Customer Reviews

The Cappuccino Years

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Adrian's last outing ("The Lost Years", or "The Wilderness Years", depending on your geographic location and luck with bargain bins) was quite good, but seemed a bit disjointed and not alltogether familiar, unlike the first two books. Such was the nature of the subject, following Adrian through his college-age years and into early adulthood. It was an encouraging new beginning from Sue Townsend, but not completely satisfying.

The new book, "Adrian Mole: The Cappuccino Years" captures the spirit of the old Mole books perfectly. The reader will feel at home (albeit a completely disfunctional one) with the love(low)life shenanigans of Adrian's parents, his sister, and grandparents, as well as his many weird and wonderful friends.

Townsend's knack for identifying trends and pop-culture has been re-invigorated. For example: The appearance of another well-known diarist and its affect on Adrian and his writing is absolutely hilarious.

Adrian still does not "get it" all the time, and he is completely inept with his love-life. At some points you might get so mad at the characters that you want to scream at them. However the disarming, underlying sweetness of it all will catch you off-guard. You will soon find yourself laughing at it instead. It is over much to fast, leaving the reader begging for more (hear that Ms. Townsend...more!)

This is a wonderful book. If you are new to the series, I would suggest, that you read the other 3 books first, because it will make this one all-the-more enjoyable.

An easy and amusing read, but disappointing in its fluffiness. The record-in-full conversations and entries that spanned twenty-plus pages strained credulity. Also, this book seems to have lost its edge of cynicism, black humour and despair that made the earlier Mole books stand out so much. In fact, it's become - horrors! - rather feel-good, much in the vein of Bridget Jones (who makes a guest appearance); bouncing from one exaggerated situation to another. Why is this so?

For one, the tone of wide-eyed naiveity and complete self-absorption that worked when Adrian was a spotty teenager doesn't quite cut it as a thirty-something year old with two kids. For another, Adrian Mole is morphing into someone more human and more aware than ever before - he's actually turning *normal*, which takes a lot of fun out of it. He seems to have lost a certain zest, along with his youth and his hair - he's even coming to recognise his own failings. That's dangerous for someone who has failed as much as him. Lastly, even though he's still one of the biggest losers anyone can ever meet, he actually attains a certain measure of success this round (he publishes a book! albeit one written by his mother; a woman finds him attractive! albeit a psychotic stalker; he *almost* has sex with Pandora! but of course, not quite). Again, this completely goes against the grain of what it is to be *Adrian Mole*.

Still, I enjoyed Bridget Jones popping in (very apt, considering Adrian Mole was *the* diarist of the eighties while she's *the* diarist of the nineties); felt proud of myself when I got the Eric Blair/George Orwell reference; and chuckled at all the snide remarks made about Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair.

I dipped into the latest installment detailing Adrian Mole's chaotic life with the anticipation of his showing some growth, either socially, intellectually or professionally. Adrian, however, remains inept on all three fronts, yet still manages to survive. Rather than be frustrated with Mole's inability to learn from his past and to put hard-won life lessons to work for himself, author Sue Townsend may be subtly pointing out that we all, regardless of advancing years, repeat the patterns that we have established when we were also children.

It is also a great treat to have that other notorious British diarist, Bridget Jones, make a cameo appearance in Adrian's life.

Though the narrative retells a plot that is wearing thin (let's show just how big a screw-up Adrian is), it made me smile, even laugh aloud once or twice at Adrian's ineptitude. Read the book, for sheer fun, but don't expect to witness any growth or greater self-awareness come to Adrian. The ingenuousness displayed on a 13-yr-old Adrian does not wear well on a man in his 30s.

Sue Townsend's great success in creating the character of Adrian Mole has been to come up with a boy (and eventually, a man) who--despite having gone through the normal trials of growing up, falling in and out of love, fatherhood, divorce, and so on--never, ever really "gets it." Adrian Mole is truly extraordinary in terms of his near-genius talent for cluelessness while still remaining remarkably sympathetic. The reader has a relieved sense of "That could have been me" through much of "Adrian Mole: The Cappucino Years." Adrian has grown into a 30-year old man who is divorced and has a humiliating job as a chef and host of a cooking show by the hilarious title of "Offally Good!" He doesn't understand (or particularly want to understand) his young son William, and he remains appalled at his bad fortune to be born into a family he considers to be beneath him. Adrian is, full on and fully realized, the person any of us could be if we'd stubbornly refused to learn from any of our mistakes.

The major difference between British and American comedey is that the former is wry, full of self-loathing and very witty. This book takes you on a journey in the life of life's biggest losers. Someone, you know can't very will exist in this world, but also know that he may very well be your next door neighbor, your cousin or heck maybe you, yourself.

Adrian Mole is every person's nightmare. A person you really want to pity, but can't very well waste your emotions on. He goes on with his life, with no motivation and no control but still manages to survive by the skin of his teeth. What is even more incredulous is the fact that he just keeps moving along as if nothing completely happened and there's nothing seriously wrong with things. It's his complete lack of insight that the reader can find quite funny indeed. He lives mainly on dreams of what he wished for himself, the way he thought life should be and the fact that life is completely giving him the backhand on his every endeavour. A lot of the mistakes he moves through seem never to leave a mark on him. He just never learns and continues to live in his fantasy life. This could be completely absurd, but through it all, it is THE most funniest thing anyone can set eyes and is rightfully enjoyful.

