| Title | : | Five Go to Smuggler's Top (Famous Five, #4) |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 0340796189 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9780340796184 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 266 |
| Publication | : | First published January 1, 1945 |
Five Go to Smuggler's Top (Famous Five, #4) Reviews
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In this one the children are evicted from Kirrin Cottage (3 of them just visiting anyway) by a falling tree and Uncle Quentin packs them off to stay with a fellow scientist who (because in Blyton's imagination all scientists are rich (with the sole exception of Quentin himself in book 1 ... until all the gold) lives in a huge house riddled with secret tunnels that lead into a wide cave system.)
Caves and tunnels are a staple of this series. Few, if any, of the 23 books don't go underground or through the walls at some point.
Now Uncle Quentin, who in book one was writing formulas in his secret books and brewing stuff in test tubes, seems to have morphed into a civil engineer and is collaborating with their new host, Mr Lenoir, to drain the swamp, in a literal rather than Trumpian, sense.
The original conflict is over the taking of Timmy. Mr Lenoir hates dogs. This is generally an unfailing indicator of villainy!
The wider conflict concerns the local smuggler who uses the marshes, and rather unbelievably ends up kidnapping Uncle Quentin in some implausible plan to thwart the draining by buying then burning his plans, thus stopping ... the swamp ... from being drained? Also, the smuggler is very rich and only smuggles for fun.
The central lesson of this book is that if you see a light out in the dark, then someone is up to no good. Generally smuggling.
The conflict that I recall strongly from my reading as a child was between the Five and the deaf manservant Block who they suspect might be able to hear, and who is out to expose Timmy who has been hiding in the house's secret passages in order that Mr Lenoir not know he was in the house.
Not one of my favourites in the series. A bit insipid.
As a footnote: Enid seems to have a fascination with deafness. Block pretends / or doesn't to be deaf in this book. A girl in Malory Towers fakes deafness to general hilarity. The mainstay of the humour in the Faraway Trilogy is the Saucepan Man's hardness of hearing and failure to understand.
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If I was stingy with my ratings in the past, now I seem frivolous. For this 4th tome of the Famous Five series has no redeeming factors. It is very trite. For an adventure that is aimed towards preteens and teens, but part of a series that sometimes charms even adults, this book belies the goodwill of the author, Enid Blyton.
I think only the accumulation of new words in French prevented me from giving the book one star. For a middle grade book, the vocab is different from its original. Transferring from English -pound - to French - franc - the book seemed to have gained in currency. The language employed is more than the dry utilitarianism of the original.
This is the 4th book in the series. The first 3 are much better. I rate them thus :- 2nd, 1st, 3rd. Then we have this one, which is a marked departure from the usualness of the series. The adventure fails on all fronts.
The joyousness of the children? Gone. The cheerfulness of the tone. Vamoosed. The carefreeness of the plot. Ditto. The villain was someone that illustrated the problems of the book perfectly. He has no time to shine. He is a pantomime villain, but someone who is without right or reason. He poses as a master criminal with fleets of smuggling boats at his beck and call, yet wets his digits in the crime he masterminds.
The cheap and unsurprising ploy to conjure up mystery falls flat on its factualless face. This book has no sword to fall on it, but it manages to impale itself on the sharp demands of reason that ought to underpin any venture in writing.
Maybe Enid Blyton or one of her countless ghostwriters thought to borrow somewhat from gothic tales. Maybe she wanted to imitate Poe among all people. We will never know. Good. The less we know about the intricacies of this book the better. Which is why you see me not rehashing any part of the stories. I'm merely here to warn off would be readers to either avoid this book, or to lower their expectations to ankle level.
Both children and adults have no arc in this book. There is just a clumsy collage of scenes that look pathetic to the eye. The smugglers, the hosts, the victims of kidnapping, all of them seem to lug no pulse in them, and no brain activity whatsoever. Given that there seems to be two of the brightest minds in science under that sinister and lugubrious roof, God help us what lesser mortals act like in that murky and brownish grey universe.
