“I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was twelve. Jesus, does anyone?”
― Stephen King, The Body

The first in Enid Blyton's most famous series. The Famous Five, Julian, George, Dick, Anne and the dog Tim have shared their adventures with generations of children all over the world. Despised by stuffy grown-up critics for not being high literature, these books are nevertheless beloved by hundreds of millions of children. And it's easy to see why. There is action and adventure, but we care because we like the children, their friendship and the team they form together. Without deep psychological descriptions, Blyton is nevertheless good about making them seem individuals with their own distinctive personality, and about making readers love their freedom to roam around without adult supervision and their knack for having fun and getting into adventures.

Although this went completely over my head when I read it as a child, it obviously reflects some of the values and attitudes of the time it was written (this first one in 1942). Therefore boys are supposed to be strong and daring while girls are supposed to be feminine and in need of protection. Of course, then we have George, Georgina really, the tomboy who does not want to be a girl and who is "as good as any boy". There's nothing really offensive or controversial in these books, but attitudes have changed so much that some details may seem weird to a modern audience.

Many of the Famous Five books represent Blyton at the height of her powers, although I also had a weakness for another series (the Adventure series), where the adventures tended to be more dangerous or exciting.

In any case, this one is special, because it introduces the characters that will accompany us throughout the series, and it makes a good job of it.

Like what happened to me when reading the Harry Potter books, these books have two complementary sources of pleasure for me: the character/setting work and the adventure itself. The adventure provides the excitement, but I would not want it to start right away. The character/setting work is at least as important. I would not care about the action if I didn't care about the characters, and the setting is enjoyable on its own and it's necessary to establish the mood of the story and to give individual flavor to what could become too formulaic adventures.

The character work here is excellent. Yes, this is not Hamlet, but you can't ask more from a children's adventure series: I feel like I know each of the individual characters and I understand how they are likely to react in every situation. And they are likable. That's one of the things that makes Blyton stand above her peers.

Unlike later books where the friendship between the characters is taken for granted, here Julian, Dick and Anne have to befriend George, and it's not easy because she is fiercely independent and moody, used to be on her own. The patience and kindness the other children show and how they quickly get to understand her is a pleasure of this first entry in the series. And what child doesn't love how scary Uncle Quentin is, with his fierce moods and his absent-mindedness.

Random thoughts (with spoiler tags):

While the adventure is perfectly adequate and exciting, it does depend on the incredible coincidence of the wreck being thrown up precisely when the children are there. Also, there are a couple of moments when the children act weirdly because the plot requires it. For example, the rationale for making a copy of the map and leaving the original in the box that Uncle Quentin has confiscated, instead of just taking it, is rather weak. The plot required them to do this, though, because otherwise the bad guys wouldn't have learnt where the gold was. Another example is when the children try to block the door of the dungeons to prevent the escape of the bad guys. It's mentioned that they are not strong enough to carry big stones, so they just place three smaller ones and then go to the well to wait for Dick. However, they could have used that time more productively by carrying more small stones so that the total weight is enough to trap the bad guys. It was necessary to let the bad guys get out of the dungeon, though, to make the children's escape from the island more exciting. ( )

This was fun, if somewhat far fetched.
Julian, Dick & Anne spend the holiday with their Aunt, Uncle & lone cousin, Georgina - who does not want to be a girl in any way. it's never made clear why, but she has cut her hair short and only answers to George. In contrast Anne is quite a girly little girl. And both annoyed me in their own way.
It is all infuriatingly middle class.
Having said that, George has certain scruples, she won't accept sweets from the other children as she can't reciprocate. Julian and the others have to navigate a very lonely little girl who is rather set in her ways.
The finale seems very unlikely, but you've got to admire the inventiveness of the author in setting up situations and then giving the children a means of getting out of them. At times it felt a little like the sharing message was being shoved down your throat and the finale was even more middle class angst.
I agree with the people who said that these were better than the Secret Seven, but I'm not sure that I would ever have been all that thrilled with them. My childhood was much gritter than this. ( )

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