Finniston Farm: really quite poor

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jon beeza
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Re: Finniston Farm: really quite poor

Post by jon beeza »

Five on Finniston Farm, was not my favourite. I found that pesky kid and his dad really annoying. I can remember when I was reading it, I was getting irritated a great deal. So in short, not a very enjoyable read, for me that is.
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Re: Finniston Farm: really quite poor

Post by Rob Houghton »

I must be one on my own, as I've always enjoyed Finniston Farm. Yes, its not one of the best, but its much, much more palatable to me than Together Again, Secret Trail, or Mystery To Solve, and maybe even Demon's Rocks. I quite like the holiday atmosphere - and perhaps part of the reason I like it is that the descriptions of the farm remind me of the farm my dad was brought up on in North Wales, which we would often visit as children, and so I tend to imagine Finniston Farm as being the same :-D
Last edited by Rob Houghton on 11 Feb 2018, 22:25, edited 2 times in total.
'Oh voice of Spring of Youth
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Sing on, sing on, and when the sun is gone
I'll warm me with your echoes
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Re: Finniston Farm: really quite poor

Post by pete9012S »

I've always liked the book - it was bought for me when I was in my peak of Famous Five fever. I still like the book. It's interesting to read about the reasons others don't like it though.

Henrietta put me off Mystery Moor for decades. I thought she was a smarmy head worker and I was so annoyed at the way Dick and Julian didn't see through her straight away.

Now it's a book I've hardly re-read that much so I enjoy it. Still not sure about Henrietta though.. :wink:
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Re: Finniston Farm: really quite poor

Post by Dick Kirrin »

Well, like I wrote, our views are mixed. It is one of those books where more could have been made out of the storyline.

As for the Five being coerced to help, I think Enid wanted to make a different point there - a valuable lesson imho, by the way.
In my view, this is about interaction with other people. Both the Kirrins and the Hennings pay for the priviledge of being there and being fed. However, for Mr Henning and for Junior there is only one way of social interaction they can handle: Buying and selling. Everything has to have its clearly defined place like in business deals. Which is all well and good of course, but there is more to interacting with others. And the Five make that point by offering their help and actually trying to be a help as well. Junior seems to have tried his luck at farm work, too. Probably because he was so bored. After all, he and George would have a lot to talk about really. Both have fathers that live in a world of their own - though Uncle Quentin is not a con man, of course.
Now, Junior being so full of himself that there really isn't room for anyone else, is not really helpful, so the best thing he could do is sit tight and still in a corner.

Were the Philpots nasty to the Kirrins?
I would say no. Old Grand-Dad would speak his mind with everyone and anyone, as he does with Mr Henning. So the only people left to be nasty were the twins - and they have some very good reasons.
First, there were four more people to look after on top of their mother's already huge workload. Second, their help to cope with those four extra guests was needed as well, and it wasn't like they had nothing to do as it was. Third, the way the story is told, they have to give up their room for the girls and are not even allowed (at first) in the barn as that is for Julian and Dick. They are supposed to move into a no doubt most unattractive chamber by the dairy. Well, not too rosy a prospect, eh?
Add Junior's attitude and behaviour plus the money trouble that no doubt has been going on for a while and you have a lot of reasons for them being what they are.

Finally, about guests or strangers in a house, take it from a volunteer hostel warden: There are guests and guests. I usually try my level best to make people welcome and feel good.
But there are some... well, let me just say, they obviously were not prepared for an old-fashioned hostel experience and would have been better off at a cheap hotel. I will look after them as well, of course. However, they will always be strangers to the place and the people. Which is mainly their doing and their choice, sadly.
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Re: Finniston Farm: really quite poor

Post by jon beeza »

I do own a full set of famous five books, or rather a few sets. But I have not read them in a while. So I have started the first book, or rather a very slow start. I am going to read the whole series. I wait till I get to Finniston Farm, and see if it annoys me, like it did many years ago. I may feel differently about the story, now that I am a lot older.
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Re: Finniston Farm: really quite poor

Post by Lenoir »

I find I like Finniston Farm better now as an adult, but for some reason didn't like it much before.
But my real favourites always stay constant. Then there are some of the books which went down in my estimation like 'Five have a mystery to solve' and "wonderful time'.
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Re: Finniston Farm: really quite poor

Post by StephenC »

I rate Finniston Farm as possibly the second worst book of the FF series, just a touch above the truly woeful Five Are Together Again! There is very little plot, so many characters in the book remain unsympathetic, no matter how many times I have reread the book, and there is no mystery to solve, just a treasure hunt, which has been done a whole lot better in books like The Treasure Hunters. I suppose what annoyed me the most, was that nothing happened at night, which was unheard of in any other FF book. All in all, a very poor book!
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Re: Finniston Farm: really quite poor

Post by Rob Houghton »

I still really like Finneston Farm. For me, its a nice dreamy idyllic book, with a great farm atmosphere. True, there isn't much mystery, but I find it very enjoyable personally. :D I love the character of Junior, and also how George and the Five set about him in various scenes, lol! :lol:
'Oh voice of Spring of Youth
hearts mad delight,
Sing on, sing on, and when the sun is gone
I'll warm me with your echoes
through the night.'