To cap it all - get it? Capital? - the setting and the actors and the prose and the narration and the plot are all grey. The best Famous Five books have the exciting locale of a Western. This book looks like a The Hangover 2 in terms of cinematics. Maybe I'm the only person alive to compare Kirrin - or here Kernach - island to Vegas, but anyone who lives on an island or reads about them can understand my point. Islands are solitary as Sherlock Holmes, all over the place like a Diva gone old, exciting like a heist movie, and fresh like the newly fallen rain.
But here the solitariness of the book is dull as grain. I have no idea why I am writing so much about a book that I disdain, but sometimes muses have minds of their own. Do not read this book without preparing for it. Do not expect all Famous Five books to be created equal, for some are moreso than others. This book ought not to have seen the light of the day.
The worst thing that Enid Blyton has done to her bestselling Famous Five Series is to have all books be stand alone. There are no consequences. There are no hurts to nurture, no knowledge to wise up the mind, 4 minds that are budding and learning at every step. In more capable hands this book series ought to appear fairy tales like. But fairy tales, even Christian ones, are pagan in nature. The straight up middle class and outdated ethos of the Famous Five clash horribly with the spirt of folk tales. Anyway I could go on and on, but you get the picture. Try Five on Finniston Farm rather. But this book is best left forgotten. -
These famous five books give me nostalgia!
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I loved the "Famous Five" books when I was a child. Now I have a very different view.
First of all let me say they are great as adventure stories. They describe kids having an active outdoor life - and generally getting mixed up in something exciting. This sounds just like the sort of books we should be encouraging children (who nowadays are potential couch/computer potatoes) to read. And generally I would encourage all types of reading - comics, interactive books, whatever. But since there is such an abundance, do we have to select such inappropriate material?
I reread a Famous Five book recently and was shocked and appalled. If there's a black face you can guarantee it will be a Bad Man (in this case, a thief. Apparently the message of another book is not to leave anything valuable around if black children are there, because they will steal it. Another? "What a funny little creature!" says one of the boys when he finds a lost child with a brown face in the snow.) What?
Google "Enid Blyton racism" and you find lots of articles. Her home town is very divided as some regard her as an icon and others actually remember her as a "nasty piece of work" - a sexist, racist, antisemitic, snob. The sexism is flagrant in her books too. The girls are always "helping mother to cook the dinner" or doing some other little domestic task. Not the boys, of course.
All the children are arrogant and patronising to various of the folk they meet, such as a caretaker whom they consider to be beneath their social class. It may be worth mentioning the children's names here. Again, are these likely to click with many modern readers? Julian (a boy) Tommy (a dog) Dick (a boy) George (a girl) and Anne (a girl), I remember myself being rather confused by these names as a child.
"Enid", a recent award-winning film about the life of Enid Blyton, showed that her home life was very different from her public image. She was the queen of PR - and very driven. Her children hardly got to see her except in the company of a group of local children when she did public readings. Everyone's favourite auntie - including mine I have to say. I was a proud member of the "Famous Five Club"!
Having established that her books have exciting story lines it has to be said that they are very restricted in the vocabulary they use. This is probably partly why kids love them of course! And there's absolutely no harm in reading this type of easy book with lots of repetition for pleasure, as an extra outside school. But there is a plethora of other options - books which are not contentious in this way, where the attitudes shown are far less questionable and socially damaging.
Who reads Enid Blyton nowadays? I have a feeling that she is read mostly by adults, in a spirit of nostalgia. I doubt very much whether many of today's children choose to read about the Famous Five. Most will have the discernment to read exactly what they choose. Younger children of course will have their books chosen for them by adults. Some of these picture books may well be by Enid Blyton, who will be fondly remembered by their parents. After all, she wrote dozens of books and there are probably some in there which are free of this damaging potential influence. Your children love her? They are enthralled by her magic? Fine. But what I would say is PLEASE read the book yourself before letting your child read it. If it's inappropriate then discuss why. Put it in its historical context - discuss prejudice of all types, class distinctions etc.
Be aware! -
I first read these 45-50 years ago, they were old then!
From a different far more simple time.
Loved these books, very nostalgic. -
This entry in the Famous Five series is really quite dark. The book starts with the top floor of George's house being completely destroyed by storm damage. George's parents, feeling that the house is a dangerous place for George and the rest of the gang (who were staying with George at the time of the storm) to be around (fair enough) decide to send the kids to stay with a complete stranger who George's father has received a letter from concerning his scientific research. This guy turns out to be a drooling psychopath who swiftly murders the four children and their little dog too!
...
OK, not really... BUT HE COULD HAVE BEEN is my point. It turns out that this chap is extremely grumpy and lives at the top of an island (which I'm pretty sure is a thinly disguised St. Michael's Mount, complete with a causeway and everything) that turns out to be honeycombed with secret smugglers' tunnels. Guess who's still using the smugglers' tunnels? That's right: smugglers. Who could have possibly seen that coming?!
Despite the nonsensical nature of some of it, I did actually really enjoy this book. It's very exciting and will surely go down very well with children and those who are still children at heart. It's full of moments that will make you go 'What?! No!!! Surely not...'
P.S. - Bizarrely, this is the only book in the Famous Five series (which is twenty two books long) that doesn't have an unabridged version available on Audible. The book is on Audible, but only in the dreaded abridged format. I mean, seriously, who wants to read an abridged version of a book? I'm kind of disgusted that abridging books is even a thing, to be honest.
Buddy read with Sunshine Seaspray -
This was one of the few times where the legendary Famous Five meals took a back seat. However…..a mysterious house called *Smuggler’s Top* perched atop the mist-shrouded Castaway Hill more than adequately made up for the absence of lashings of quintessential Blyton culinary fare.
The adventure starts off with the Five heading off to Kirrin Island for their much-loved, idyllic vacation. But a terrible gale puts a damper in plans when it uproots a massive ash tree straight onto Kirrin Cottage. A house badly in need of repairs, a guilty but easily irritable Uncle Quentin, four active children and one big, excitable dog…..poor Aunt Fanny is in a right mess.
But surprisingly enough, Uncle Quentin comes up with a plan of parcelling the children off to his fellow scientist, Mr. Lenoir’s home. The house goes by the name of Smuggler’s Top and if that wasn’t incentive enough, an added attraction is Sooty (Pierre Lenoir), Sr. Lenoir’s stepson who is a legendary prankster at Dick’s school.
Smuggler’s Top is an ancient house steeped in mystery. There are hidden passages behind panels, deep pits under ordinary floors that lead into a honeycomb of passages, some known and others where a clueless person could get lost in…forever.
If all this wasn’t exciting enough for the restless Five, they soon discover that someone is flashing signals in the dead of night from one of the towers of Smuggler’s Top. Who could it be and what does it mean? Do the constantly creeping mists hide undiscovered smuggling activities? Is their mercurial host, Mr.Lenoir up to something sinister? And what role does the nasty, supposedly-deaf man-servant Block play in all these happenings?
The mystery unfolds with many strange happenings and the Five are plunged into adventure yet again!
I enjoyed this book mainly for the atmosphere created by Enid Blyton. It was also filled with many interesting and dubious characters right from the cold Mr.Lenoir to the slightly eccentric smuggler, Mr.Barling. As a child, I kept second-guessing the motives of the supposed anatagonists.
Speaking of childhood, I always read “Five Run Away Together” and “Five Go To Smuggler’s Top” back to back. From the windswept beauty of Kirrin Island to the sinister charm of Castaway Hill...each had its own appeal. And while I have replenished my stock of other long-lost Famous Fives…I have loyally preserved that ancient double edition; a slice of my childhood and a reminder of simpler times. -
Wow, I can’t believe it took us a month to read this book. If Dante had been in school we wouldn’t have watched TV or movies so late in the evening and run out of time for bedtime reading. So, I switched to a new tactic: reading to him at breakfast and/or lunch.
