Customer Reviews

The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13 3/4 (Turtleback School & Library Binding Edition)

5 star:		(37)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

**Warning Spoilers**

Adrian Mole is a gifted 13-year-old boy living in England in the early 80s.

In this book Adrian tells the story about his "horrible" home life, his crush Pandora, his parent's split, trouble at school, his new eighty-year-old friend Bert, his acne problem, the Royal Wedding, and numerous other events. Even the most normal events turn tragic when Adrian and his family are involved.

Adrian reminds me of a Woody Allen movie. It's brilliantly funny and I recommend it to anyone.

I discovered this book right around the time it came out,when I was in grade school. I read it over and over,checking it out of the library three times in a year. I thought Aidy's life was far more interesting than my humble origins and laughed at all his problems, I even did a book report on it for 6th grade English. Adrian thinks himself intellectual though he is far from it at this point (later books he gets closer to having the kind of booksmarts that would make him a true intellectual),writes bad poetry and pines for treacle-haired Pandora. Almost makes me want to visit the UK.

Adrian Mole is your average teenager. He's so average that it's hilarious to read how well Sue Townsend has been able to write his diary entries you'd almost believe he was a real human being. He has normal problems and normal anxieties. He wakes up in the morning not wanting to get out of bed and he goes up to the mirror and complains about his zits. His parents are hardly bothered with him and his best friend has everything he doesn't have-a loving family, richness and popularity. Unfortunately, his best friend has something else that Adrian really does want-Pandora...Adrian's crush and also Adrian's best friend's girlfriend. And yet all through this Adrian keeps wishes and hopes and especially those little dreams that as time goes by doesn't seem to have much of a possibility. This book displays his daily living in an honest and humorous sense of view that mixes very well with reality. For it is not only witty, it is very touching.
I recommend this book to people of all ages. I first read this book when I was 10 but at the time we were told that the content was not suitable. When I actually read it though it didn't actually seem too bad. And now at 14 and 3/4 I can still read it and find it amazingly funny. And many of the adults who have read this book seem to comment it as a very relaxing book that relives them of a LOT of stress. And seeing as this book as THREE others following after it, you'll certainly not regret having to finish the book for you'll be in for twice more fun in the next book.

Fabulously entertaining! I read the first of the series, cover-to-cover in one afternoon then left to buy up the rest of the series and read them one after another. I can't get enough of the Moles! This book has such wit. I was truly upset to get to the end and wanted to just read through the series again. At first, the book's flavor reminded me of Owen from "A Prayer for Owen Meany" by John Irving -- (I ADORED that book) -- but as I read on, the books by Townsend are even better! NOT JUST FOR TEENAGERS! (In fact, much of the humor would be lost on them, I think.) The diaries are full of entries that will make you laugh out loud. I can't imagine anyone not liking this collection. I cerainly wouldn't want them as friends! BUY THIS BOOK NOW!

It's 1981 : Margaret Thatcher is Prime Minister, Prince Charles is preparing for his wedding to Lady Diana Spencer and nobody in England has ever heard of the Falkland Islands. Meanwhile Adrian Mole, a spotty kid from Leicester, has a new diary.

Adrian is an only child and is only a few months short of his fourteenth birthday. Somewhat pretentious, occasionally insensitive and just a little dim, he has somehow managed to convince himself that he is an intellectual. (He claims to have read "War and Peace" within 24 hours - he thought it was `quite good' - while "Animal Farm" has led him to consider being a vet when he grows up). Almost inevitably, he's started writing poetry, which he occasionally sends to the BBC. Mr and Mrs Lucas, who live next door, cause something of a scandal when they become the first couple on his street to get divorced. (In fact, he's nearly delighted with the fallout, until his own family get caught up in it). These aren't his only problems, of course - he suffers from acne, his O-Levels and CSEs are looming and he's routinely menaced by Barry Kent at school. As a member of the Good Samaritans, a charity group he's joined, he misses his maths lessons on a Monday. The downside is that he has to help out an eighty-one year old war-veteran called Bert Baxter. Bert's drinking and smoking are bad enough, but the fact that Bert reads the Morning Star has led Adrian to suspect the pensioner is actually a communist. However, it's not all doom and gloom : Adrian is in love with Pandora Braithwaite .

This is a very funny book - it's always been one of my brother's favourites and I'm sure he wouldn't be alone in viewing it a modern classic. It is written as a diary, rather than a novel - each day is presented as a journal entry, with some days being given more detail than others. While it may be a little more accessible to those who grew up in the UK and Ireland in the 1980s, it's still very funny and is hugely recommended.

In my opinion the book The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole aged 13 3/4, was that it was a very good book. It was able to keep me interested throughout the whole thing, and that made me want to keep reading it. One reason I thought this book was so interesting was because I was able to relate to it very easy. It talked about a lot of things that teenagers go though and different things that are dealt with. I really enjoyed this book mainly because I could see myself in a lot of the different positions that Adrian Mole was put in and a lot of this things he had to go though. I also really liked that this book was written, in the diary form. I would have to say I definitely recommend this book for other people. It is a great book for a teenager to read and very easy to relate to.

In school, our teacher read us bits and parts of this book, but I
couldn't wait to find out what happened next. I bought it and couldn't
put it down. It was DEAD GOOD. I reccommend this book to anyone
who needs a good laugh.

Adrian Albert Mole is very mcuh a typical intellectual teenager. he realises his intellectualism at te start of the book, identifying it as he has a poor background, enjoys reading and dislikes punk. Through the various Adrian Mole books he has gone on a voyage of discovery and self-finding. In the first bookk he is a naive, nampy-pampy character with a poetry fixation. The exchanges he has with the BBC as he attempts to cajole them into using his work are clever and stylish.

He comes from what can politely be described as a dysfunctional family. Both his parents are havign affairs which produce children at the start, although he is oblivious to this. His innocent reference to a game of Monopoly played with his Mum and her boyfriend ("Mr Lucas was the banker. Mum went to jail a lot") was joyously clever and had me in stitches. Adrian has a strong social fascination, following various half-baked ideologies, mainly because his girlfriend Pandora is interested in them. The fact that, rather than being a novel about a talented nerdish youth lost amidst a sordid world, Sue Townsend has empathised with a 13 year old boy, is why this is seen as such a classic.

Firstly I wanted to clarify for people that might want to know, exactly how this series runs. I have bought and read all the books in the Adrian Mole series and I was dissappointed not to find anywhere to tell me which ones to get. So as a result I have them all.

US Versions

The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 3/4

The Growing Pains of Adrian Mole

Adrian Mole: The Lost Years

Adrian Mole: The Cappuccino Years

Adrian Mole and the Weapons of Mass Destruction

British Versions

The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 3/4

The Growing Pains of Adrian Mole

True Confessions of Adrian Albert Mole

Adrian Mole: From Minor To Major

Adrian Mole: The Wilderness Years

Adrian Mole: The Cappuccino Years

Adrian Mole and the Weapons of Mass Destruction

So, as for the review these books are great. I love the entire series and I just couldn't stop reading them all the way to the end. The one thing I might suggest is to keep in mind that with most series of books the first is always the best, which is probably the case here too, but if you like it and are a fan of Adrian Mole, there is no reason why you wouldn't want to read the rest.

I like the fact that is it written in diary form for easy reading and it is very clever how the story is told from the point of view of Adrian himself but you can see things about his life that he cannot.

Overall an excellent read for all ages from teen to adult.

I've read this book two years ago and it becames one of my favorite books. When I am depressed, I read this book and it always make me laugh. I wish I had all diaries of Adrian Mole. British sense of humour is very special and I love it.