Did Enid plan to end the Five series as she did?

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Belly
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Did Enid plan to end the Five series as she did?

Post by Belly »

As a child I used to think that Enid had other plans for the five/other adventures for them up her sleeve that never came into play?

It was as if they didn't quite evolve as she'd have liked somehow?

Some of them used to end with 'that's how we'll leave them, George singing a happy tune' etc and it was as if Enid were keeping her options open as to bringing the series to an earlier close?

Five are Together Again never seemed to me to be a very satisfactory concluding tale to be honest. I remember crying at the end (as an 8 year old) when the text said something like 'that's where we'll leave the five, until next time' knowing it was the final instalment.

I always had it in my head that Enid had it in mind to set more on Kirrin Island/area of Kirrin. Maybe this was wishful thinking on my part, I wanted some more beach bound 'rock pooling with a twist' type 'domestic' adventures? Partly why I loved 'Five Run Away Together' because Kirrin Island unexpectedly (to my mind) featured.

Does anyone know where I am coming from on any of the above?
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Sooty
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Post by Sooty »

I know what you mean about finding Together Again rather sad. I deliberately haven't read it for about ten years, and I regularly delve back into the Five books a few times a year (there's nothing like reading a classic FF story in a few days to put you in a good mood).

It's an interesting point you make, one that strengthens when you wonder how old the children were by the end. They're pretty much the same throughout the 21 adventures, although I guess there's a bit more "emotional evolution" in the first two or three - eg, George becoming less over-sensitive.

Could you explain what you mean by 'rock pooling with a twist'?! :)
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Post by Belly »

Sooty wrote:I know what you mean about finding Together Again rather sad. I deliberately haven't read it for about ten years, and I regularly delve back into the Five books a few times a year (there's nothing like reading a classic FF story in a few days to put you in a good mood).

It's an interesting point you make, one that strengthens when you wonder how old the children were by the end. They're pretty much the same throughout the 21 adventures, although I guess there's a bit more "emotional evolution" in the first two or three - eg, George becoming less over-sensitive.

Could you explain what you mean by 'rock pooling with a twist'?! :)

I'll try :D - An adventure set at 'home' in Kirrin but with an exciting backdrop/whiff of an adventure in the pipeline.

A little like Five on Kirrin Island Again, something is afoot yet they are back at Kirrin again.

Hope that makes sense.
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Post by Carlotta »

The Mystery series is my favourite, and I find Banshee Towers just as problematic as some Five afficionados find Together Again! I really don't know if it's because I KNOW it's the last one, and I'm projecting, or if the melancholy really is there - but the Find-Outers' last hurrah is a bit of a low for me. I like Ern, but there seems to be too much Ern, and not enough Larry, Pip and Daisy, and there is a sort of palpable sense of some of them, Fatty especially, "growing out" of their series - utterly understandable, but very sad for those of us who love the books...

I haven't read the last Five in a while, so it wouldn't be fair for me to comment on how I feel about it in detail, but I do remember having similar feelings to other posters about the saddish "end" of a loved series.
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A sad end to a great series...

Post by Neasa »

When i first started reading the famous five , i thought that they would go on forever and their adventures would never end.
I remember I had just finished no 21-Five have a mystery to solve, when I realised theres just one more adventure featuring the five left! I wouldn't read it for ages as I knew after I did there would be no more new adventures. I waited until I finished that school year and then I read it... and i have to agree that the ending was disapointing.
I imagined a great send off to the five, but I felt it was as if there was still going to be more adventures as it finished the same way the others did. :? Maybe Enid wanted it this way as she wanted her readers to feel that they Julian, Dick, George, Anne and Timmy were still adventurous youths who were to have more adventures even if she wasn't going to write about them.
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Post by Belly »

Neasa, agree completely!

From memory didn't she end it with an 'until next time' or something?

That really got my hopes up!
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....

