Five on a Treasure Island
Brief Synopsis
The first book of the extensive Famous Five stories and the place where it all begins, the story of the five comes together with the siblings Julian, Dick and Anne having to go to their aunt and uncle’s house at Kirrin Cottage where they meet their cousin, the independent George. From there, they venture towards a nearby island and find themselves involved in a race to find a treasure of gold.
Opinion
As a lifelong fan of Enid Blyton and her simplistic, engaging, friendly style of writing, this book was a relaxing slice of nostalgia wrapped up in good memories of picnics, sailboats, mysteries and good friends. I have been reading these stories at just about every age from when I would play the PC games my parents got me, then I would listen to them on cassette’s borrowed from the library to help me sleep, playing the audiobooks whilst I was looking through museums in Italy in I was in my 20s and now I’m doing reviews for them. As for this book, it gets something of a slow start to bring the four children together and the language is somewhat outdated, unsurprisingly for a book written in 1942, but there’s a charm to these books I can’t ignore. I think it’s the way that the character’s speak. There’s an endless stream of “I say”, “Golly” and “Gosh!” Try and say some of this without wanting to grin. There’s also the endless picnics and tea that leave the reader craving for a chance to join them.
Characters
This is the first book and since it brings the titular group together, so I’m gonna focus on them for this segment. Though the writing makes you think they might be interchangeable, Julian, Dick and Anne each have traits that pick them out from a crowd with Julian being the eldest, the strategist and, at times, the muscle, Dick thinking with his stomach and being something of a jokester and Anne with being the youngest, often being teased for it but she hides a steel spine underneath her silk. However, the character almost every read remembers is George, their cousin. She, for she is a She, is headstrong, stubborn and can be blunt to the point of rudeness though her good nature and courage keeps her from being unlikeable. She’s the one who brings Tim, their canine fifth member, into their lives and lives in Kirrin Cottage, takes the five to Kirrin Island and has no time nor patience for any kind of injustice or for anyone calling her Georgina. There’s a lot of modern debate about the nature of her gender identity and I admit I don’t have the time, the patience nor the expertise on how to discuss this. For the time being, I don’t see any harm in leaving the matter as it is. Take the writing at face value as a product of its time or look further into it, though I honestly think this ruins it for everyone.
Story-Telling
Blyton’s writing has a way of wrapping around you and bringing you back to a time that you’ve probably never dreamed of experiencing. It’s simply yet so passionately described, you can picture everything from the cottage to the castle to the coves clearly in your minds eye. I’ve lived my entire life by the sea and I spent my childhood being fascinated by Halls and castles, all imagining that I was creating my own adventures with the five. At the same time, there’s an elephant in the room. This book was written in the 40s, when the language was very different. But if you can’t be mature enough to explain what these things are, what they mean and why they aren’t said nowadays, then what is the point of reading in the first place.
Final Thoughts
Being the start for an iconic series that is still being reinvented to this day, this is a ‘perfectly lovely’ book that keeps you engaged even when the character’s aren’t looking for treasure or outsmarting bad guys. If you want to get your kids started on reading early, give them these and watch how the world unfolds before them. You might argue that some things come too easy for the children but again, these are children’s stories and the precursors to shows like Scooby-Doo. Things are going to be easy and they will always get away in the end.
