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Enid Blyton for Grown-Ups #2
Five on Brexit Island
Enid Blyton's books are beloved the world over and The Famous Five have been the perennial favourite of her fans. Now, in this new series of Enid Blyton for Grown-Ups, can George, Dick, Anne, Julian and Timmy survive the ultimate test of their Brexit? It is the night of the referendum and the Five have retired to Kirrin Island to enjoy the fresh air and sunshine, fed up with the rancour of public debate. George is firmly a 'remainer,' whilst Julian, who is in the 'Brexit' camp, is tolerated on the grounds that Anne cannot bear to go camping without him. (Timmy, largely apolitical but not keen on cats or rabbits, joins them too.) The night is tempestuous in more ways than one. George has managed to rig up a satellite link with the mainland so they can keep abreast of the news, and they sit huddled around the fire, amidst some tension, as George's initial hope that the 'remainers' will triumph proves premature... Meanwhile, a violent storm whips up. The damage is apparent as the new day dawns and George declares a new meaning for Kirrin Island is exiting Britain ...that is, until the red tape becomes too much of a challenge and their happy life together is under threat. Perfect for anyone sick of hearing that 'Brexit means Brexit', or for that relative you're still not talking to because of how they voted...
103 pages, Hardcover
First published November 3, 2016
48 people are currently reading
667 people want to read
About the author
Bruno Vincent
46 books42 followersBruno Vincent was a bookseller and book editor before he was an author. His humour books for grown-ups, co-authored with Jon Butler, were national bestsellers and have been translated into seven languages. The TUMBLEWATER books are his first for children.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 280 reviews
June 4, 2018
"Where is it?" said George irritably, as Aunt Fanny began to remove the breakfast things. "I've been looking for it all morning--"
"For what, dear?" asked Uncle Quentin.
"My copy of Five on Brexit Island, of course!" said George. "I just can't think where - oh Julian, you rotter - how could you!" And indeed her cousin was putting the book down with a satisfied smirk, having evidently just finished the last page.
"You beast!" said George indignantly. "You utter beast!" She would have continued, but the others shushed her.
"What's it like then?" asked Dick and Anne together.
"Topical satire," said Julian. "Hard-hitting--"
"Doesn't sound much like Enid Blyton to me," said George, who was still seething inwardly. "What's hard-hitting about it?"
"Oh," said Julian, "a lot of Rupert Murdoch jokes. He comes across as a proper crook. And insinuations that not everyone in the Leave camp was telling the truth. But really, the message is more than Brexit isn't important enough that people should become estranged from their friends and family just because they have different opinions about--"
"About the most important political question of our generation?" asked George.
"Well," said Julian. "You might put it like that. But the author wouldn't."
"So in fact," said George, "it's not hard-hitting at all. About as hard-hitting as being lightly slapped around the face with a small, limp sausage." She suited her actions to her words.
"Ow!" said Julian.
"Woof!" said Timmy.
"For what, dear?" asked Uncle Quentin.
"My copy of Five on Brexit Island, of course!" said George. "I just can't think where - oh Julian, you rotter - how could you!" And indeed her cousin was putting the book down with a satisfied smirk, having evidently just finished the last page.
"You beast!" said George indignantly. "You utter beast!" She would have continued, but the others shushed her.
"What's it like then?" asked Dick and Anne together.
"Topical satire," said Julian. "Hard-hitting--"
"Doesn't sound much like Enid Blyton to me," said George, who was still seething inwardly. "What's hard-hitting about it?"
"Oh," said Julian, "a lot of Rupert Murdoch jokes. He comes across as a proper crook. And insinuations that not everyone in the Leave camp was telling the truth. But really, the message is more than Brexit isn't important enough that people should become estranged from their friends and family just because they have different opinions about--"
"About the most important political question of our generation?" asked George.
"Well," said Julian. "You might put it like that. But the author wouldn't."
"So in fact," said George, "it's not hard-hitting at all. About as hard-hitting as being lightly slapped around the face with a small, limp sausage." She suited her actions to her words.
"Ow!" said Julian.
"Woof!" said Timmy.
December 12, 2016
Timmy was considered to be neutral,although if he had been capable of understanding the variety of sausages available on the European mainland, that could probably have been a deciding factor.
Part of a series of semi-satirical updates of the Famous Five series, beloved from my childhood, to the present day.
Five on Brexit Island has George, disgusted by the result of the Brexit referendum, declaring that Kirrin Island, owned by her family from the original novels, will itself declare independence from Britain, with Julian, who had supported Brexit, arguing for staying with the mainland.
