Posted by Peter H on December 22, 2005 at 16:19:18 from 86.130.127.19 user Peter_H.
In Reply to: Approaching Ransome (was Enid Blyton beats AR hands down) posted by Jock on December 22, 2005 at 14:33:41:
It is difficult to judge Enid Blyton from the point of view of a child reader. Coming to her books as an adult, I was struck by the total lack of character delineation - none of the Famous Five had distinctive characteristics and one of them was a dog, for heaven's sake. The stories of Hugh Lofting and AR seem to be up several gears from this and seem far more 'real'. In AR's books you can, eg, 'feel' the wind blowing. But of course I'm judging as an adult. I did read Blyton as a child, but I cannot remember what my reaction was, and I had no desire to re-read them as an adult, only doing so for comparative purposes when writing an article about AR. I think this says it all.