The Secret Diary Of Adrian Mole Aged 13 3/4 by Sue Townsend

Published by Methuen

THIS is the first book in a fictional series that follows the life of Adrian Mole through diaries documenting important periods in his life, beginning with his early teenage years.

Though the books are distinguished by the different time periods in which the events take place – this one is set in 1981-82 – what they have in common is our heroe’s concerns about various aspects of his life and the world around him and how clearly his personality as the narrator comes through.

My interest in this book and the subsequent series stemmed from an interest in reading about the experiences of a character of a similar age to me and deepened with the twists of the plot and the humour in Sue Townsend’s writing.

Adrian Mole is presented as rather odd compared to the people he is growing up with. In several of the diary entries he declares himself to be an intellectual who is misunderstood by his more ordinary friends and family. Along with some of the staples of coming-of-age tales – conflict with his parents, school friends and his relationship with his first girlfriend – there is a certain humour from a narrator who clearly sees himself as above the mundanity of everyday life.

Hidden just beneath the surface of this novel there are also much deeper themes that make the reader stop and think – just as soon as they manage to stop laughing out loud.

At various points in the book the politics of the early 80s are mentioned, with Adrian voicing his opinions on different current events and major figures such as Margaret Thatcher, before tearing himself away to focus on his personal day-to-day issues once again.

His diary often refers to the marital issues his parents go through, with his mother becoming a little too close to their neighbour Lucas, the resentment and anger this brings up with his father and the involvement of his grandmother in the drama.

All of this is approached by Adrian with a type of naivety that accompanies his lack of awareness, his youth and his selfishness. He has problems with Pandora, the girl he has feelings for, when she goes out with one of his closest friends. He has to balance that difficulty with cleaning up after the messy family dog.

Adrian’s way of describing these problems makes him perhaps my favourite example of an unreliable narrator in literature. In his eyes, everything that happens should be judged by what impact it will have on him, but despite this it’s difficult not to find him oddly likeable. His sense of individuality is both admirable and refreshing and although his spin on things can seem self-centred, it’s a large part of what makes reading his diary so comedic.

This book and the rest of the Adrian Mole series are perfect for something fun and easy to read, whether you were in your early teenage years in 1982 or are now.