forcing my self to keep going. The dialects and aged comments in the book contributed to my having to trudge through to the end. At the end, I was glad that I did as the ending almost brought a tear to my eye but I am unsure if that was the content of the story or my emotional state of this hour.
Overall, I am glad I read this book but would not read again and would not necessarily recommend other to read depending on their genre of “likes”.
April 2, 2021
Tommy and his little sister Elspeth live in a poor apartment in London. When their mother dies of consumption, the children go to live in her old hometown in Scotland. Tommy is sent to a little school, where the teachers have high hopes of his academic skills, but he disappoints everyone by being more interested in playing and pretending rather than his studies.
Tommy and Elspeth befriend a prostitute's child, Grizel, who is sensitive, complicated, and prickly. She is by far the best character in the entire book. She puts on a brave face and acts crabby to ward off people's mean comments about her mother, but at heart she is sweet and good.
Tommy is unlikeable, self-centered, and arrogant. Then he will do one generous or kind thing that melts your heart. But in the next chapter, he is an arrogant jerk again. I liked that he is imaginative and has an artistic soul. I hated the way he has to be the center of attention at all times. He lives for nothing but to be admired and petted, and silly little Elspeth happily obliges by worshipping him no matter what he does.
Elspeth has no personality at all. She just tags along with Tommy, and sits around (She literally sits around. She takes no action in any scene.) giving her brother adoring looks. She thinks he is the hero of every story ever written. She idolizes him and it's pathetic.
The plot is slow. The writing style is chaotic. There are sentences that don't make any sense, until they are finally explained three pages later. Makes for a confusing story in places.
There are a lot of Scotch words, and not just commonly known ones like "kirk" or "ken". I was still able to guess what was meant in most of the dialogue, but it was difficult reading through so many unknown words, or having to stop and look them up.
And yet, there are some truly hilarious scenes that actually made me laugh out loud in public while I was reading. I was seriously guffawing loudly in a public place, garnering some curious looks, because this book made me laugh.
And yet, there are some truly horrendously boring scenes that almost made me DNF the book. And also some disgusting details about blood or things that were just completely unnecessary.
And yet, there were some truly remarkable insights into human nature that made me stop and think and ponder some deep philosophical ideas.
Some of it is brilliant. Some of it is boring. Some of it is incomprehensible.
Tommy and Elspeth befriend a prostitute's child, Grizel, who is sensitive, complicated, and prickly. She is by far the best character in the entire book. She puts on a brave face and acts crabby to ward off people's mean comments about her mother, but at heart she is sweet and good.
Tommy is unlikeable, self-centered, and arrogant. Then he will do one generous or kind thing that melts your heart. But in the next chapter, he is an arrogant jerk again. I liked that he is imaginative and has an artistic soul. I hated the way he has to be the center of attention at all times. He lives for nothing but to be admired and petted, and silly little Elspeth happily obliges by worshipping him no matter what he does.
Elspeth has no personality at all. She just tags along with Tommy, and sits around (She literally sits around. She takes no action in any scene.) giving her brother adoring looks. She thinks he is the hero of every story ever written. She idolizes him and it's pathetic.
The plot is slow. The writing style is chaotic. There are sentences that don't make any sense, until they are finally explained three pages later. Makes for a confusing story in places.
There are a lot of Scotch words, and not just commonly known ones like "kirk" or "ken". I was still able to guess what was meant in most of the dialogue, but it was difficult reading through so many unknown words, or having to stop and look them up.
And yet, there are some truly hilarious scenes that actually made me laugh out loud in public while I was reading. I was seriously guffawing loudly in a public place, garnering some curious looks, because this book made me laugh.
And yet, there are some truly horrendously boring scenes that almost made me DNF the book. And also some disgusting details about blood or things that were just completely unnecessary.
And yet, there were some truly remarkable insights into human nature that made me stop and think and ponder some deep philosophical ideas.
Some of it is brilliant. Some of it is boring. Some of it is incomprehensible.
July 10, 2012
Can't do it. Got to about page 50...just too much I can't understand---
I imagine it would be tough even for a Brit under the age of 80.
Too many colloquialisms, vernacular, phrases, words with no meaning
to me...I comprehend about 95% of Dickens--but this, my only attempt
at Barrie, perhaps 70%. Just can't do it.
I imagine it would be tough even for a Brit under the age of 80.
Too many colloquialisms, vernacular, phrases, words with no meaning
to me...I comprehend about 95% of Dickens--but this, my only attempt
at Barrie, perhaps 70%. Just can't do it.
May 4, 2019
I couldn't finish it. I got lost with some of the slang that seems to be unGooglable...?
January 13, 2013
Barry did a masterful job of drawing you into the world of Tommy Sands. Told in a conversational style, one becomes immersed in the world in which the child grows up.
The book starts with a young Tommy living in the slums of London. Soon a baby sister appears, Elspeth. Living under such harsh conditions could harden a child, but instead Tommy becomes an empathetic figure, developing the ability to put himself, on an emotional level, into another person's shoes.
We are told the story of Tommy and his sister as they relocate to Thrums, Scottland, after the death of their mother, taken in by the man scorned by their mother many years ago. Tommy's imagination and ability to create fantasy worlds for them to live in aid in their survival. Just as Barry's imagination ability draws you into the world of Sentimental Tommy.
The book starts with a young Tommy living in the slums of London. Soon a baby sister appears, Elspeth. Living under such harsh conditions could harden a child, but instead Tommy becomes an empathetic figure, developing the ability to put himself, on an emotional level, into another person's shoes.
We are told the story of Tommy and his sister as they relocate to Thrums, Scottland, after the death of their mother, taken in by the man scorned by their mother many years ago. Tommy's imagination and ability to create fantasy worlds for them to live in aid in their survival. Just as Barry's imagination ability draws you into the world of Sentimental Tommy.
April 16, 2023
This book is wonderful. It really made me stop and think about a lot of things along the way. It reminds me of Peter Pan in some aspects, and it's fun and sad and adventuresome all at once. I'll definitely be reading this again.
January 5, 2014
Very enjoyable read.
February 7, 2016
Coming of age story. The first of two volumes about Tommy.
Did Not Finish
August 13, 2017Dnf. Didn't like some of the Librivox narrators.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews