Has anyone ever read Malory towers?

[Orangejelly1]

I used to love the books as a child! I read them cover to cover so many times and my favourite character was Darrell. I recently found my old collection and re read parts of them just for old times sake and I was actually really disappointed to see, as an adult, how awful some of the popular characters were. I know it was a product of its time and a different era, but Darrell, Alicia and some of the most popular girls would be called nasty bullies nowadays. I also felt so sorry for Gwen, which surprised me because as a child rearing the books she was my least favourite character.

just wondered if anyone else re read the books and thought this too!

That poor policeman Mr Goon really must have been itching to wallop Fatty and chums.

I wasn't as keen on those due to the unlikelihood of an 11 year old boy being such a master of disguise that he could transform himself into a gypsy woman or an old tramp in the blink of an eye.

I had forgotten that. So funny

@HuntingoftheSnark I think as a child though, the find-outers books were clever as Fatty "revealed" how he solved the cases and what his thinking was (done in some of the books of the series better than others) - of course EB was probably inspired by Conan Doyle as Holmes also sets out HOW he worked it out towards the end!

@Silvernecklace I don't think it was as stark as "no anesthetic" - all was stated was that Mr Rivers did the operation with the schools matron (who was a qualified nurse too) assisting. Presumably in the "san" (school hospital)

I had a similar experience of reading them out of order. I read all the Kingscote books before ever getting my hands on the others. On the first page of End of Term, Nicola thinks, "Lucky Patrick." I remember thinking lucky who? I now have a full set of all the books, some Girls Gone By reprints and others that I found by scouring Amazon for used copies.

I agree about the historical books. Though I think some of the contemporary books are also weaker than others. The Thuggery Affair is one that I don't much care for. My favourites are all four school stories, Peter's Room, and Falconer's Lure.

@Flapjacker48 true, and at least Fatty was revered by all and highly intelligent despite his size (that's in the context of EB's other plus size characters).

Did he once disguise himself as a waxwork?!!! I have a vague recollection of him putting a thin layer of wax all over his face. Now that was a bit hard to believe ....

@MurderAtTheBeautyPageant Goon does indeed thrash his nephew Ern but of course would never touch the upper middle class children of Peterswood! (Good is "in awe" of Mrs Trottersville) However this unfair corporal punishment of Ern is criticised in the story...

@HuntingoftheSnark Yes - "Mystery of the missing necklace" - disguises himself as a waxwork of Napoleon (is caught by the criminals as Goon who is also hiding at the waxwork display coughs!)

The Thuggery Affair is one that I don't much care for.

It's an odd one - I have to be in exactly the right mood to read it, but when I am, it's brilliant. It usually gets skipped from my periodic beginning to end read-throughs, though. I love the language AF invented, it reminds me of A Clockwork Orange. I think my favourites are The Attic Term and Peter's Room. AF is so good at evoking the mood of autumn/winter.

@Flapjacker48 your memory is superb! Yes, and Fatty is resentful that Goon was able to step into the waxwork exhibition in his policeman's uniform rather than the palaver he had, no doubt in his garden shed full of tricks and disguises.

Enid must have had a few afternoon sherries before she came up with the idea of Fatty being able to turn himself into a Napoleon wexwork!

I read and loved them as a child. Re-read them as an adult with quite a different view.

As a kid, that beautiful, soft grey, romantic building set on the beautiful Cornish cliffs (apparently based on Lulworth Castle) with a pool based on Dancing Ledge struck me as idyllic. As an adult, it appears more as a hideous correctional facility designed to break people! Few students are spared the laser-precision accuracy of Enid's unfailing snobbery. The Americans are vapid, obsessed with the cinema and their appearance, and grow up too fast. Eyes too close together? You're sly, with a secret to hide. French? You're totally credulous and will fall for any trick, no matter how transparently stupid. The nouveaux riche are insupportable; cf. that appalling Jo Jones, who fully deserves to be rusticated in Enid's opinion. 'Swatters' are spared no degree of scorn, it's a sin to be too clever, and if you don't like sport, you're heading straight for Coventry and a much-needed spanking with a hairbrush.