The series is endorsed by the late author's estate, whereas some of the other modern-day spoof rewrites (e.g. of the Ladybird novels) have relied on the exemption in copyright law for satire. This does mean that here we get original illustration from the novels, although the story could have been written so that they better fitted into the accompanying text, but also that any satire of the original series is rather gentle. The title Enid Blyton for Grown Ups would suggest a rather more risque approach than the author actually takes - the most we get is George swigging from a stash of whiskey that Uncle Quentin had stashed on the island years ago when courting Aunt Fanny, and Julian finding Aunt Fanny's own item she had hidden in response.
And the satirical take on Brexit itself seems largely confined to one easy target. Julian seems to literally turn into Boris Johnson (Anne notes that his hair has turned inexplicably blond and floppy, and his waistline expanded), complete with the ability to argue both sides of argument and sometimes confused which side he is on, old-Etonian mannerisms, a love for the culture of the continent (here cheese) but not the bureaucrats who he falsely accuses of banning various institutions of British life ("sarcastic apologies"), and, in case the reader misses the unsubtle clues, even being suspended on a zip-wire in front of press photographers, as he makes one of his trademark patriotic speeches:
To his own ears it was soaring,emotional and contained something of the majesty and bombast of Churchill at his best. To others, however, it was silly, over the top, pompous and repetitive.
Following the analogy George is presumably cast in the role of Nicola Sturgeon, although any resemblance of character is either absent or entirely in the author's imagination. Anne spends her time dreaming about various continental boyfriends who may now leave the UK, and Dick comes across as much more dimwitted than I recall from the originals.
Overall, the idea is a good one, but the execution, giving the promising topic matter, something of a disappointment. An enjoyable read but one can't help feel more could have been made, particularly of Brexit.
Although my verdict isn't as harsh as Timmy's on the Krexit referendum when he is awarded the casting vote:
Squatting down he laid his profound expression of the democratic process
Part of a series of semi-satirical updates of the Famous Five series, beloved from my childhood, to the present day.
Five on Brexit Island has George, disgusted by the result of the Brexit referendum, declaring that Kirrin Island, owned by her family from the original novels, will itself declare independence from Britain, with Julian, who had supported Brexit, arguing for staying with the mainland.
The series is endorsed by the late author's estate, whereas some of the other modern-day spoof rewrites (e.g. of the Ladybird novels) have relied on the exemption in copyright law for satire. This does mean that here we get original illustration from the novels, although the story could have been written so that they better fitted into the accompanying text, but also that any satire of the original series is rather gentle. The title Enid Blyton for Grown Ups would suggest a rather more risque approach than the author actually takes - the most we get is George swigging from a stash of whiskey that Uncle Quentin had stashed on the island years ago when courting Aunt Fanny, and Julian finding Aunt Fanny's own item she had hidden in response.
And the satirical take on Brexit itself seems largely confined to one easy target. Julian seems to literally turn into Boris Johnson (Anne notes that his hair has turned inexplicably blond and floppy, and his waistline expanded), complete with the ability to argue both sides of argument and sometimes confused which side he is on, old-Etonian mannerisms, a love for the culture of the continent (here cheese) but not the bureaucrats who he falsely accuses of banning various institutions of British life ("sarcastic apologies"), and, in case the reader misses the unsubtle clues, even being suspended on a zip-wire in front of press photographers, as he makes one of his trademark patriotic speeches:
To his own ears it was soaring,emotional and contained something of the majesty and bombast of Churchill at his best. To others, however, it was silly, over the top, pompous and repetitive.
Following the analogy George is presumably cast in the role of Nicola Sturgeon, although any resemblance of character is either absent or entirely in the author's imagination. Anne spends her time dreaming about various continental boyfriends who may now leave the UK, and Dick comes across as much more dimwitted than I recall from the originals.
Overall, the idea is a good one, but the execution, giving the promising topic matter, something of a disappointment. An enjoyable read but one can't help feel more could have been made, particularly of Brexit.
Although my verdict isn't as harsh as Timmy's on the Krexit referendum when he is awarded the casting vote:
Squatting down he laid his profound expression of the democratic process
July 8, 2017
So, Kirrin Island is in Dorsett
8 July 2017 - Perth
I suspect that this book came out soon after the quite unexpected result of the Brexit referendum and is actually dripping with quite a lot of political commentary. Not only does the issue of being ruled by a faceless bureaucracy in Brussels, immigration, and some of the ridiculous EU laws come up, but the idea of the meaningless political speech is explored (including the orator who delivers a fine sounding argument but in the end has no idea what they are talking about). Notice that the cover has Julian holding up a sign suggesting that if they decide to vote for him then there will be 350 million pounds available for the Picnic Fund (which is a subtle dig at the claim that Brexit will free up more money for the NHS, and after the vote went through it turned out that that money never existed in the first place – hey, I was lied to, can I change my vote?).
The story occurs soon after the shock result, and the Five decide to go for a retreat to Kirrin Island. However, just before they head off, George posts one last Tweet saying that, in light of the fact that Britain will be leaving the EU, then she will be declaring independence from Britain (or at least Kirrin Island will be declaring independence). Since there are theoretically four inhabitants of the island (five if you count Timothy, who turns out to be easily bribed through the offerings of sausages), it has to go down to a vote and we end up having two sides – Julian for remain and George for leave, and two undecided voters, Anne and Dick (though as it turns out Dick always lets Anne do the thinking). The catch is that George's tweet caught on and the next thing they know the island is swarming with journalists.
This book is hilarious, and it is a good thing that I didn't write this series off with the one about the baby because even though it was funny, it wasn't rolling around on the ground type of funny. A new character is introduced – cousin Rupert, whom we are told was an unknown before the Five reached adulthood, and who is also a rather scheming individual who is always looking for a quick buck (and dresses in a rather expensive suit). Not surprisingly, with George's secessionist move (and apparently the West Country is full of secessionist crackpots), Rupert makes an appearance pretty quickly since he sees some rather golden opportunities coming his way.
However, the main theme of this book is how divisive politics has become these days. Sure, politics has always been divisive, but it seems to becoming much more so, and Brexit is a key example. Honestly, I'm not entirely sure what the leave campaign really wanted, nor is it clear what the leavers really expected to come out of the situation. Then we have this debate over a hard Brexit and a soft Brexit (and this whole concept of a Hard Brexit seems to have been tossed out along with Teresa May's majority) – why on Earth did the British government want to punish Britain for something that they were campaigning in favour of.
Then there is Jeremy Corbyn, who I have to admit is first of all not going anywhere, yet didn't seem to have an opinion on the whole idea in the first place (which means that I am really surprised that he did as well as he did, but then again it probably goes down to the old adage that oppositions don't win elections, governments loose elections). I should also mention Julian, who is described at the beginning of the book as looking a lot like Boris Johnson, and is a hard core free market capitalist and classic Eton scholar (I didn't know the Famous Five went to Eton). Oh, and I just remembered, I wrote a post on the whole Brexit cafuffle (I spelt that correctly first go) on my blog shortly after the result came through.
8 July 2017 - Perth
I suspect that this book came out soon after the quite unexpected result of the Brexit referendum and is actually dripping with quite a lot of political commentary. Not only does the issue of being ruled by a faceless bureaucracy in Brussels, immigration, and some of the ridiculous EU laws come up, but the idea of the meaningless political speech is explored (including the orator who delivers a fine sounding argument but in the end has no idea what they are talking about). Notice that the cover has Julian holding up a sign suggesting that if they decide to vote for him then there will be 350 million pounds available for the Picnic Fund (which is a subtle dig at the claim that Brexit will free up more money for the NHS, and after the vote went through it turned out that that money never existed in the first place – hey, I was lied to, can I change my vote?).
The story occurs soon after the shock result, and the Five decide to go for a retreat to Kirrin Island. However, just before they head off, George posts one last Tweet saying that, in light of the fact that Britain will be leaving the EU, then she will be declaring independence from Britain (or at least Kirrin Island will be declaring independence). Since there are theoretically four inhabitants of the island (five if you count Timothy, who turns out to be easily bribed through the offerings of sausages), it has to go down to a vote and we end up having two sides – Julian for remain and George for leave, and two undecided voters, Anne and Dick (though as it turns out Dick always lets Anne do the thinking). The catch is that George's tweet caught on and the next thing they know the island is swarming with journalists.
This book is hilarious, and it is a good thing that I didn't write this series off with the one about the baby because even though it was funny, it wasn't rolling around on the ground type of funny. A new character is introduced – cousin Rupert, whom we are told was an unknown before the Five reached adulthood, and who is also a rather scheming individual who is always looking for a quick buck (and dresses in a rather expensive suit). Not surprisingly, with George's secessionist move (and apparently the West Country is full of secessionist crackpots), Rupert makes an appearance pretty quickly since he sees some rather golden opportunities coming his way.
However, the main theme of this book is how divisive politics has become these days. Sure, politics has always been divisive, but it seems to becoming much more so, and Brexit is a key example. Honestly, I'm not entirely sure what the leave campaign really wanted, nor is it clear what the leavers really expected to come out of the situation. Then we have this debate over a hard Brexit and a soft Brexit (and this whole concept of a Hard Brexit seems to have been tossed out along with Teresa May's majority) – why on Earth did the British government want to punish Britain for something that they were campaigning in favour of.
Then there is Jeremy Corbyn, who I have to admit is first of all not going anywhere, yet didn't seem to have an opinion on the whole idea in the first place (which means that I am really surprised that he did as well as he did, but then again it probably goes down to the old adage that oppositions don't win elections, governments loose elections). I should also mention Julian, who is described at the beginning of the book as looking a lot like Boris Johnson, and is a hard core free market capitalist and classic Eton scholar (I didn't know the Famous Five went to Eton). Oh, and I just remembered, I wrote a post on the whole Brexit cafuffle (I spelt that correctly first go) on my blog shortly after the result came through.
