Adrian Mole: The Lost Years [Paperback]

Sue Townsend (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 2003

Topping all the charts on the British bestseller lists, the immensely popular Adrian Mole series continues in this hilarious dairy of the quintessential pimply English adolescent--"the beleaguered British nerdling with the soul of a poet and the libidio of a longshoreman" (Vanity Fair)--dragging him, and all his neuroses, whining and screaming, into his twenties.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Townsend's hapless nerd (The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole) returns to complete his lengthy and awkward passage from zit-ridden adolescence to angst-ridden manhood. Fans of previous installments will recognize Adrian's familiar provincial funk: still afflicted with literary ambitions as infinite as his accomplishments are infinitesimal, still heartstruck by the frightful Pandora Braithwaite, still laboriously churning out his masterpiece, the vowel-free novel, Lo! The Flat Hills of My Homeland. In fact, even admirers (and newcomers almost certainly) may find the recipe a little too unvarying this time out-particularly since, for an adult, Adrian's obsessions and affectations verge on the desperate or even the pathological. Luckily, Townsend (author also of the deft satire, The Queen and I) eventually seems to realize this too, and in the latter portions of the book adds a few new elements-a real girlfriend or two, sojourns in London, Moscow and Greece, a few unexpected career moves-to her hero's life. It's these scenes that really pay off, for even a comic creation as inspired as Adrian needs the odd change of scene. They also help pave the way for a surprising closing apotheosis that suggests Adrian may yet have some mileage in him as he approaches middle age. Major ad/promo.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From School Library Journal

YA?In this sequel to The Adrian Mole Diaries (Grove, 1986; o.p.), Townsend continues her hero's humorous adventures into adulthood, beginning when he is 18 and ending when he is 23. Adrian is a loveable misfit who fancies himself a great intellectual; his aim in life is to become a well-known author. Throughout the book he attempts to get his 700-page novel, Lo! The Flat Hills of My Homeland, published. The first draft was written entirely without vowels. After several refusals, he decides that he needs to add the vowels and more sex to make the book more palatable. He always finds himself on the outside of the mainstream and valiantly tries to fit in, but always encounters an amusing roadblock. This novel in diary form is very funny and entertaining, though some YAs may have difficulty with the British terminology.?Grace Baun, R.E. Lee High School, Springfield, VA
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 309 pages
• Publisher: Soho Press; First American edition (July 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1569470553
• ISBN-13: 978-1569470558
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,050,244 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Catching up with an old friend, March 13, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Adrian Mole: The Lost Years (Paperback)

The only reason that I am giving this book 4 stars instead of 5 is because I feel that only the original Secret Diary, being a cult classic, is worthy of that honor. With that said, I would urge anyone reading this review to read the Lost Years, particularly if they are familiar with the original Secret Diary. I grew up in the United Kingdom at about the same time period as the original diaries were set, and being a teenager myself then, I found the original work inspiring and insightful. Moreover, when read years later, one sees humor revealed that would have been unappreciated when originally read as a teenager. Having moved to the United States and having gone through high school and college, I lost touch with the works of Sue Townsend, and it was only by chance that I happened to spot the Lost Years at a bookstore, and decided to give it a read. The character Adrian Mole, now a single 20-something struggling with his role in society and his own personal failures and quirks, has grown up with me, remaining a reflection on my hopes and dreams as well as that of other "Gen X-ers." In the Lost Years, there is certainly a darker tone than in the Secret Diary or the Growing Pains, but this is more an accurate reflection of the character growing up. Throughout the novel, Adrian Mole struggles with his past, unrealistic expectations of himself, as well as the constantly shifting and evolving relationships he has with characters from his teenage years, such as Pandora, Barry Kent, and his parents. Throughout, Adrian's Peter Pan complex, where he refuses to let go of this past and refuses to grow and change, is the source of virtually all the conflict and tension in the book. The ending was in effect the symbolic death of Adrian's past, and was genuinely moving and hopeful. My only (very minor) complaint is with the ending, since it is Adrian's personality which gives the book its humor as well as its conflict, and it will thus be interesting to see if future Diaries will be able to maintain this humor while allowing Adrian Mole to grow as a person in light of the apparant, final change at the end. Still, a smashing novel.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars WITH ADRIAN CHUCKLES ABOUND, April 4, 2004

By 

Gail Cooke (TX, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Adrian Mole: The Lost Years (Paperback)

The wry youth who sometimes signs his diary "Adrian Albert Mole, Unpublished novelist and pedestrian" is back. Those who laughed with this pubescent British philosopher in the 80s will be delighted; those who are meeting him for the first time will find that chuckles abound.

At 16 Adrian is still the miserable victim of unrequited love, at odds with his parents, and celebrating Christmas night with "a desultory game of cards."

Four years later, although still living at home, he has found employment in his local library, and companionship with a girl both bovine and boring. After his manuscripts are rejected by every literary agent and publisher on either side of the Thames, Adrian finds shelter at Oxford and a job studying newts and badgers.

In his spare time Adrian has penned a novel that he believes should be adapted for the stage. However, no one is waiting in line to bring life to his 700 page epic with 144 characters and six live deer.

A new love and a writer's workshop on a Greek island eventually brighten Adrian's life. Reading his eccentrically comic adventures brightened mine.

- Gail Cooke

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Adrian Mole: The Dark Side, February 1, 2004

By 

Louis N. Gruber "Author of Jay" (Lexington, SC United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Adrian Mole: The Lost Years (Paperback)

Adrian Mole is a misfit, a loser, under-employed when he works at all, fancies himself a great novelist, and is working on a totally inane master-piece which contains no vowels. His family is wildly dysfunctional, his relationships are disastrous, his therapist gives up, his luck is forever running out. And, when it seems that things couldn't possibly get any worse, well, you guessed it.

Author Sue Townsend is a brilliant comedic writer, but in this work, the comedy is darkly satirical. The hero (or anti-hero) Mole was first introduced in her earlier work, The Secret Diaries, when he was not quite fourteen. Hilarious it was, then, to see him percieve the inconsistencies of the adult world without ever really understanding what was happening. Now that he is older, the humor is darker, with a biting edge. For this young man is now moving into his mid-twenties, without apparently growing or learning anything of value. So, is there hope for poor Mole? Will he ever grow up? Will he ever get a girlfriend? You will just have to read the book and see.

While other reviewers expressed disappointment in the book, I enjoyed it immensely. It is different from the Secret Diaries with a different type of humor. Take it on its own terms and you will laugh yourself silly. Reviewed by Louis N. Gruber.