Wednesday, 23 January 2019

Review: Five Escape Brexit Island

The sequel to Five on Brexit Island sees the plucky Famous Five ensnared by the dastardly cousin Rupert in a cunning plan to take advantage of some maritime ambiguity resulting from Brexit. 

This is perhaps the closest the twenty something Five (including four hundred something Timmy in dog years) have come to recreating one of their daring childhood adventures making it one of the most satisfying entries in the series.

It's still spiced with smile- rather than laugh-worthy humour making this riff appealing on more than one level.

Verdict: Enjoyable escapism.

Review: Five on Brexit Island

Five on Brexit Island is one of the earlier spoofs on the Famous Five featuring adult and modern versions of the beloved children's books characters.   I admit I wasn't looking forward to this one as I feel I've probably read as much as I want to about Brexit.

The characterisations aren't quite as well developed as later books, but it's still a mildly diverting read.  But for those of you who want to find political analogies in the characters then I'll leave you to uncover them. Certainly, Julian resembles a former PM...

Verdict: Not the best in the series, but not the worst either. 




Sunday, 20 January 2019

Review: Five lose Dad in the Garden Centre

While still funny, Five lose Dad in the Garden Centre turns out to be a surprisingly poignant meditation on fatherhood and life as insular old bloke.  There's not a huge amount of jokes in this one, but I certainly shuddered at the horror of the sprawling Mobius strip like garden centre as it brought back memories of being dragged around them as a child.

Verdict: Vincent gets under the skin of shy grumpy old blokes everywhere. 


Review: Five Go Bump in the Night

Another in the adult Famous Five series, and this is the weakest entry I've read so far. Essentially, it's a set of short and fictional to the Five universe ghost stories.

Each story is an obvious pastiche of more well known stories such as The Picture of Dorian Gray or even Alien. This spoof within a spoof could have worked, but for some poor characterisation and one note jokes.  Only the not quite sure if true creepy meta-explanation for the Five's reappearance in this series of books worked for me.

Verdict: How do I pastiche thee? Let me count the ways...


Friday, 18 January 2019

Review: Five Get Gran Online

This book should come with a trigger warning. Anyone has tried to help out an elderly or even incompetent friend or family member with their computer will get PTSD flashbacks from reading this.

Here, the Five try to sort out their previously unmentioned, but plausibly back-storied Northern Gran's tech while harbouring the secret suspicion they are actually making things worse (and that she has a much darker secret).

Verdict: Memories of misspent youth aplenty. 


Review: Five go Gluten-Free

In Five Go Gluten-Free, Anne is sucked into all things Paltrow and persuades the Five to try clean eating.  Even poor Timmy has to forego his beloved sausages in favour of organic dried dog food.

While funny in places (a reference to a smoothie looking like a stain on a tramp's trousers had me giggling), it feels like the author isn't on as familiar territory as some of the other books in the series.

Verdict: Good clean eating fun. 


Wednesday, 16 January 2019

Review: The 100-Year Life: Living and Working in an Age of Longevity

This book is a bit of an oddity. The core premise is an interesting one ie we are living longer and that the old approach of a three stage life ie education/work/retirement if it ever worked at all will no longer do so. The authors suggest various adaptions featuring periods of renewal, building a portfolio career etc.

As I read it though, it becomes clear that the insights of the book really only apply to the well-educated professional who has the time, resources and mindset to examine and direct their life. Such a person likely has already spotted the these trends, elephants in the room etc. As someone somewhat in that position there was not much here that was new. I did find the sections on building intangible assets a useful nudge - not least because it gives me a name to put to a process I began last year ie finding more social activities and doing more community work.  In other areas, like modifying corporations to take into account the coming changes, it's very thin.

Another mildly annoying element is the assumption of good health and fitness. Super agers are rare and while everyone can do more to reduce lifestyle factors, genetics and luck plays a significant part.

Lastly, if I'm being brutal - the prose is a little dull and even feels repetitious. The fictional case studies liven it up a bit and I mentally settled down for a good story with some flashes of colour. But said case studies turn out to be largely functional after their initial introduction.

Verdict: A little disappointing but there was the occasional nugget which kept me reading in the hope of uncovering more.