The most depressing Famous Five book?

[Nair Snehalatha]

I feel.Five.Are.together again is the FF book I like the least out of the rest of the well loved books.That it's the ladt of the FF books adds to the depression

[Wolfgang]

I like Five are together again. George shows her best sides, is indpendant, resourceful, even better than Julian which he admits.

[MJE]

I remember that they were snowed in and the police couldn't get through to Kirrin cottage.

[Referring to the three suspects in "Five Go Adventuring Again", handcuffed and locked in their bedroom until after the snow melts and police can come and get them.]
     If memory serves me right, a couple of police come promptly on skis to handcuff the suspects, then say they will come back to collect them when the snow melts sufficiently, and say to keep them locked in the room until then. The toilet problem is a real problem, though - I thought at first that having the men handcuffed in front and having an adjoining bathroom would solve that - but, on thinking it through, I realized it doesn't really solve the entire problem - if you see what I mean. Besides, probably few bedrooms had their own bathroom at the time the story takes place.
     There's yet another issue with the scenario Enid Blyton described, even if the toilet issue can be resolved somehow. Handcuffs are not designed to be high-security restraints over a long period: they are short-term restraints during transport or occasions when prisoners have to spend time in a publicl place, like a courtroom, and strong enough to hold prisoners for a short time under supervision to see that they can't acquire tools to break out with, and I have heard that, in fact, if you know the right place on the cuffs to give them a sharp, precisely aimed blow, you can open them relatively easily by force - something which escape artists may possibly have used on occasion. I don't know how true that is, but if you had three men handcuffed in a locked room for a few days, unsupervised, you can bet that they are going to spend a good part of their time trying to remove the handcuffs, using whatever tools or hard surfaces they could find in an average bedroom. I wouldn't be totally confident the men would even be there any longer when the police came back for them a few days later.
     But I can see the logistical problems of taking out all the gang on skis, during which they would no doubt try to make a break for it. I don't know how many police (at least in those days) could ski - but if some or all of the suspects couldn't, it might well be impossible to get them out safely under the conditions.
     I wonder how, in real life, police would have handled the situation.

Regards, Michael.

[Bertie]

I agree about the toilet / handcuffs issues, MJE. And I definitely remember being hyper-aware of things like that when I was being read them / read them myself as a youngster - so it's not just seeing it through an adults eyes.

There's plenty of times where characters or animals are on lonely Islands, or locked in cellars, closets, etc, when I always wondered about their toiletry needs. But, as is often pointed out, that's not limited to Enid. Or even to novelists. Most books / TV / Films skip over that awkward issue so I don't blame Enid for doing the same.

As regards most depressing FF book, the last time I answered this with Five on a Hike Together - which, on one or two threads, proved to be a much more popular book than I was expecting. So I definitely won't mention again here how I found it all too gloomy and depressing rather than 'wonderfully atmospheric' and it's one of my least favourite FF books.

Instead I'll go for the penultimate book - Five Have A Mystery To Solve. I always end the series at Demon's Rocks nowadays, so haven't read the last two for years and can't remember the detail as well as all the others. But I know, as well as the 'inferior last book(s) syndrome' that a few of the series had, I also found the tone and setting on that one to be very depressing as well.

[Moonraker]

It is certainly one of the most dire and boring books in the series - the CFF film was even worse!

[Lucky Star]

For sombre and downbeat settings it has to be either Five on a Hike Together or Five go to Mystery Moor. Unusually there's a high amount of rain, fog, dankness and gloom about the settings and even the plot devices. There's something very melancholy about Two Trees with it's burnt out house, it's old boathouse and it's abandoned half sunken boats. Similarly the mist and the forlorn old railway engine in Mystery Moor are rather downbeat. There's little of sunny camping and picnics in either book from what I remember.

[Moonraker]

Yes, these three books are amongst the most atmospheric of Blyton's books.

[Boodi 2]

Perhaps I am strange, but I actually don't think any of the Famous Five books are depressing and really enjoy the gloomy settings in "Five on a Hike Together", "Five Go To Smugglers' Top" and "Five Go To Mystery Moor", which are a contrast to the more usual sunny seaside setting at Kirrin Bay and Island.

[Barnard]

Like Monique, I didn’t find any of the books depressing. I just thought the last two weren’t very good.

[Bertie]

Well, yeah, maybe the word 'depressing' is the wrong choice in the title as the OP is pretty much just saying which FF book is their least favourite.

So I guess it can be a mixture of 'depressing' in terms of least favourite of the 21. Or 'depressing' in terms of whether you like or dislike the 'gloomy / atmospheric' settings of Hike, Mystery Moor, Smugglers Top, etc.

Personally, I think the 'atmospheric' nature works for Mystery Moor, Smugglers Top, Valley of Adventure, etc. But I just find Hike and Mystery To Solve not particularly enjoyable - a bit too sombre / gloomy, and not that great a story in general.

[Boodi 2]

I find it difficult to distinguish between many of the FF titles...is "Mystery to Solve" the one set on "Whispering Island"? If so, I rather like it. For me "Billycock Hill" is one of the weaker or least favourite books in the series. I should add that the Famous Five series is not high on my agenda and I much prefer the Five Find-Outers, the Adventure Series, the Barney/R Mysteries and the Secret series as well as many of the stand-alone books

[Moonraker]

Well, yeah, maybe the word 'depressing' is the wrong choice in the title as the OP is pretty much just saying which FF book is their least favourite.

I took the word 'depressing' to refer to the reader's feelings after reading the book, not the actual story.

[MJE]

It is certainly one of the most dire and boring books in the series - the CFF film was even worse!

     Hallo, NIgel. Just wondering which book you were referring to here, as a few different ones were mentioned immediately before your post, and I can't tell which one you meant. Thanks. (Mention of the film doesn't give me a clue, as I don't know about that.)

Regards, Michael.

[Wolfgang]

It's "Five have a mystery to solve", Michael.

[Moonraker]

Correct, Wolfgang!