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A review by cowdisease125
Adrian Mole and the Weapons of Mass Destruction by Sue Townsend
5.0
I was eight years old when Tony Blair and George Bush declared war on Iraq. I remember my parents gathering my older brother and I in the kitchen and telling us what was happening and that there was no need to be worried or scared.
I first read Weapons of Mass Destruction as a sixteen year old sixth former. At the time of reading I had given up on my geography a-level and my teachers had given up on me in return so they just let me get on with my reading at the back of the classroom. I remember discussing it with my teachers and with my parents as I was reading it and when I finished it I declared it my favourite Mole book.
Almost a decade later, I have re-read it and I'm happy to say that it's still my favourite Mole and I perhaps love it even more.
Obviously the Gielgud the Swan stuff is as funny as it was and Adrian's life makes me groan and cringe just as much but it's all the underlying, yah know, stuff that you don't really get when you're a sixteen year old kid just trying to ignore a lecture on isostatic recovery that makes this book so great and so, so heartbreaking. That "you can't afford a lifestyle, Moley, only a life" is a killer. Everything that happens to Glenn and Robbie. The way we're reminded that a Labour government (supposedly the 'goodies' of the UK parliament) lied to the UK and invaded Iraq.
Aged eight, my parents told me not to be scared or to worry about the war in Iraq. Aged sixteen Sue Townsend told me to be more than that. Be angry. Aged almost 26 - remain angry. And put down the credit card.
I first read Weapons of Mass Destruction as a sixteen year old sixth former. At the time of reading I had given up on my geography a-level and my teachers had given up on me in return so they just let me get on with my reading at the back of the classroom. I remember discussing it with my teachers and with my parents as I was reading it and when I finished it I declared it my favourite Mole book.
Almost a decade later, I have re-read it and I'm happy to say that it's still my favourite Mole and I perhaps love it even more.
Obviously the Gielgud the Swan stuff is as funny as it was and Adrian's life makes me groan and cringe just as much but it's all the underlying, yah know, stuff that you don't really get when you're a sixteen year old kid just trying to ignore a lecture on isostatic recovery that makes this book so great and so, so heartbreaking. That "you can't afford a lifestyle, Moley, only a life" is a killer. Everything that happens to Glenn and Robbie. The way we're reminded that a Labour government (supposedly the 'goodies' of the UK parliament) lied to the UK and invaded Iraq.
Aged eight, my parents told me not to be scared or to worry about the war in Iraq. Aged sixteen Sue Townsend told me to be more than that. Be angry. Aged almost 26 - remain angry. And put down the credit card.