Talk:The Growing Pains of Adrian Mole

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Adolescence is difficult. That, in short, is the message of The Growing Pains of Adrian Mole, the diary/novel by Sue Townsend, written as a sequel to The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged Thirteen and Three Quarters.

Summary

Adrian Mole is an outsider. At least that is the impression we get from his daily diary entries that span a period of just over a year, and which pick up immediately where the preceding book left off. He feels the reason that he doesn't quite fit in with "regular" society is that he is an intellectual. Evidence from his diary entries include a precocious interest in literature in left-wing politics, a desire to have his own poetry show on the BBC, his distaste for Margaret Thatcher, and his frequent critiques of his less-refined schoolmates and family.

Adrian's family, as in The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, is one of the focal points of the book. While Adrian's entry are full of humour, sarcasm and irony, they still speak to a great deal of confusion and disillusionment with the dysfunctional relationships of his parents. Sometimes Adrian's diary entries show him to be naive; other times they are very candid; and other times they are full of self-pity. As an only child (at least as the book begins), Adrian has a tendency to look at all problems from a selfish point of view, yet he seems to have a real compassion for the members of his family. While most people might not have the same loquacity as young Adrian, and others might not have the same level of dysfunction in their families, these entries are recorded in such a way that it easy to empathize with the young writer.

This book also builds on its predecessor by continuing the storyline of Adrian's growing frustration with his body. He constantly writes about the "spots" that mar his complexion, and he also has self-esteem issues about his height and muscular maturity. Further complicating these problems are his sexual frustrations, only partially relieved by his girlfriend Pandora Brathwaite, who will occasionally indulge him in "heavy petting".

While Adrian seems a bit self-centred in some aspects of life (and it is hard not to seem this way when writing a diary), he also is more compassionate than the average young bloke. He is the only friend and frequent caretaker of a nonagenarian, and also shows a great deal of concern and compassion for the misfortunes of his parents and respect for the authority of his grandmother. All in all, Adrian seems a good, if somewhat confused, kid.

Comment

The Growing Pains of Adrian Mole is nominally in the category of youth/young adult fiction, but I feel that its appeal is somewhat more universal. I suppose, at age 22, I might fall into the young adult category, but my tastes in literature tend more towards Dostoevsky, Conrad and Tolstoy than towards J.K. Rowling and her ilk. Yet I found myself deeply engrossed with this book, as I was with The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole. I devoured each book in the course of two 3-hour train rides across the Netherlands.

The rapid-fire style of daily entries, which range from a sentence or two to a few pages, make it easy to read only a little bit at a time, but the obvious foreshadowing of problems which Adrian has no idea about make it almost imperative to keep reading. Sue Townsend shows herself to be a master of irony by using the naive and innocent voice of Adrian to satirize the morality of adults, and to show that the adult world is often as confused and messed up as the life of a high-school student, filled as it is with unrequited love, annoying pets and dread of "O"-level exams. You will find yourself laughing with Adrian just as often as you laugh at him, but for all its humour, the book still generates a great deal of sympathy and empathy in the reader for the diarist.

This book is light fare, but it isn't a fluff-piece. Adrian's problems are real to him, and they are related in such a sympathetic and humourous way that it is hard to stop reading about them. If you remember your own adolescence, you will almost certainly enjoy this book.

Post merge/edit

Removed the following from the main article. It's well written but I'm not sure of the best place for it to go. mh. 23:22, 11 October 2006 (UTC)

Comment

The Growing Pains of Adrian Mole is nominally in the category of youth/young adult fiction, but I feel that its appeal is somewhat more universal. I suppose, at age 22, I might fall into the young adult category, but my tastes in literature tend more towards Dostoevsky, Conrad and Tolstoy than towards J.K. Rowling and her ilk. Yet I found myself deeply engrossed with this book, as I was with The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole. I devoured each book in the course of two 3-hour train rides across the Netherlands.

The rapid-fire style of daily entries, which range from a sentence or two to a few pages, make it easy to read only a little bit at a time, but the obvious foreshadowing of problems which Adrian has no idea about make it almost imperative to keep reading. Sue Townsend shows herself to be a master of irony by using the naive and innocent voice of Adrian to satirize the morality of adults, and to show that the adult world is often as confused and messed up as the life of a high-school student, filled as it is with unrequited love, annoying pets and dread of "O"-level exams. You will find yourself laughing with Adrian just as often as you laugh at him, but for all its humour, the book still generates a great deal of sympathy and empathy in the reader for the diarist.

This book is light fare, but it isn't a fluff-piece. Adrian's problems are real to him, and they are related in such a sympathetic and humourous way that it is hard to stop reading about them. If you remember your own adolescence, you will almost certainly enjoy this book.

Adolescence is difficult. That, in short, is the message of The Growing Pains of Adrian Mole, the diary/novel by Sue Townsend, written as a sequel to The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged Thirteen and Three Quarters.