'In the Fifth' is the most gratuitous of the lot, but I 100% understand why Gwen would feign a weak heart to dodge school cert and GTFO of the fucking hellhole! I like Gwen. She is a scapegoat for all the failings of the others, who for some indefinable reason the author thinks we should look up to and admire. How is she worse than Daphne who steals, Bill who is deceitful, Mavis who's conceited, Alicia, who's as catty as they come. Belinda is an out-and-out bully, and as for hero Darrell, she's a thug, always happens to pick on those weaker than herself, but is forgiven every behavioural transgression because she's sorry and ashamed afterwards and is rewarded by elevation to the coveted position of Head Girl.

Bad show, Miss Grayling! (completely ineffectual and useless Headmistress).

But I loved that scene from 'Fifth Formers at St Clare's', when Mademoiselle apparently encounters a whole gang of burglars in one night. Straight out of farce, and unusually funny for Blyton!

Wasn't that 'Trebizon?'

@MarieIVanArkleStinks @GroggyLegs yes. Trebizon. Tish, Sue and Rebecca got cut off by the tide, with Sue’s drippy boyfriend’s annoying little sister in tow.

Novum, my mother went to a boarding school and was pushed up. Yup, it did play havoc. She ended up finishing her A levels and being too young for university so she did an extra set of exams called S levels. (and then went to university and got her PHD at a ridiculously young age...). Socially I think that sort of thing must have been disastrous for some people.

As an aside, she said her boarding school was horrible. Not one of the more famous schools like Rodean or Cheltenham but I think considered a public school. (I imagine all boarding schools in the 50s were horrible, except for maybe the more progressive onse) She was a day girl and felt very bad for the boarders. Their favourite books were Enid Blyton books lol.

It is after the truth is revealed they imitate her eating, but apparently it is done affectionately so completely fine!

Again on Malory, the topography was great and memorable, but is it just me who found it impossible to visualise the interiors? How the hell do you fit: bedroom facilities for six cohorts of girls, wash areas, an attic for the trunks, a dining room, kitchen facilities, six common rooms, sixth-form studies, plus accommodation for Matron, the house mistress and Mademoiselle, all in one narrow tower?

Also, how did they all get to bed up the narrow stairways without waking up all the other forms? And where oh where is the fire escape?

Maybe I'm just too literal 🤦‍♀️

There's a bit where Darrell says she wished she could sleep 'in the tower itself' so I imagine all the facilities were at the bottom of the towers.

my post was in response to this

And now I want to reread the Antonia forest books...which were distinctive for actually having a Jewish character. Now I found out from her obit that AF was actually half Jewish herself, so that makes sense.

But most of them are expensive or not available on amazon...where else can i find them? ggpb only has a couple of them.

I loved them as a child (mallory towers and naughtiest girl!) But I havent read tham as an adult and from what everyone is saying it sounds like they don't hold up at all!
In my 30s so the were dated when I read them to be honest

Try eBay. It took me years to collect them all, even after the advent of the internet.

@kikisparks Yes, in First Year Darrell wants to be friends with Alicia and Betty and play the fool and Miss Potts talks to her and points out she has to make a choice and is probably better off focusing on her work. I think it's a really good, 'can't have everything you want' speech.

@KimberleyClark Agree about Alicia. She is one of those charismatic, fun people that we fall for before we gain a bit of maturity and actually other people might be just as worthy of our esteem. People are not always nicey nice, and that's part of the point of the books. Later on Alicia gets measles and suddenly work isn't easy for her and she starts to understand maybe she could have been a nicer person towards those who aren't as bright as she is. I think saying Blyton's girls are unpleasant bullies lauded by the author is rather an oversimplification.

Antonia Forest is another level and I must go and reread her. I believe she agonised over every word and it shows. Blyton can't have, given the number of books she churned out!

Anyone read Six Bad Boys? It’s a bit more thoughtful than most Blyton books.