The breaking of an illusion: Mary Poppins
The adorable nanny who turned out to be a vain and gaslighting nanny. A review of Mary Poppins by P.L. Travers original story.
“Mary Poppins was very vain and liked to look her best. Indeed, she was quite sure that she never looked anything else.”
Mary Poppins.
Our favorite whimsical and magical nanny. Most of us loved her growing up, or well, at least Julie Andrews portrayal of her. This is one of those times, when multiple people have warned you, told you that the book is not as good as the movie. That you should stick to the Disney movie. And yet, I refused to listen. I had a mission: read my way through the 100 Best Fantasy Books of All Time, and Mary Poppins was on it. So naturally, I was going to read it, no matter what anybody said.
Oh, hindsight is twenty-twenty.
Audiobooks has been my thing for the past couple of months so when I found the original story read by Olivia Colman on Audible, it was an easy choice. I was ready to dive in and prove everybody wrong.
Till the wind changes
Mary Poppins first saw light when it was published in 1934, which then became a series of eight books about this magical and unusual nanny and her adventures with the children she looked after. The synopsis had me intrigued and brought back so many good memories (yes, from the movie) and it reads;
Life will never be the same at Number Seventeen Cherry-Tree Lane, when the strong East wind lands Mary Poppins on the doorsteps of the Banks house. She becomes the new nanny to the four children of the house, Jane, Michael and the twins. Mary Poppins is intriguing, magical and strict - but who else has the ability to make medicine taste like delicious lime-juice cordial? A day with her, is a new adventure waiting to happen.
So far so good. The synopsis sounded quite promising and the first few moments with Olivia Colman on the ear, were great. And then it came crashing down. Not due to Colman and her narration, that was great! From the first page to the last. I would happily listen to any other book that Olivia Colman reads.
What became apparent quite quickly is that Mary Poppins is not a character I enjoyed spending any time with at all. Travers nanny, is strict, stern and vain and in my opinion, quite rude and times even mean towards the children she is looking after. Throughout the book, I was not even convinced that she liked the children or even her job. Considering the time period this book was written in, it would not be a far fetched idea, maybe Mary simply had to take the job she could, to be independent in a time where options for women were limited.
Listening to the book, I did hope that we might see a change, or a a tiny character growth, something that would make her more…likable. Sadly, there was no such luck and I found myself disliking her more and more towards the end. Which in its turn made me reach my conclusion of not continuing with this series fairly early on.
The plot is not bad. It is creative and whimsical, Travers does manages to capture that feeling throughout the book. Another part that works surprisingly well, is how the book is split into a collection of short stories, rather than a continuous one. They are separate stories, but yet they still belong together and it flows well.
The magic, felt more odd than anything else. Usually, magical elements in the books I’ve read do have a purpose, they may not make sense, but it is still a clear part of the story. The magic belongs. In Mary Poppins, it felt like it lacked that connection. To compare it to the movie, the magic had a bigger role to play, it brought things to life, in a home that desperately needed it, whereas in the book, it was just simply there, as one of the many odd things Mary did. Not even when asked about it, would Travers give us at least something to connect it to, instead Mary did an excellent job of gaslighting those who asked.
Mary Poppins has everything that it needs to be an entertaining book, but I simply did not connect with it. It is still a mystery to me, why the Banks children enjoyed and loved Mary Poppins so much. As she, is rude and mean to them, but perhaps, it has to do with the fact that she is the one person who did pay - some - attention to them. I was left with a feeling of these poor children clinging on to her, with dare life, in a sort of desperate and sad attempt at earning someones love or affection.
And then the winds do change.
Mary packs up her stuff and leaves. Just like that.
A broken illusion
I could’ve chosen to DNF the book, but what made the book likable and surprisingly entertaining, even when I had issues with it, is simply Olivia Colman. I adore Olivia Colman. She is one of my favorite actresses and her narration of the book was wonderful and entertaining, to the point that just by listening to her I did not need the story to be good or make sense. Colman made it fun, easy to follow along, quick and whimsical. If I had not chosen the audiobook edition I doubt I would’ve finished it, because I really did not like Mary.
It is hard to tell if this book would’ve been a good read as a child. Maybe? For one I do not think I would’ve noticed as mush as I did now. Maybe Mary Poppins would’ve been one of those strange funny ladies that was intriguing because of all the weird stuff she could do.
As an adult, it is more of a disturbing story about a woman who should probably, never have worked with children in the first place. No character should be flawless, but Poppins seems to be consisting only of flaws, there are no redeeming qualities and no character growth throughout the book. In one way it was heartbreaking to realize that the wonderful Mary Poppins, that I adored in the 1964 movie with Julie Andrews, is just an illusion. She only exists on screen, not between the pages.
It could be argued that Mary Poppins is a product of its time, and it probably is. As Annabel Gutterman (content strategy editor at TIME) states in the short text below the book: there are no dancing penguins, Mr. Banks never flew a kite and even our favorite tap dancing chimney sweeper Bert does not have a major role in this story line.
The fifth read of the list this year, Mary Poppins was a disappointing read and not one I would recommend. Give me the dancing penguins, Mr. Banks flying a kite and Mary Poppins dancing with Bert through a world filled with magic and love any day over of the week.
Anything but this book.
But the children love her. They love her rules and strictness and her otherness and unpredictable bursts of enchantment. She's like nothing they've ever known, a puzzle they are happy to discuss endlessly. They love her. There must be something to it.
Interesting to see how a book can differ so much from a beloved film. I enjoyed reading this.