Five Go Down Under

Enid Blyton for Grown-Ups

by Sophie Hamley

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 Enid Blyton for Grown-Ups, Julian, George, Dick, Anne and Timmy head Down Under for some relaxing holiday fun. But will it be the adventure they had hoped for? Setting up camp in Bondi they soon meet the Sydney Six, a couple of guitar-strumming Kiwis and a rogue South African and find themselves in the thick of Sydney's real estate perils and the attempts of their omnipresent cousin Rupert Kirrin to buy up the local media. But when the sun, surf and bluebottles have their revenge and things don't quite go to plan, it's time to head for the country for a spot of sheep-shearing and quad-bike riding. Will the country be kinder to them or will their close calls with the Australian wildlife have them heading back to the city before you can say decaff soy latte?

Genres: Humor

112 pages, Hardcover

First published October 31, 2017

Reviews

[Sharni · Rating 1 out of 5]

I live in Australia and I was as bewildered as Julian about the majority of the "Aussie slang". I had high hopes that this would be quite amusing... but no.

[Xanthi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good fun. I'm an Australian so found this amusing, despite the cliches and stereotyping. The inclusion of the New Zealanders was fun. I was a bit disappointed that no mention was made of drop bears though.

[Suzy Dominey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Funny to think that's what we talk like and 'near and far' soapy ha ha

[Dane Cobain · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is another entry in the Famous Five for grownups books that parody the children’s series by Enid Blyton. All of the books in the series have been pretty fun, but I also noticed that this is by a different author as the other ones I’ve read were by Bruno Vincent. Still, Hamley does just as good of a job and I have no complaints, although I wouldn’t recommend going out of your way for it either. Unless you’re from Australia, of course.

[Jess · Rating 1 out of 5]

A huge disappointment! I was really looking forward to this book as all the others from the series I have read, I have thoroughly enjoyed.

The Australian slang was in my opinion greatly overused and spoilt the flow of the writing. I also did not find the humour as amusing as the previous books and to be honest I felt the author was just trying too hard.

I hope that the next one in the series that I read will be more like the previous books.

[Educateempower · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Famous Five are back and this time they are having a Gap year in the suburb where so many English tourists seem to dwell - Bondi.

In this Famous Five novel for grown ups, we follow the Five as they learn about life in Bondi, try to understand the local lingo, eat out at Burnt Sugar Love Goddess Gratitude (which strangely reminds me of a place my friends frequented during their time in Bondi), go surfing and get stung by a blue bottle!

The Famous Five meet the 'Sydney Six' who not only are their idols from their favourite Australian sitcom but also interesting tour guides for life in Bondi.

But their adventures don't just happen in Bondi - they also venture further afield for a taste of #outbacklife on a working farm out in Wagga Wagga.

Each character in this Famous Five novel for grown ups still has the same characteristics they did in the original stories by Enid Blyton but they provide many more laughs. The Five have to deal with hipsters, strange Australian words and antics and life on social media.#wowsydneywowwow

If you need a laugh and an easy this book is a must as are the many more Famous Five books now on offer!

[Bec · Rating 3 out of 5]

I hadn’t noticed that this one was written by a different author than the others in the series, but as I was reading, I could tell it was different. Nowhere near as funny as the books written by Bruno Vincent. The plot was dodgy and the characters weren’t quite the same as they are portrayed in Vincent’s books. The parody of ‘Near and Far’ just didn’t work. The piss-taking of the New Zealanders didn’t make much sense to a non-Aussie like me either. Disappointing.

[The Honest Book Reviewer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Definitely not as funny as others I've read in this series. I think the different writer has a way of writing that didn't hit the right notes with me. There were some amusing parts to the book, such as Anne being chased by Hamish, and Julian's attempts to always be courageous and cool. I liked the inclusion of people from New Zealand at Bondi - well, isn't Bondi basically full of New Zealanders?

Still have more to read in this series, and looking forward to all of them.

[EL]

I started this series with Five Go Parenting (still my favourite by far) and have worked my way through the rest with varying degrees of enjoyment. Even Five Lose Dad in the Garden Centre raised a couple of laughs. They're just a bit of fun so I'm not going to go into any detail at all, I just wish I hadn't read this one. The weakest of the series for sure :(

[Crystal E. Fall · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite a crack-up in parts, with lots of Aussie slang thrown back and forth plus some other Kiwi expressions etc. The characters are pretty much caricatures of themselves, as parodies normally do, with some at parts crude humour. A fun read for the slang, but more adult humour than anything. Older teens might enjoy as well. Part of Aussie parody series.

[Emily · Rating 2 out of 5]

This one was just... bad. I was expecting it to be funny and maybe as an Australian I would enjoy it more but this one was very dry. "Five get beach-body ready was so bad it was good" but this one was just bad.

[Lyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting

[Emma Grey · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had high hopes for this spoof, but it was pretty weak humour overall, with only the occasional one-liner making it at all worth reading, in my opinion

[Francesca · Rating 5 out of 5]

Probably my favourite parodic 'Five' book so far!

[Bill Porter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Simply smashing

[Donna · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first book in this series I have found genuinely funny from start to finish

[Janet · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not as enjoyable as the others in this series I have read.

[Jessiclees · Rating 1 out of 5]

Dreadful, cliched and unfunny. I had high hopes because the premise was good, but it’s terrible. Maybe the others in the series are better?

[Romi (likes books) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Snakes, spiders, sharks and larks. I'm quite determined I've got to gift a copy of this to my best friends, so they, too, can see a unique side to Australia.

[lauren]

it was so bad but for the nostalgia it was ok. now considering how irritating british people are

[Helen Blunden · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit of fun and light reading for a change. Amusing but I won’t be doing a video review of this one. 🤣

[Mark Green · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just not as funny as you hoped!

[Sally · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't know why, but I just like reading these. The satire is sound and I did find this mostly amusing. The stereotyping is a little heavy handed, but not inaccurate and I think this makes just as much fun of the British as it does Australians. If you like this sort of thing, it's worth the half an hour it takes to read.

[Rhonda · Rating 2 out of 5]

I loved Enid Blyton books as a child, and picked this up in my local library (in Australia) to see what it was all about. Unfortunately, this just doesn't really work as a parody. It wasn't amusing, and the tone wasn't quite right. I'm not sure why the publisher bothered.