Post by Neasa »

I don't have a copy on me now, but I'm nearly sure it did end with a line like that, 'until next time'.
I was so sad closing 'five are together again', after I'd finished knowing I would never again read a famous five book for the first time... :(
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Post by Belly »

I'd read them all in order but somehow missed 'Five Run Away Together' on my way.

How I savoured that book! Probably now that's why it is in my top 3.

I wondered what/if anything 'new' it would reveal about the Five, and loved that it centred around Kirrin. I needed another a Kirrin fix by this time.
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Re: Did Enid plan to end the Five series as she did?

Post by StephenC »

Five Are Together Again is a sad end to the FF series, in a number of ways, but mainly because it was a very poor book. But then, the Secret Seven, FFO and Barny series, all finished on a poor note. IMHO, Fun For The Secret Seven, was even worse than FIve Are Together Again. Most of the books Enid wrote after 1960, with a few notable exceptions, such as Shock For The Secret Seven, weren't very good. You only have to read The Mystery That Never Was, or The Hidey-Hole, to realise that.

I think most FF fans would have been happy to see the series end with Five Have A Mystery To Solve, which I thought, was quite a good book. FATA will always be remembered as a poor end to a great series. Maybe by 1963, the FF series had run its course. Other authors, like Phyllis Gegan, with her excellent books, 'The Harveys See It Through', and "A Mystery for Ninepence', were by then, producing much better books about children solving mysteries and helping people.
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Re: Did Enid plan to end the Five series as she did?

Post by Farwa »

Five Are Together Again is a perfectly wonderful book, in my opinion, and so is the last book in the Secret Seven series - I don't know why they are thought of as 'poor books' and bad endings to the series! Would someone also tell the reason why they think it's a 'poor book'?
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Re: Did Enid plan to end the Five series as she did?

Post by Julie2owlsdene »

I think the story is not too bad, but somehow it lacks the 'flow' of the other Five books. And of course there are some small mistakes if I remember back. It's been years since I read this book, maybe I should give it a read now and see if I feel the same way about it.

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Re: Did Enid plan to end the Five series as she did?

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

I haven't read them for a while either, but I remember that there is confusion in Fun for the Secret Seven about the buying of the horse. The story rambles and there's no real build-up of excitement and intrigue. Also, Enid Blyton mistakenly says that the Secret Seven live in Peterswood!

Five Are Together Again has some promising ingredients (a circus, Mr. Wooh, Tinker and Mischief) but, as Julie said, the plot strands are not woven together very skilfully and there are a few errors.

Both books seem weary and lack the zing of earlier titles.
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Re: Did Enid plan to end the Five series as she did?

Post by Poppy »

Five Are Together Again was one of the earlier Enid Blyton books, I discovered, and I was captivated by it, when I read it for the first time. I wasn't familiar with some of Enid's other stronger Adventure books, and I thought the freedom that the children were entitled too: being allowed to camp on their own, and not need supervision all the time, etc, was absolutely wonderful! And then, as I began to discover more and more Enid Blyton books, that book started to seem a little less extraordinary and intriguing. Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that Five Are Together Again isn't necessarily a bad book, it's just not one of Enid's best, and it is shown up a little by some of the stronger, earlier titles of the series.
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Re: Did Enid plan to end the Five series as she did?

Post by John Pickup »

That's precisely what I think too, Poppy. The first half of the Famous Five series included some of her best work and Five Are Together Again just doesn't match up to the earlier stories. It's not a bad book, it just isn't as good as the others. It's certainly a better end to the series than Fun For The Secret Seven or Mystery Of Banshee Towers were to theirs.
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Re: Did Enid plan to end the Five series as she did?

Post by Hayleymoomin »

Revisiting a rather old topic here! I've just finished reading the ff series and came to the conclusion that five are together again is disappointing....it was published in 1963 and I was wondering if her illness was becoming apparent and this is the reason that, for me at least, it was one of the more disappointing ones.
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