Anyway, after only having read the first one of the series, I pretty much twigged to her formula: slow start, setting the scene, bring in an element of mystery, then wham! Pick up the pace, add some peril for one or more of the kids and the dog’s the hero!
Still, they are highly entertaining and useful cultural history lesson (of a certain set of people). It’s weird reading them out loud with my American accent (but my son won’t even let me try to affect a British one), especially when they use British slang or manner of speaking. But I’m entertained by the dichotomy, even if my son doesn’t notice.
At any rate, Smuggler’s Top in Castaway sounds like a really fascinating place. Too bad it’s (most likely) completely made up. I mean, a house on the top of a hill, with towers and secret passageways, surrounded by marshes, next to the sea? I’d love to go on a tour. -
This one was one of my favourites as a child and I am certain I have read it about a thousand times. I think this one is one of the few where there is more camaraderie, more family involvement with Quentin being in the picture, and more of a mystery and plot too.
This one follows the five as they go to live at smuggler's top whilst the repairs are made on their cottage. They have a friend there who goes to school with the boys, and they all end up trying to track down a smuggler in the town.
4*s -
This one was a must to be brought - takes you back to your childhood and waiting for the next
book to come out - always good to have a shelf of absolute classics. -
Nostalgia at it's best. Brilliant stories.
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"Five go to smuggler's top" was actually one of the last Five books I read, even though it is number 4 in the series. It was hard to find a copy originally, and I had to make do with a more modern publication than some of the others I own.
What starts off as a lovely easter holidays at Kirrin soon turns into adventure, with a large tree hitting the house making it impossible for the children to stay there. They are packed off to stay with a friend of Uncle Quentin's, and his son, a boy Julian and Dick know from school, Sooty. The house is a mysterious one, filled with secret passageways. It's a good thing too, because Mr Lenoir doesn't like dogs, and the children have to hide Timmy during the day.
Smugglers, mystery and intrigue are the order of the day, culminating in the kidnapping of Uncle Quentin and Sooty beneath the catacombs of the house. Lucky Timmy is there to save the day, bite the kidnappers and eventually bring them to justice! He has a close call of his own, almost drowning in the swamp, but Uncle Quentin's quick thinking saves the dog he always seems to dislike.
A quick paced, rollicking adventure that is still as much fun as when I picked it up years ago. I do love me some Famous Five! -
These books are amazing 💕 5🌟
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Mir gefiel besonders der Schulkamerad von Julian und Dick, der sprach immer so weise und behutsam. Auch die Problematik, dass der Vater keine Hunde mag und deswegen kreativ stets Timmy versteckt werden musste, war was Neues. Leider ist das Ende aber sehr dramatisch und eine Spur zu viel. [10.10.2018]
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Hay una casa en medio de un pantano, un contrabandista vocacional y un perro que da la pata como un humano. No había leído nada de Los cinco, y estoy contentísimo de haber empezado.
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The 4th adventure of the famous five is set in smugglers top, not one of my favourites but still worth the read.
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Things get off to a cold and windy start in this fourth installment of the Famous Five series, as the four chums (plus Timmy!) arrive in the country for holls only to discover that Kirrin Cottage is not only cold, but battered by wind! "It's awfully cold!" opines sweet Anne, "and windy!" Anne, of course, will make a man a good little housewife some day. "It's the wind," says Aunt Fanny, who is already a good little housewife, "making it cold!" Julian, however, who is a tall, strong boy with tall, strong boy parts, is rather of the masculine and therefore correct opinion that the cold is somehow stirring the wind! It's a queer thing when a tree immediately falls onto Kirrin Cottage and prevents Julian and Aunt Fanny from coming to meteorological loggerheads. Uncle Quentin quickly motors the four (plus Timmy!) off to Smuggler's Top!
