Book #82
Adrian Mole's first love, Pandora, has left him; a neighbor, Mr. Lucas, appears to be seducing his mother (and what does that mean for his father?); the BBC refuses to publish his poetry; and his dog swallowed the tree off the Christmas cake. "Why" indeed.
Towards the end of the car crash of a year that was 2021, I’d had enough of reading serious stuff. I was frantically scanning my shelves looking for something to get me out of my slump, and Adrian was the perfect choice.
Although I last read this when I was of the same precocious age as he is, it’s no less funny with age. In fact, Adrian’s views are arguably more hilarious to us adults, as we see him try to navigate and understand some of the more mature aspects of life. His commentaries and confusions are brilliant, his self-awareness (or lack thereof) is endearingly pathetic, and his blinkered view of the world is something to behold.
It’s really nothing more than a quick, light read, but it’s one which cheered me up immeasurably, and made me remember my own self-absorbed beliefs of the past. I almost found the motivation to dig out my own diaries from my golden years, but the embarrassment would probably kill me.
“My father wouldn’t give me a note excusing me from Games so I spent nearly all morning dressed in pyjamas diving into a swimming pool and picking up a brick from the bottom. I had a bath when I came home but I still smell of chlorine. I just don’t see the point of the above lesson. When I am grown up I am hardly going to walk along a river bank in my pyjamas, am I? And who would be stupid enough to dive into a river for a boring old brick? Bricks are lying around all over the place!"