The Adrian Mole Diaries : The Secret
Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13 3/4 :
The Growing Pains of Adrian Mole by
Sue Townsend
Fantastically Funny
Adrian Mole faces the same agonies which life sets before most
adolescents: troubles with girls, school, parents, and an uncaring world.
The difference, though, between young Master Mole and his peers is that
this British lad keeps a diary -- an earnest chronicle of longing and disaster
that has convulsed more than five million readers since its two-volume
initial publication. From teenaged Adrians obsession with intellectuality
after understanding nearly every word of a Malcolm Muggeridge broadcast
to his anguished adoration of a lovely, mercurial schoolmate, from his view
of his parents constantly creaking relationship to his heartfelt but hilarious
attempts at cathartic verse, here is an outrageous triumph of deadpan, and
deadly accurate, satire. ABBA, Princess Dis wedding, street punks. Monty
Python, the Falklands campaign -- all the cultural pageantry of a keenly

observed era marches past the unique perspective of Sue Townsends
brilliant comic creation: A. Mole, the unforgettable lad whose self-
absorption only gets funnier as his life becomes more desperate.
Adrian Mole faces the same agonies which life sets before most
adolescents: troubles with girls, school, parents, and an uncaring world.
The difference, though, between young Master Mole and his peers is that
this British lad keeps a diary--an earnest chronicle of longing and disaster
that has convulsed more than five million readers since its two-volume
initial publication. From teenaged Adrians obsession with intellectuality
after understanding nearly every word of a Malcolm Muggeridge broadcast
to his anguished adoration of a lovely, mercurial schoolmate, from his view
of his parents constantly creaking relationship to his heartfelt but hilarious
attempts at cathartic verse, here is an outrageous triumph of deadpan, and
deadly accurate, satire. ABBA, Princess Dis wedding, street punks, Monty
Python, the Falklands campaign--all the cultural pageantry of a keenly
observed era marches past the unique perspective of Sue Townsends
brilliant comic creation: A. Mole, the unforgettable lad whose self-
absorption only gets funnier as his life becomes more desperate.
Personal Review: The Adrian Mole Diaries : The Secret Diary of
Adrian Mole, Aged 13 3/4 : The Growing Pains of Adrian Mole by
Sue Townsend
After reading the first book in this series, I proceeded to buy all of the
others and I'm reading through them (I won't say "working my way through
them" because reading Sue Townsend cannot be described as "work").
That a woman well into her adult years has channeled the angst of a
teenage boy fairly screams of chutzpah - that she does it so believably and
humorously is nothing short of a miracle.
Adrian Mole is in the wrong place at the wrong time. His parents are in
financial trouble; Margaret Thatcher is ruling the country with an iron fist;
he is madly in love; he has spots. Adrian is an astoundingly naive
teenager, but also kind and loving in ways that are surprising. He takes
care of his elderly friends Bert and Queenie with a tenderness that belies
his occasional selfish behavior. At one point in the book, he writes a poem
about Queenie, and it moved me to tears.
Make no mistake, however. This novel is riotously funny.
Reference: "I lay back listlessly on the pillows and let him feel my pulse,
etc. He muttered 'Bloody Camille,' as he left the room. Perhaps Camille is
a drug that he's thinking of using on me." (an excellent example of the
naivete, as well as the humor)
I read several passages out loud to my husband, and because I am not a
native-born Brit, there were some referenced he had to explain to me. All

of Adrian's experiences take place against a backdrop of Prince William's
birth, the Falklands War, the Thatcher administration and the ramp-up of
fears over nuclear war. I remember very well being worried about these
things (I was about Adrian's age at the time they were happening) and I
also remember how much of my day I spent worrying about things I
couldn't control. Sue Townsend manages the reality of this feeling
masterfully.
I can't wait to move on to the True Confessions of Adrian Mole.
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