November 25, 2016
Don’t read this if you haven’t yet come to terms with Brexit; the angle is, let us say, not fanatically pro-European.
My background dictates I should have truly hated this book: My mom and dad are both (hello, matey peeps!) Greek. They had me in Chicago, they raised me in Athens, where I gradually became aware of the fact that I hail from an ethnic minority, and they sent me to college in Boston. From there I moved to Frankfurt for a year, before settling in London for the past 25 years, where I’m raising a family with a Japanese / American woman.
To my chagrin, our children are proudly and fanatically British, to the extent that my daughter wrote an invitation for Prince George to her 5th birthday, which we had to pretend we mailed. More poignantly, a year and a bit ago, Greece was playing Japan in the world cup. So I asked my son whom he’d be supporting. The only observation he could make was that it did not sound like England was playing…
And now, of course, it sounds like we’ve overstayed our welcome and we need to leave.
I should add here that as a young boy I read all Secret Seven and all Famous Five books (to which this addition is 100% true; Enid Blyton could easily have penned it) multiple times and also followed the adventures of Dick, Ann, Julian, George and Timmy the dog on Greek television.
In short, I’m precisely the type of guy who should have hated this book with a passion.
Call it Stockholm syndrome, call it what you like, I bloody loved it. I read it in one go.
You probably need to have lived here to find it funny. Don’t think it would work for somebody who hasn’t lived in the UK and has not followed the sundry ridiculous arguments surrounding Brexit in the UK press.
But if you’ve followed the Brexit saga from inside the UK and if you are at peace with our predicament, I think you will find it side-splittingly funny. The gags are cheap and they come at you thick and fast, often through sheer repetition, which is probably my favorite type of humor.
Or should I say humour?
I recommend you read it out loud, with your best John Humphrys accent.
My background dictates I should have truly hated this book: My mom and dad are both (hello, matey peeps!) Greek. They had me in Chicago, they raised me in Athens, where I gradually became aware of the fact that I hail from an ethnic minority, and they sent me to college in Boston. From there I moved to Frankfurt for a year, before settling in London for the past 25 years, where I’m raising a family with a Japanese / American woman.
To my chagrin, our children are proudly and fanatically British, to the extent that my daughter wrote an invitation for Prince George to her 5th birthday, which we had to pretend we mailed. More poignantly, a year and a bit ago, Greece was playing Japan in the world cup. So I asked my son whom he’d be supporting. The only observation he could make was that it did not sound like England was playing…
And now, of course, it sounds like we’ve overstayed our welcome and we need to leave.
I should add here that as a young boy I read all Secret Seven and all Famous Five books (to which this addition is 100% true; Enid Blyton could easily have penned it) multiple times and also followed the adventures of Dick, Ann, Julian, George and Timmy the dog on Greek television.
In short, I’m precisely the type of guy who should have hated this book with a passion.
Call it Stockholm syndrome, call it what you like, I bloody loved it. I read it in one go.
You probably need to have lived here to find it funny. Don’t think it would work for somebody who hasn’t lived in the UK and has not followed the sundry ridiculous arguments surrounding Brexit in the UK press.
But if you’ve followed the Brexit saga from inside the UK and if you are at peace with our predicament, I think you will find it side-splittingly funny. The gags are cheap and they come at you thick and fast, often through sheer repetition, which is probably my favorite type of humor.
Or should I say humour?
I recommend you read it out loud, with your best John Humphrys accent.
February 22, 2021
'Five on Brexit Island' (Bruno Vincent 2016) is from the 'Enid Blyton for Grown Ups' series. Being a fan of the nearest equivalent 'Ladybird for Grown Ups' series, I was looking forward to being similarly entertained and amused by 'Five'.
Unfortunately however, as far as the actual content of 'Five on Brexit Island' - it's underwhelming to say the least. Neither particularly funny, nor politically astute or insightful, 'Five' is ineffective as a satire, lacking fun and overall just disappointing.
As far as the presentation - this a lovely looking and well presented book with lovely 'period' Illustrations and cover (presumably taken from originals in Enid Blyton books?). Appearances as they say, can be deceptive.
Unfortunately however, as far as the actual content of 'Five on Brexit Island' - it's underwhelming to say the least. Neither particularly funny, nor politically astute or insightful, 'Five' is ineffective as a satire, lacking fun and overall just disappointing.
As far as the presentation - this a lovely looking and well presented book with lovely 'period' Illustrations and cover (presumably taken from originals in Enid Blyton books?). Appearances as they say, can be deceptive.
