The Wild Things is something of a companion piece to go along with the new film, Where the Wild Things Are, directed by Spike Jonze and written by Spike Jonze and Dave Eggers. This novelized version of Maurice Sendak's illustrated children's book, Where the Wild Things Are, provides an expanded story and landscape for the story.
In the acknowledgments section Eggers writes that it was not his intention to write the book like Sendak's, nor was it his plan to translate the film into a novel - it was to be a fusion of all versions of the story. Now I have not yet seen the film, so I cannot speak to the similarities and differences, at least not yet.
The story is like a twisted Wizard of Oz/Alice in Wonderland type tale. The young boy, Max, is dissatisfied with his home-life. He runs away and happens upon an abandoned sailboat. He sails off into the ocean until he reaches the island where he meets the wild things. He declares himself their king, but that doesn't equal a peaceful kingdom. Things on the island aren't much better than things were at home. In fact, at home he didn't have to worry about his family eating him.
In the end, there's no place like home.
It's never really said that Max's time on the island is a fantasy or dream (or nightmare, really). Max believes that he's been away from home for what feels like years - but that might speak to childhood. As children we feel like time goes so much slower than it does when we're adults. On the island Max tried to be the adult - the one in charge - the king, but in the end he was just a little boy who wanted to go home.
The book is for everyone, not just the kids. It's definitely a book about childhood - which is something every adult needs to be reminded of every so often.