Smuggler's Top is a queer house with a lot of queer things happening in it, but luckily the four chums (plus Timmy!) have a simply ripping holls playing hands of Slap-Down Patience while devouring plenty of hot cocoa, steaming cups of delicious creamy coffee, plenty of jammy buns, hot soup, big and crunchy biscuits, some more jolly good soup, ginger buns hot from the oven, thick and delicious slices of heavenly fruit cake, delicious steamed puddings, chocolate cake, and more top-notch jammy buns! Just when they think they can't eat a bite more, they cheekily raid the larder for a scrumptious spread of cakes, tarts, and even more ginger buns! There's plenty of dog-meat for Timmy, except for the part of the book where for a few days he has to eat rats and lick a cavern wall for moisture. Clever Timmy!
Oh, and there's something about an evil ecologically-minded duff of a villain who wants a historic marsh left as it is and who foolhardily attempts to prevent Uncle Quentin from draining the marsh and selling off the land to be developed into a soulless subdivision, thus hindering British capitalism. Jolly rotten commie, wot! -
Ovaj nastavak je nešto drukčiji jer su djeca otputovala na uskrsne praznike u Krijumčarski vrh. Već sam naziv kuće potiče i njih (a i čitatelja) na uzbuđenje i nadu da će se nešto zanimljivo dogoditi. Tome potpomaže magla kojom su prekrivene slane močvare koje okružuju grad i zanimljive priče o krijumčarima. A kad saznaju za svjetlosne signale koje netko šalje iz kuće prema moru te za sve silne tajne prolaze ispod kuće, naravno da opet upadaju u nevolje. Osim toga imaju komplikacije s Timmyjem koje na kraju ispadnu sasvim korisne. Promjena mjesta radnje je dobrodošla jer koliko se zanimljivih stvari zapravo moŽe osmisliti u vili i na otoku Kirrin?
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I cannot believe I’m saying this but enough of the dog! Stop talking about the dog!
The whole conflict around having to keep Timmy hidden really got on my nerves fast.
The story itself was too predictable and hinged on the idea that a grown man would pretend to be deaf, for years, I presume? -
Another fabulous adventure for the children and Timmy! Catching smugglers this time. How exciting! Loving these books so much.
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Releitura de uma obra juvenil, à procura da razão de ser da perda de popularidade de Enid Blyton junto das gerações mais jovens.
A receita do sucesso envolvia invariavelmente a aventura e o combate ao crime romântico em lugares misteriosos: túneis esquecidos, faróis, passagens secretas...
O crime romântico desapareceu e a corrupção, o tráfico de estupefacientes, a pedofilia, o assédio sexual e a violência doméstica não possuem o mesmo poder de atracção do contrabando, da espionagem e do roubo de jóias que marcavam os livros de Enid Blyton. O fascínio dos lugares misteriosos permanece, mas a sua presença no campo da acção literária transferiu-se para o universo da magia. Daí o sucesso de Harry Potter ou das infinitas sagas de vampiros. O cinema de efeitos especiais não deve ter sido indiferente a esta mudança. -
Ler na idade adulta em nada se assemelha a ler na infância, conseguimos prever quase tudo, questionamos tudo a toda a hora e reviramos os olhos quando algo sem grande lógica acontece. Quando vestimos a capinha de criança e vemos a história desse ponto de vista, tudo é divertido e empolgante, só queremos que os nossos heróis consigam desvendar o mistério, sem que ninguém se magoe a sério, e desmascarar todos os maus da fita. Foi bom voltar às origens e imergir na nostalgia de ter sido a sexta integrante do grupo. A meio da leitura fiz uma análise das facilidades de se ser rico e passar férias em todos os sítios possíveis, ter pais pouco presentes e da falta de noção de perigo das crianças (e dos pais...) que levam à aventura irresponsável (mas sempre com sorte e sucesso). Porém, terminei a leitura somente a ler Os Cinco, sem mais olhares adultos e diverti-me, com a certeza (aliás, confirmada) de que fui uma criança muito feliz com o bando.
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5 stars
Adventures always come to the Adventurous-Enid Blyton The quote from this book sums up the whole series!
I was thrilled the whole book and Ms. Blyton managed to keep me on the edge of seat during the last three chapters! :) -
Smuggler's Top was the first book that i had read of Famous Five series which led me to search and scourge and acquire the entire collection!