February 27, 2018
This was just terrible. The time around referendum is perfectly described in this book. And you know what? I already had to live through that nightmare where everyone lies, no one knows what Brexit means (well except that “Brexit means Brexit”, right?) and no one can make an informed decision… so why would I read about it too?
That is the reason why I would like to say that this book is pointless. It is not funny, it just describes things that have already happened in a super weird way.
I thought that the book is going to be completely different and actually have a grain of brain in it, perhaps some possible future depictions of how to make the best out of the situation… But no, it is even crazier and stupider than the real deal.
And the illustrations made no sense at all. I know, after all, I said that is a small issue, but it bothered me so much.
I regret buying and reading this book. Woof, woof.
That is the reason why I would like to say that this book is pointless. It is not funny, it just describes things that have already happened in a super weird way.
I thought that the book is going to be completely different and actually have a grain of brain in it, perhaps some possible future depictions of how to make the best out of the situation… But no, it is even crazier and stupider than the real deal.
And the illustrations made no sense at all. I know, after all, I said that is a small issue, but it bothered me so much.
I regret buying and reading this book. Woof, woof.
June 30, 2022
Good fun reading a Famous Five book after such a long time. Nostalgia seeps in.
February 19, 2017
Not as good as the other "Five for Grown Ups" book I read, Five go Gluten- Free. This one revolves around everyone's favourite referendum. Distraught that Britain has made the decision to leave the EU, George declares her intention to make Kirrin Island independent from the UK. Julian, who increasingly resembles Boris Johnson, opposes this.
It's an interesting idea, but it wasn't as clever as it thought it was, and the ending was weak. Unlike Five go Gluten Free, where the characters felt like adult extensions of the childhood characters we know and love, Brexit Island morphed the characters to fit British political personalities.
It's an interesting idea, but it wasn't as clever as it thought it was, and the ending was weak. Unlike Five go Gluten Free, where the characters felt like adult extensions of the childhood characters we know and love, Brexit Island morphed the characters to fit British political personalities.
October 26, 2017
This was my first exposure to the adult version of a beloved adventure series written by Enid Blyton and avidly enjoyed during my childhood in England. I was both bemused and delighted to receive a copy of this book in a package sent from my son who resides in London, England. I began reading, however, I mislaid it part way through, and forgot about it for a while, hence the length of time it has taken me to finish what I would describe as a quick read. It does a fair job of explaining Brexit, if that was the intention. However, it was a bit tepid, lacking the incise wit, or laugh-out-loud humor I was expecting from a parody.
July 20, 2017
This was weak lemon squash for me I'm afraid.
August 1, 2017
Ehrlich gesagt, ohne dieses Cover und den Titel hätte ich das Buch ja niemals angefasst. Aber diese neue, satirische Version von Enid Blytons "Fünf Freunde" gewinnt vor allem mit den Grundthematiken. Nach "Five Go Gluten Free" nun also "Five On Brexit Island" - eine interessante Abhandlung der britischen Abstimmung aus dem Jahre 2016.
Bruno Vincent vermag es auch hier, der klassische Stil der Kinderbücher aufzugreifen und immer wieder mit witzigen Querverweisen und Anspielungen zu versehen. So startet auch diese Geschichte gleich in die Vollen und lässt die Freunde ein kurioses Abenteuer starten - doch schnell verliert das kurze Buch etwas an Schwung. Die eigentliche Ausgangslage wird nicht wirklich ausgeschöpft, der Witz verliert sich etwas.
"Enid Blyton For Grown Ups" ist also auch bei dieser Ausgabe vor allem eine nostalgische Fahrt durch amüsante Passagen und versuchte Gesellschaftskritik. Wirklich tiefgründig wird es nie - reicht aber für den heissen Sommernachmittag.
Bruno Vincent vermag es auch hier, der klassische Stil der Kinderbücher aufzugreifen und immer wieder mit witzigen Querverweisen und Anspielungen zu versehen. So startet auch diese Geschichte gleich in die Vollen und lässt die Freunde ein kurioses Abenteuer starten - doch schnell verliert das kurze Buch etwas an Schwung. Die eigentliche Ausgangslage wird nicht wirklich ausgeschöpft, der Witz verliert sich etwas.
"Enid Blyton For Grown Ups" ist also auch bei dieser Ausgabe vor allem eine nostalgische Fahrt durch amüsante Passagen und versuchte Gesellschaftskritik. Wirklich tiefgründig wird es nie - reicht aber für den heissen Sommernachmittag.
March 17, 2017
Very cleverly done. I read this during the hoo haa around a second Scottish independence referendum, rejected by Teresa May on behalf of the UK government. It tickles me how many "Brexiteers" are incensed by the idea of an independent Scotland. The irony of it! So it was an ideal time for me to read this book, which tackles pretty much the same issues. I enjoyed it very much.
January 1, 2017
Cash-grab.