(E. Blyton, Sunday Times, 1951)



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Re: Finniston Farm: really quite poor

Post by pete9012S »

Image

I'm starting to realise that when I read the book, where I was at the time and who bought it for me plus whether it was the summer holidays etc etc all have a bearing on how I view all the Five's.

The only one in my youth that I didn't really like because I couldn't take to 'Henry' was Mystery Moor. I quite like the book now, although I still don't like Henry and the way she smarmed herself all over Dick and Julian.
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Re: Finniston Farm: really quite poor

Post by Rob Houghton »

As you know, I only read two Famous Fives as a kid - and one was 'Mystery Moor' (and not the novel either but the annual version!) I absolutely loved it, and read it several times. I loved Henry and the way she and George 'sparred' with each other - but maybe that was because I'd only read Smuggler's Top before that. so I didn't find the as good as a boy' thing too repetitive or OTT.

The annual taught me about patrins, about gypsies (which we were studying at school at the time and learning some Romany language), and gave me a fascination for moors (being a frequent visitor to North Wales I had seen a few!) I also loved elements of the story - the Bartles' feud, the little railway train and the bent tracks, the gypsies, the hill full of passages, the aeroplanes dropping strange packages, the thick fogs. I loved the scenes with george and Henry, particularly where George pretends she has a headache and they all go off without her - I thought that was quite clever. Also the scene where Timmy brings a note for Henry and George signs her name Georgina - a repeat plot-point, but not one I'd come across at the time. Brilliant!

As a result, I still love Mystery Moor as an adult. Its very much one of my top Famous Fives.
'Oh voice of Spring of Youth
hearts mad delight,
Sing on, sing on, and when the sun is gone
I'll warm me with your echoes
through the night.'

(E. Blyton, Sunday Times, 1951)



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Re: Finniston Farm: really quite poor

Post by pete9012S »

Wolfgang wrote:I think I mentioned some time before that there was an edition of this book for German pupils. I haven't read this edition yet, it also includes an excerpt of Five go off to camp. It also includes some kind of diary by Junior, and we're supposed to feel sympathy for Junior. I also have the teachers' comments for this book, how to deal the pupils with it.
Junior's diary sound most interesting - would like to read a translation of that!
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Re: Finniston Farm: really quite poor

Post by John Pickup »

There is no way I could ever feel sympathetic for Junior. I agree with Stephen, Finniston Farm has very little going for it. Indeed, I don't care for the last four books in the series, mostly because of Tinker (twice), Wilfrid and the awful Junior.
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Re: Finniston Farm: really quite poor

Post by Rob Houghton »

I enjoy Junior because he's so obnoxious - he's similar to Susie or Curious Connie etc - someone you love to hate. I certainly find him much more entertaining than Tinker, who is one of the worst Famous Five characters. I wouldn't feel sorry for Junior though, or wish to feel empathy with him - he's purely there to laugh at and enjoy his comeuppance.
'Oh voice of Spring of Youth
hearts mad delight,
Sing on, sing on, and when the sun is gone
I'll warm me with your echoes
through the night.'

(E. Blyton, Sunday Times, 1951)



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Re: Finniston Farm: really quite poor

Post by Wolfgang »

I posted the excerpt of the diary in the yahoo group (some might remember it), but as it is rather short I think I can post it here as well.

This year I spend my holidays on a farm in England, close to Finniston. I’m an American and with my father. I don’t like it very much here. My father is always looking for old stuff, and there are no other children to play with. Just the two Harries, the children of our hosts, but they don’t talk with me; I don’t know why they dislike me. The farm isn’t very interesting either, they always drive me away wherever I am.

Yesterday more guests arrived, four children and a big dog without their parents. They are lucky. I don’t get along with them, either. They immediately looked at me in a strange way, as if I had committed a crime. I’m already staying in bed half the time because I don’t know what to do. I like to sleep until the late morning, and it’s great to have breakfast in bed.

I don’t like the Kirrins, that’s the name of the new guests, either. How they suck up with Mrs Philpot. They really offered to do the dishes for her. I don’t know - doing the dishes during the holidays just to reduce workload of your host? I don’t like doing that for my mother at home, so why should I do it here now?

This morning something awful happened. I was lying in bed, dosing, and I rang the bell because I was hungry. I admit, I rang it for a long time, but it’s great fun. You’ve been a bell mouse, too, haven’t you? - well, I was lying there, suddenly the door was opened, somebody pulled noisily a chair, tore the curtains open. I opened my eyes and saw one of these boys. He was holding the tray with my breakfast, came to me and spilled hot coffee over my arm. I became angry, after all what did I do that he annoyed me so much? I tried to hit him, but then there was this big dog that pulled me out of bed, and this stupid boy pretended as if he didn’t see anything. My Lord, that was horrible, I’m so afraid of big dogs.

I don’t know, what this is all about, but if they annoy me I might annoy them as well.
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Re: Finniston Farm: really quite poor

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

Thanks for posting the extract on the forums, Wolfgang. I thought the diary was meant to make us feel sympathy for Junior but I can't say I do! In this passage he sounds lazy, boring and self-pitying.
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