With regard to the story telling. the book is in diary form and the reader gets to see life in the eyes of Adrian. The narration is simple, witty and at times thought provoking. You see how Adrian sees his life and how life actually sees him. The reader gets to experience different major events and how they affect Adrian's outlook on things. The election of Tony Blair as PM, the Diana tragedy and the funniest of them all, the Clinton scandal. Adrian is very vocal (it's his diary, you know) when it comes to these things and his opinions on them are really worth the whole read.

The author, Sue Townsend, seems very capable of handling the life of a guy. At times, when Adrian's losing streak seems to be churning like a choo choo train ahead, a person might actually think, whether this is how women see men's lives. But is that sexism? I guess only a person who reads the book from cover to cover and truly finds the point of it all can answer that very question. Or maybe you're Sue Townsend and know the answer to that.

This is quite a good book, with a number of laugh out loud comedey situations (I'm not a person who laughs when reading a book, but this one seemed to manage to get some out of me). It's well-written with good prose. The language has been edited, yet you never lose the essence of the story and its concept. The book is also a fast read, which you just can't put down. I savor my books, taste them when I read, but when it came to this one, I just couldn't get enough of it and truly wanted to know what was going to happen.

The book leaves you with a very light heart and good feel in your soul. My finishing of it also coincided with the happy moment of a close relation of mine giving birth. I would like to wish the couple my sincerest congratulations and love with their newborn. What would I give them for a gift? In my happy mood, who knows? It could very well be a copy of Adrian Mole: The Cappuccino Years.

Let's just hope the boy doesn't turn out to be like him.

Sequels rarely live up to expectations. This is the 6th book in the series and they are getting better. This book, like the others is in diary form and it follows Adrian through his thirties as he becomes more insecure and his family become more dysfunctional on a daily basis. The book is simply witten and that is it's attraction. Their is no hidden agenda here just the diary of an angst ridden man who is divorced from his Nigerian wife, accidentally becomes a celebrity chef, and his real love Pandora is on her way to becoming an MP. You finish every page wanting to know what happens the following day, but when the book is finished there is a feeling of sadness, as if a friend has gone away and your not sure of their return. Adrian Mole is a true English hero. Buy it but don't read it on the train....you'll miss your stop.

When I was in my early teens, I attempted to read Adrian Mole aged 13 and 1/4 or was it a 1/2. I unfortunately did not understand the humour at that point and found the book rather ummmmmm unsatisfying. I decided to give Adrian's character another chance with the Cappuccino years and I am extremely impressed. There were occasions where I burst out laughing (Ah---tish----shooo). I live in Johannesburg South Africa and still am able to identify with the humour, not only as far as the political situation, but Adrian's character as a whole.

This is highly recommended to anyone searching for a lighthearted escape.

All of the Adrian Mole diaries are essential to the whole. Some are a bit harder to get through than others. This is one of the less "action packed" but still enjoyable. (Pick up a later diary and you'll realize you need to read it.) Save it for a rainy day read but read it.

I finally got to the end of my Adrian Mole stash with the book Adrian Mole: The Cappuccino Years by Sue Townsend. While I enjoyed the read, it's probably best that I'm moving on to something else now. I think that reading all of the installments back to back was a bit much...

Adrian is 30 now, and still has the emotions and mind of an adolescent. That doesn't work so well however, when you're supporting two kids that are yours from a couple of affairs in the past. Couple that with being broke, without much of a job, and still living with the parents, and you're not looking at a terribly successful person. Even when good things *do* happen to Adrian, such as getting his own TV show and book deal, they get messed up. The sidekick becomes the star, and his mom ends up having to write the book to bail him out. Still told in diary format, you get the day-to-day emotions and angst of Adrian's struggle against the perceived injustices done to him.

I didn't find this one quite as funny and engaging as the others. Perhaps it's because these failings at 13 are funny, and at 30 they're the sign of someone who doesn't have too much common sense. Still, I kept turning pages to see what train wreck was about to befall those around him. Suggestion however... If you haven't read any of the Mole diaries, don't start here. Start at the beginning, or most of this will make little sense.

I love Adrian Mole, he's awesome. I have read every Mole diary since the 13-3/4th book and I'm truly amazed at how Ms.Townsend has so wonderfully captured the mind of the underdog male in her writing. The whole concept seems quite similar to the excellent TV series 'The Wonder Years'. If you dont look at the author's name, you would probably not expect it to be a woman. In other words, she seems to have fully understood the mind of the opposite sex. That said, I found this book to be a little too depressing albeit there is a lot of humour. Of course you have got to read the first book at least, if not all of them to understand what is going on in this one. There are lots of references to characters from earlier diaries. They are so interesting and yet so down-to-earth that they almost become a part of your life. The only reason why I didn't give it 5 stars is because I don't like how the author projects Adrian as a loser at many things. His family is still as dysfunctional as ever. I'm not going to give away anything as to how Adrian does in the end. But the story could do with a little more cheer. Anyway, its a thoroughly enjoyable book and worth the money.