Not all that funny, not all that coherent (perhaps that's the point?) and not all that memorable. Having said that, I don't feel that I can honestly drop this to 1 star because this book didn't really elicit any feelings in me, either positive or negative. Mostly harmless, I suppose.
Not all that funny, not all that coherent (perhaps that's the point?) and not all that memorable. Having said that, I don't feel that I can honestly drop this to 1 star because this book didn't really elicit any feelings in me, either positive or negative. Mostly harmless, I suppose.
February 27, 2019
My least favourite of the 'adult' Famous Five series. Maybe it is because I can't find anything funny about the nightmare that is Brexit, but I did appreciate the bit where Julian gets stuck on a zipwire, a la Boris Johnson. Nice touch.
March 1, 2017
This book was a light read that I got as a gift for Christmas.
As someone who was a hard remainer (and still is smarting over the death of modern Britain) I thought this book would be incredible aggravating. However, this didn't bring out the spite and bile that I feel towards Brexit. It was pretty funny in places, though some of the jokes really didn't hit. I had never read a Famous Five book, but I could pick up on when they were making fun of their previous adventures. The book was well made, though the pictures didn't really match the quotes and were pages away from the lines themselves.
Overall a book that I was expecting to hate, but didn't. So that's good.
As someone who was a hard remainer (and still is smarting over the death of modern Britain) I thought this book would be incredible aggravating. However, this didn't bring out the spite and bile that I feel towards Brexit. It was pretty funny in places, though some of the jokes really didn't hit. I had never read a Famous Five book, but I could pick up on when they were making fun of their previous adventures. The book was well made, though the pictures didn't really match the quotes and were pages away from the lines themselves.
Overall a book that I was expecting to hate, but didn't. So that's good.
September 19, 2017
Only mildly amusing. And incoherent, unfortunately. Could have been so much better.
June 29, 2019
The United Kingdom has voted for Brexit, and the Famous Five were split over the referendum. Julian voted to leave, and the others to stay. Anne has repeated nightmares about her numerous European boyfriends who have had to leave her as Britain leaves the EU. All are going to miss French cheeses. Now, George has decided, that if she can no longer be part of the EU, then she will declare her Kirrin Island independent of the UK. Julian is utterly opposed to having the island “detach itself from the mother country and make itself a small, cold pointless outpost”. George, of course, does not have a “Post.Krexit” plan, so in steps her dastardly cousin, Rupert, to deal with the sudden influx of journalists, and to propose some dodgy tax evasion ideas. Julian is doing a full-on Boris (complete with stuck zip-wire), making unsubstantiated (and quite incorrect) pronouncements “all this reliance on facts and experts is, I think, deeply patronizing to the average Kirrin voter…. They know the real facts, deep down. They know how they feel”. Meanwhile, we discover things about Uncle Quentin and Aunt Fanny’s courtship, that we probably didn’t need to know.
This is a quite amusing parody of both the Famous Five, and the ongoing Brexit debacle. Lots of in-jokes, that probably won’t mean anything to non-Brits, and may rile Brexiteers. When I got this book, Brexit was alarming and the feelings quite raw. Now, it is still alarming, no further on, and has lost any humour it may have once evoked. This is a book of its time – which is passing quickly.
This is a quite amusing parody of both the Famous Five, and the ongoing Brexit debacle. Lots of in-jokes, that probably won’t mean anything to non-Brits, and may rile Brexiteers. When I got this book, Brexit was alarming and the feelings quite raw. Now, it is still alarming, no further on, and has lost any humour it may have once evoked. This is a book of its time – which is passing quickly.
April 25, 2017
A bit like Marmite, this book seems to have garnered both love and hate reviews. I was never a huge Blyton fan, though I had read enough of these ones to recall the originals. Here the four children have grown up (the 5th being Timmy the dog) - but still visit Kirrin Island and decide to do so on the fateful night following the Brexit Referendum. Armed with smart phones, they learn of the result the next morning. Julian is delighted, but not George, who owns the island and who is so angry that she announces on her Twitter feed that she is going to hold a referendum of her own for its independence ... Nothing profound here, but a light, daft read that nevertheless makes some good points.
November 30, 2016
I hope Dawn French, Jennifer Saunders et. al are seeing some royalties for these books, as they owe a lot to Five Go Mad in Dorset and Five Go Mad on Mescalin.
This is an amusing satire on the arguments for and against Brexit, and also a satire of the Famous Five itself. It is actually done quite well, imitating Blyton's style, and I find myself wanting to re-read the originals. The whole Brexit angle, however, still smarts. But I'm looking forward to getting the other books.
This is an amusing satire on the arguments for and against Brexit, and also a satire of the Famous Five itself. It is actually done quite well, imitating Blyton's style, and I find myself wanting to re-read the originals. The whole Brexit angle, however, still smarts. But I'm looking forward to getting the other books.
