beckytcy's Full Review: Sue Townsend - The Adrian Mole Diaries: The Secret...
The Adrian Mole Diaries is a combination of Sue Townsend's two hilarious Adrian Mole books: The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 3/4 and The Growing Pains of Adrian Mole. It is, of course, written from the perspective of a British schoolboy living in the Midlands (the particular village is not specified) in the early 1980s. He begins a diary on New Year's Day 1981 with several resolutions:
1. I will help the blind across the road.
2. I will hang my trousers up.
3. I will put the sleeves back on my records.
4. I will not start smoking.
5. I will stop squeezing my spots.
6. I will be kind to the dog.
7. I will help the poor and ignorant.
8. After hearing the disgusting noises from downstairs last night, I have also vowed never to drink alcohol.
Adrian faithfully writes in his diary nearly every day for the next two and a half years even when he is in hospital to have his tonsils out and when he sleeps over at a friend's house. (It seems unrealistic that he would bring his diary to the hospital, running the risk of it being read by his mother, but oh, well...) Very few entries are longer than one of two paragraphs long, so this book is very easy to read, but very difficult to put down, as you naturally glance ahead to the next entry. It is charming and compelling.
Adrian goes through several traumatic events in this short time period including family upheaval, skin problems, heartbreak, rejection, first love, joining a gang, his father's unemployment, his mother joining a feminist group, etc. etc., but the author presents the story in such a way that the reader can see it through Adrian's eyes and as an omniscient observer, as well.
For instance, near the start of the diary, Adrian reports that his mother is going to the pub with their neighbor Mr Lucas to discuss the problems that Lucas is having with his wife. Somehow, the reader understands what Adrian does not-- that Mrs Mole is having an affair with Mr Lucas. Adrian is very earnest and literal and also often a hypochondriac. He worries endlessly about "the size of [his] thing," his acne, his large ears, and wearing clothes that are out of style. In addition to an unstable family life, Adrian has to deal with a moody old man he cares for, bullies at school, and a poorly behaved dog.
Adrian joins the Good Samaritans in hopes that he will be placed with an interesting pensioner whom he can assist. As an added benefit, Adrian gets to miss his maths (yes, it's plural in the U.K.) class on Mondays. Alas, the poor boy ends up with gruff Bert Baxter, who has an Alsatian (German Shepherd) who needs to be walked at least 3 miles a day. "Just my luck," Adrian writes, a refrain that echos throughout the book. The young man faces many crises, but his suffering is somehow humorous. As he learns to appreciate Bert, it is quite heart-warming.
The Adrian Mole Diaries are written in a very simple, readable style that is charmingly juvenile yet makes sophisticated social commentary. Adrian fancies himself "an intellectual" and writes poetry to send off to the BBC. At the beginning of the book, the poetry is really primitive, for instance the one he writes for his crush:
Pandora!
I adore ya.
I implore ye.
Don't ignore me.
The book becomes more overtly political as Adrian gets older, and his poetry and commentary provide insight into early 1980s economic conditions in England. I particularly like his comments about Margaret Thatcher.
In early 1982 (actually, the exact years weren't obvious to me right away, but two years after the diary's start, Adrian mentions that it is 1983), Adrian's teacher Miss Elf criticizes the prime minister, and someone vandalizes Mrs Thatcher's portrait in the principal's office by writing "'three million unemployed' in her cleavage." After his teacher is forced to resign, Adrian writes, "I am a committed radical. I am against nearly everything."
I think this poem, written by the fictional 15-year-old is quite good, and even poignant, especially in its historical context:
Do you weep, Mrs Thatcher, do you weep?
Do you wake Mrs Thatcher, in your sleep?
Do you weep like a sad willow?
On your Marks and Spencer's pillow?
Are you tears molten steel?
Do you weep?
Do you wake with 'Three million' on your brain?
Are you sorry that they'll never work again?
When you're dressing in your blue, do you see the waiting queue?
Do you weep, Mrs Thatcher, do you weep?
However, it's not quite as good as the lad thinks it is. Adrian comments, "I think my poem is extremely brilliant. It is the sort of poem that could bring the government to its knees."
He's certainly a modest boy, is he not?...
Another funny detail in the Diaries is that Adrian has an American pen pal called Hamish who comes to stay with the Mole family. With a few specific details, he makes very interesting discoveries about the differences between Americans and Brits. This is probably my favorite passage:
Hamish made a terrible faux pas at breakfast. He asked my mother, 'Hey, Pauline, where's that guy Lucas?'...
...My mother said, 'We don't usually talk about personal matters at breakfast, not in England,' she added.
He said, 'Wow, that great British reserve I've heard about.' He seemed really happy, as if he'd found an entire village full of thatched cottages.
The "Afterword to the American Edition" has a letter from Hamish, who has several vocabulary questions regarding Adrian's diary. Why Adrian would send his precious diaries to New York is unclear, but this is a convenient method of including a glossary.
I particularly like:
22. "Spotted Dick"! Jeezus! This some sex disease?
to which Adrian responds:
22. Spotted Dick: Is a suet pudding containing sultanas. I find your sexual innuendoes about my favorite pudding offensive in the extreme.
He even left out the "u" in "favourite" in response to his American buddy. How adorable.
I also appreciated:
34. "Lucozade?" Did you get drunk?
[Lucozade is similar to Gatorade and is wonderful for curing hangovers, by the way, so keep that in mind the next time you visit the U.K. or Ireland.]
I originally thought that the style and sophistication of Adrian's writing should have improved more from age 13 3/4 to 16, but, cleaning my room, I happened upon an old diary of my own, written on a cross-country family trip when I was 15, and it was very similar in style and tone to Adrian's diaries. The first entry made me laugh since it sounds like a female Adrian Mole:
"I'll try to keep track of all the people I meet, especially cute guys or cowboys..."
This part, written in Winnepeg, is particularly Adrian-esque:
"Our restaurant was called La Vieille Gare. We ate in an old train. Our waiter was sleezy but mom thought he was handsome. He spoke to me in French."
Read the Adrian Mole Diaries for a good laugh, especially if you are an Anglophile. Then dig through your old stuff to find your own childish scribblings. Both are priceless.
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