Book Review - The Adrian Mole Diaries - The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13 3/4 and The Growing Pains of Adrian Mole
Category Book Reviews
Well, having stumbled on the last book in the series (AD and the Weapons of Mass Destruction) and thoroughly enjoying it, I just had to go back and start at the beginning of the Adrian Mole series. The Adrian Mole Diaries : The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13 3/4 : The Growing Pains of Adrian Mole by Sue Townsend is a combination volume of the two titles, and I now understand a bit more why this was apparently all the rage in England in the '80s.
It's impossible to read this without relating to at least *some* aspect of Mole's life and thought patterns. Whether it's his literary aspirations (not shared by much of anyone else), his preoccupation with Pandora (the love of his life), or all the "spots" on his face, you realize you've had the same feelings, complete with melodramatic accompaniment. Watching his parents go through separate affairs while Adrian is oblivious to what's really happening is painfully funny, and it made me wonder how much *I* was unaware of around adults growing up. This is really "reality TV" before there was such a thing...
In some ways, I wish I had read this before the last one, as I think I would have understood a lot more about his personality and background. But better late than never, and now I have some more catching up to do...
Well, having stumbled on the last book in the series (AD and the Weapons of Mass Destruction) and thoroughly enjoying it, I just had to go back and start at the beginning of the Adrian Mole series. The Adrian Mole Diaries : The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13 3/4 : The Growing Pains of Adrian Mole by Sue Townsend is a combination volume of the two titles, and I now understand a bit more why this was apparently all the rage in England in the '80s.
It's impossible to read this without relating to at least *some* aspect of Mole's life and thought patterns. Whether it's his literary aspirations (not shared by much of anyone else), his preoccupation with Pandora (the love of his life), or all the "spots" on his face, you realize you've had the same feelings, complete with melodramatic accompaniment. Watching his parents go through separate affairs while Adrian is oblivious to what's really happening is painfully funny, and it made me wonder how much *I* was unaware of around adults growing up. This is really "reality TV" before there was such a thing...
In some ways, I wish I had read this before the last one, as I think I would have understood a lot more about his personality and background. But better late than never, and now I have some more catching up to do...
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Comments
Posted by Duffbert At 05:04:08 On 24/10/2006 | - Website - |
The world is but very small - Sue Townsend lived not far from me in Leicester, England where she wrote these books. There was even a tv series. Adrian Mole became quite a cult figure at that time!
Posted by Steve Castledine At 02:25:13 On 24/10/2006 | - Website - |
Adrian used to measure his willie, and constantly worried that he didn't come up to scratch -- I gather that's a common concern for many "members" of the male populace (can you see what I did there?)
Posted by Ben Poole At 13:18:05 On 24/10/2006 | - Website - |
Posted by Duffbert At 13:43:55 On 24/10/2006 | - Website - |
Please tell me the running ' export' chart joke travels to the US.....
(I think it was exports, anyway...)
Posted by Warren Elsmore At 04:43:04 On 24/10/2006 | - Website - |
Posted by Kerr At 05:54:58 On 24/10/2006 | - Website - |