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monkeyboystiff's review against another edition
4.0
Great fun as always, although rather sad in places because Adrian seemed to be having such a shit time, and also because I was reading it knowing the author had died and so this was pretty much it for this creation.
Always impressive how Townsend gets you to empathise with Adrian but not really like him very much.
Didn't end very tidily but I suppose that's not surprising given it's meant to be a diary! I wonder if she had more planned.
Always impressive how Townsend gets you to empathise with Adrian but not really like him very much.
Didn't end very tidily but I suppose that's not surprising given it's meant to be a diary! I wonder if she had more planned.
andrew_j_r's review against another edition
4.0
I am finally up to date with the Adrian Mole saga, having loved the first two books as a kid and then only recently realising that there were another six out there to enjoy.
Like all of the others, this mixes black humour with some sly winks to our knowledge of the future (Adrian's predictions that Woolworths is one of those high street names that will be around forever and his prediction that Gordon Brown will make an excellent Prime Minister are just two examples) but this book is tinged with a sadness - you know at the end of the last book that his marriage will not last, and to see it all play out at the same time that he is going through cancer treatment and convinced that he is going to die is heartbreaking. And the book ends with no real resolution to his illness, but we are promised another book in 2012 so I guess I will have to wait until then to find out what happens next.
An excellent, funny tragic book that (for now) concludes a similar series.
Like all of the others, this mixes black humour with some sly winks to our knowledge of the future (Adrian's predictions that Woolworths is one of those high street names that will be around forever and his prediction that Gordon Brown will make an excellent Prime Minister are just two examples) but this book is tinged with a sadness - you know at the end of the last book that his marriage will not last, and to see it all play out at the same time that he is going through cancer treatment and convinced that he is going to die is heartbreaking. And the book ends with no real resolution to his illness, but we are promised another book in 2012 so I guess I will have to wait until then to find out what happens next.
An excellent, funny tragic book that (for now) concludes a similar series.
mollyj099's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
lighthearted
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
livia_r's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
lululegume's review against another edition
emotional
funny
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
georgiawilliamson's review against another edition
funny
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
3.75
derhamburger's review against another edition
5.0
It's so amazing how a book can be hilariously funny and gloomy at the same time. After "Weapons of Mass Destruction" we thought it might be the last one (because of the all too happy ending), "The Lost Diaries" were very dark and depressing. This book is both. And there has to be a new one - Aidy's story is not over yet.
andintothetrees's review against another edition
5.0
(4.5 stars) I didn't have this book lined up to (re)read and picked it up as light reading when I saw it on the shelf at my family home a few weeks ago. I was supposed to be starting A Little Life whilst I was away but couldn't get further than about 100 pages. Anyway, I first read this when it came out about 10 years ago (as I've been a massive Sue Townsend fan for about 20 years now) but couldn't remember much about it. In it Adrian Mole has a failing marriage, a young daughter,an adult son in the army (and another son from whom he is estranged) and lives close to his parents in a Leicestershire village. He also gets diagnosed with, and treated for, cancer during this book. I loved the minor characters especially Bernard, Mr C-H and Leslie; and it's good that Nigel and Pandora are still there in the books and there for Adrian. I remembered this as having a sad ending, but it wasn't really - Adrian discovers a love of nature and the story closes in a way that feels non-abrupt and open-ended, shortly after his 40th birthday. It feels like a fitting end to the series though I'm sorry Sue Townsend isn't still with us, writing great books like this
thecesspit's review against another edition
3.0
I enjoyed it for being more of the same self-reflective, pseudo-intellectual noodling that is Adrian Mole. It doesn't really head of any where knew... the same pains of parents he can't understand, loves losts, lusting after Pandora and friends who just about tolerate his ways. Just he's 40 not 13.