I had loved the book a lot. I still remember the characters quite perfectly. A gripping Plot, super suspense and witty Kids made sure i spent the best summer vacation getting engrossed in them throughout the day!
This possibly was the very first of the Novel's that i had read and fuelled in bringing more to my library! -
De Vijf op (de) Smokkelaarsrots (zelf behoor ik tot de lidwoordhebbende generatie trouwens) is het vierde boek van De Vijf en het eerste dat zich (bijna) volledig buiten Kirrin afspeelt. En ik ben er ook enthousiast over! Wat mij betreft combineert dit boek alle goede, belangrijke elementen die een goede kinderdetective moet hebben: goede en gevarieerde personages, spanning en onverwachte gebeurtenissen en een mysterieuze setting.
Dat laatste heeft voor mij in dit verhaal altijd geprimeerd, en het is publiek geheim dat Enid Blyton de moeite heeft genomen om alles zo realistisch mogelijk te maken. Ze heeft zich namelijk gebaseerd op het stadje Rye, dat in het graafschap Kent ligt, vlak aan zee, op een heuvel die vroeger volledig omringd werd door moerassen - en nu nog voor een klein deel eraan grenst (het hele gebied daar, van Rye tot aan de Romney Marshes, was vroeger allemaal verraderlijk gebied). Rye stond ook bekend als smokkelaarsstadje. Ik ben er een paar keer geweest - de laatste keer een jaar of acht geleden, volgens mij - en ondertussen is de mist er allang weggetrokken, maar de situering als heuvel is natuurlijk nog altijd goed te zien. De hele sfeer die Blyton creëert, met mist, grotten en mysterieuze seinen, zit geweldig goed ineen.
Het zal wel niemand echt verwonderen dat dit boek ook echt over - jawel - smokkelaars gaat en dat ook het hele mysterie daarom draait. Maar op het einde word je als lezer toch nog verrast en blijkt het net iets meer te zijn dan dat - en blijkt oom Quentin er voor iets tussen te zitten. Daarnaast gaat dit boek wel iets sneller van start dan anders - en het verhaal zelf begint trouwens ook met een ferme knal, een die je misschien niet meteen ziet aankomen.
8,1/10 -
Mungkin memang ada beberapa aspek dalam buku-buku Blyton yang agak "problematic" kalau dilihat dari kacamata era ini
(atau kacamata super-serius). Akan tetapi, tidak bisa dipungkiri juga bahwa nilai minus ini pun dibarengi dengan nilai plus dalam hal bahwa buku ini memperkenalkan banyak orang pada nikmatnya kegiatan membaca. Buku seri anak-anak yang satu ini memang berjasa sekali mengantarkan aku yang awalnya cuma gila komik sampai akhirnya mulai melirik bacaan prosa panjang seperti novel.
Problematic or not, I would still recommend this book as an introduction read for kids out there who just start their literary journey (with adult supervision of course).
I also write an Indonesian review of this book
in my blog.
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Another classic from Blyton read with my 10 year old daughter, who thankfully seems to enjoy the Famous Five nearly as much as I did.
In this story the five go to stay with one of Julian & Dick’s school friends, Sooty Lenoir. He lives with his parents and sister in a house surrounded by mists and marsh called Smuggler’s Top. Unfortunately Mr Lenoir hates dogs so Timmy has to be hidden.
Smuggler’s Top was notorious for smuggling back in the day and still carries a sense of foreboding and unease, not helped by the mists that float up from the boggy marshes. The hills are littered with tunnels that the olden day smugglers used and there are secret passages galore. Throw in a couple of odd characters and you have a thrilling mystery that the Five need to solve.
This is probably about the sixth or seventh time I’ve read this book and it’s still as good. You can’t beat a comforting childhood read. I wonder if my daughter will be re-reading this to her kids in 30 years time? ❤️ -
amazing must read
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4 stars - English paperback
Read it a realy long time ago. With a flashlight under my covers!
On my re-read shelf. But I need to put some plastic on the book cover. Do not what that it fells apart.