November 12, 2016
Following on from the success of the Ladybird How Does It Work books aimed at adults for nostalgia five The Famous Five books have been produced this year.
Personally I never grew up reading the original Blyton books, but with Brexit being so topical compared to the others in the series I thought I'd pick this up.
Some really fun analogies as we see the gang on Kirrin Island during the EU Referendum.
A very enjoyable, fun and easy read.
Personally I never grew up reading the original Blyton books, but with Brexit being so topical compared to the others in the series I thought I'd pick this up.
Some really fun analogies as we see the gang on Kirrin Island during the EU Referendum.
A very enjoyable, fun and easy read.
January 2, 2017
I was never a big fan of Enid Blyton books when I was a child. This was an amusing reminder of quite how annoying I found the Famous Five in the first place (even Timmy the dog... especially Timmy the dog). Maybe this is what we needed to stand back and laugh at ourselves post-referendum. Or maybe we can just keep arguing amongst ourselves at dinner parties. Either way, I may have lost my faith in humanity, but I've a new-found appreciation of Julian, George, Dick, Anne and Timmy.
November 3, 2020
This must be the worst book I’ve ever read to the end, and I did this in order to get the full, miserable picture before reviewing it.
Many people will have read Enid Blyton’s Five books as children. This is a famous Five book for grown-ups, penned by a different author.
The first hint of the book’s atrociousness was to be seen in the drawings, though the drawing on the front cover was beyond reproach. As previous readers of the Five books will be aware of, the Famous Five consisted of four children, Julian, Dick, George (despite the name, a girl) and Anne, together with a dog, Timmy.
But there were only three correct drawings depicting the four children and Timmy, the dog. In the first, the four were children, including Anne, a little girl. In the second, Anne is bigger, a teenager. And in the third, Anne’s age can’t be assessed.
In seven drawings there is an extra child; in five of these, an extra boy. In one of them, an extra girl, and in one an extra child, the sex being indeterminate. (I hope that the inclusion of this word beginning with “s” will not result in Amazon refusing this review.) In one of these, Anne appears to be a teenager.
In all the drawings George is easily recognizable by her curly hair.
By the time I got down to actually reading the book, I was so disturbed by the misleading drawings that the story line seemed irrelevant. By the way, Enid Blyton would have turned in her grave had she seen the drawings.
As regards the story line, the book is a sort of parody of Brexit, where the Five go to Kirrin Island, a small island apparently owned by George. I hadn’t heard of this island before, but I probably hadn’t read all the books; or else the island is an invention of the new author.
George decides she wants Kirrin Island to be independent of Britain and they have to vote about it.
It turns out Uncle Quentin and Aunt Fanny, who appear in the book, are George’s parents and the others’ uncle and aunt, which detail I had previously been unaware of.
The children being now older, Julian drinks whisky and George is not averse to taking a sip of it; Julian is also seen to be smoking a cigarette. The children would not previously have adopted either of these deleterious habits, no matter what their age.
Also, this being a modern story, the young people have of course mobile phones. (I can’t say “the Five” because Timmy of course doesn’t have one.)
In actual fact, by the time of Brexit, the Famous Five, or rather the children in question, would not just have become slightly older, as in this book, but be old age pensioners, if they hadn’t long since died (perhaps from drinking too much whisky or smoking too many cigarettes).
The final factor adding to the book’s poor quality was to be found in the last page. In a sentence about Timmy, the dog, came the phrase “Tucking his tale between his legs”. Enid Blyton would again have turned in her grave at this wrong spelling.. Though the quality of Blyton’s writing was often criticized, she would never have failed to distinguish “tale” from “tail”, not being illiterate.
I will not be reading any further of Bruno Vincent’s books in the series “Enid Blyton for Grown-ups”. What a terrible book!
Many people will have read Enid Blyton’s Five books as children. This is a famous Five book for grown-ups, penned by a different author.
The first hint of the book’s atrociousness was to be seen in the drawings, though the drawing on the front cover was beyond reproach. As previous readers of the Five books will be aware of, the Famous Five consisted of four children, Julian, Dick, George (despite the name, a girl) and Anne, together with a dog, Timmy.
But there were only three correct drawings depicting the four children and Timmy, the dog. In the first, the four were children, including Anne, a little girl. In the second, Anne is bigger, a teenager. And in the third, Anne’s age can’t be assessed.
In seven drawings there is an extra child; in five of these, an extra boy. In one of them, an extra girl, and in one an extra child, the sex being indeterminate. (I hope that the inclusion of this word beginning with “s” will not result in Amazon refusing this review.) In one of these, Anne appears to be a teenager.
In all the drawings George is easily recognizable by her curly hair.
By the time I got down to actually reading the book, I was so disturbed by the misleading drawings that the story line seemed irrelevant. By the way, Enid Blyton would have turned in her grave had she seen the drawings.
As regards the story line, the book is a sort of parody of Brexit, where the Five go to Kirrin Island, a small island apparently owned by George. I hadn’t heard of this island before, but I probably hadn’t read all the books; or else the island is an invention of the new author.
George decides she wants Kirrin Island to be independent of Britain and they have to vote about it.
It turns out Uncle Quentin and Aunt Fanny, who appear in the book, are George’s parents and the others’ uncle and aunt, which detail I had previously been unaware of.
The children being now older, Julian drinks whisky and George is not averse to taking a sip of it; Julian is also seen to be smoking a cigarette. The children would not previously have adopted either of these deleterious habits, no matter what their age.
Also, this being a modern story, the young people have of course mobile phones. (I can’t say “the Five” because Timmy of course doesn’t have one.)
In actual fact, by the time of Brexit, the Famous Five, or rather the children in question, would not just have become slightly older, as in this book, but be old age pensioners, if they hadn’t long since died (perhaps from drinking too much whisky or smoking too many cigarettes).
The final factor adding to the book’s poor quality was to be found in the last page. In a sentence about Timmy, the dog, came the phrase “Tucking his tale between his legs”. Enid Blyton would again have turned in her grave at this wrong spelling.. Though the quality of Blyton’s writing was often criticized, she would never have failed to distinguish “tale” from “tail”, not being illiterate.
I will not be reading any further of Bruno Vincent’s books in the series “Enid Blyton for Grown-ups”. What a terrible book!
December 3, 2017
I suppose this could be interesting to the people who enjoyed the original Five-books. I read them as a child as well, but was never a huge fan. (Also, wasn't there a parrot? Or did I make that up?) These parodies (there are a couple more) are aimed at grownups who read the originals as kids but that's about all there is to these books. They are mock funny, but the funniest thing about this series is the titles. There is some actual political commentary too and some of it is interesting. Although the story sets out to make fun of both Remain and Leave -camps, it is clear which side is "supposed to" win. Not going to bother with the rest of the series but perhaps, if you were a huge fan as a kid, you might enjoy these books.
May 6, 2017
Weak sauce. Maybe it's that that whole referendum business is still too raw, and the acrimony it stirred up still so tangible, or maybe the authorised nature of the spoof pulled its teeth a bit, but I failed to register a chuckle.
A couple of nice gags, but mostly the targets are predictable and the satire writes itself, to little purpose.
The Adult Ladybird books, the success of which this clearly seeks to emulate, have the advantage of brevity. Not that this is long, but long enough to stretch its brief and outstay its welcome.
Shame. Maybe the Gluten Free or Strategy Away Day might throw up a few lighter, more whimsical gags. This is just a bit depressing.
A couple of nice gags, but mostly the targets are predictable and the satire writes itself, to little purpose.
The Adult Ladybird books, the success of which this clearly seeks to emulate, have the advantage of brevity. Not that this is long, but long enough to stretch its brief and outstay its welcome.
Shame. Maybe the Gluten Free or Strategy Away Day might throw up a few lighter, more whimsical gags. This is just a bit depressing.
March 28, 2020
Okay, so honestly, I really don't think this is what Julian would be like as an adult.
Moving on, this book was an interesting, quick insight into the intricacies of politics. Brexit, one of the most significant political phenomena of recent times, is deconstructed- to paraphrase a famous saying, the political is indeed personal.
The ending could have been better, I feel. It was anti-climactic and underwhelming, and felt too rushed. But overall, I'd say read this if you're feeling even a little nostalgic for your Enid Blyton-reading days, or if you just want a unique perspective into the workings of Brexit (and British politics in general).
Moving on, this book was an interesting, quick insight into the intricacies of politics. Brexit, one of the most significant political phenomena of recent times, is deconstructed- to paraphrase a famous saying, the political is indeed personal.
The ending could have been better, I feel. It was anti-climactic and underwhelming, and felt too rushed. But overall, I'd say read this if you're feeling even a little nostalgic for your Enid Blyton-reading days, or if you just want a unique perspective into the workings of Brexit (and British politics in general).
February 25, 2019
A bit out of date with how Brexit 'is' progressing but could live with that. However who on earth did thoses illustrations? Not anyone who had studied the book they really put me off and I stopped looking at them, I am tempted to read one of the more recent books in this series to see if they have improved!
April 16, 2018
Very nice and entertaining story, with simplicity in writing.
September 3, 2018
Very amusing mockery of recent (ish) political events! A light hearted nostalgic read for adults.
December 23, 2018
One star for each of Annes European lovers.
September 14, 2023
Aside from the occasional witty one-liner, this is a disappointingly unfunny read. Excellent idea in theory, poor in execution.
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