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The Lost Diaries of Adrian Mole, 1999-2001 | 
| Author: Sue Townsend
Publisher: Michael Joseph
Category: Book
List Price: £10.99
Buy New: £6.59
You Save: £4.40 (40%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  6 reviews
Sales Rank: 218
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 320
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 5.4 x 1.3
ISBN: 0718154894
EAN: 9780718154899
ASIN: 0718154894
Publication Date: November 6, 2008 (New: Last 30 Days)
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Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours
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| Customer Reviews: Read 1 more reviews...
 Funny, though not the best December 3, 2008
The Adrian Mole books are some of the funniest written, and are among the very few that can actually make me laugh out loud. 'The Lost Diaries' is set in between the 'Cappuchino Years' and 'the Weapons of Mass Destruction', Townsend's two most recent novels featuring the Midlands diarist. Adrian is a single father, living on a council estate with his two sons.
All of the familiar elements are there; the endless antics of his irresponsible parents, Adrian's doomed attempts to write fiction, and his unrequited love for Pandora. It's still funny, but not all that fresh and I missed the inventiveness of 'Weapons of Mass Destruction', which managed to find new angles and material as well as the typical Adrian-angst we know and love.
In fact, all of this book seemed to be going over old ground and had a feeling of recycling material from the other books. It still has its laugh out loud moments - Townsend is a great writer and always funny - but it is not in the same league as the past two Adrian Mole books. It's also shorter and the minor characters and subplots suffer for it - with old favourites like Nigel and Rosie getting barely more than a name check. Because it's shorter and less layered than the other novels, there isn't the element of pathos and genuine emotion that the others have.
As usual, Adrian combines the telling of the events of his own life with commentary on current affairs of the period (1999-2001 Britain) and so this will strike a chord with many who will remember these events. Thus it provides plenty of recent-past nostalgia, full of happenings which suddenly seem a surprisingly long time ago - the Millenium dome saga, the petrol crisis, the FMD outbreak.
My favourite character is Glenn, Adrian's long-suffering teenage son, and he provides some of the best comic moments. Most of the other characters don't really get enough page time to make an impact, even Pandora is reduced to a few cameos. Overall, the story comes across as rushed. Some threads seem to disappear without much explanation, others are skipped through in a few pages (for instance, the visit of Adrian's brother Brett, of which much more could be made). This lack of detail can make the story seem less plausible as there is less of the day-to-day ordinariness to balance the rather extraordinary events that Adrian inevitably finds himself caught up in.
All the same, criticism aside, it's still the funniest thing I've read all year and I'd recommend it to anyone who has read and enjoyed the other Adrian Mole books, but with the warning that it's not as good as some of the others.
what happened November 28, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I have read short extracts from this book, which make me wonder if I should read the whole. From the comment by the NZ reader, it appears there are a number of chronological errors and also factual ones (Ivan Braithwaites non-death, etc). Having read the Mole books in sequence and enjoyed them, I would find it irritating to spot these mistakes. Like the NZ reader I too had an idea for a new Mole book (and in fact wrote the manuscript and sent it to a number of publishing agents) - mine is recollections by his friends (enemies) and relations about events in the past, but not recorded in previous books. I was very careful not to make any date/fact errors, and feel that, despite copyright, my manuscript could make as good a read as this latest effort from Sue Townsend - any takers???
 Worst of a Very Good Bunch November 25, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I have to say, after reading this yesterday, that a) it is too short and b) it is full of recycled material, which dilutes my opinion of the book somewhat. This has the feeling of a contractual obligation-piece to it, and as has been mentioned above, the continuity errors are quite unbelievable at times. it's odd when a readership knows characters better then their creator!
having said all this, it still has laugh-out-loud moments aplenty and still contains the same anal, pedantic Adrian. Put aside the errors and you still have a very entertaining novel.
It may be the worst of the Mole books in my opinion, but it is still a Mole book. Enough said.
 Big Disappointment November 10, 2008
12 out of 17 found this review helpful
I am a huge fan of Sue Townsend's Adrian Mole books and needless to say I was waiting in great anticipation to see which woes would befall poor Adrian in this latest book. I was so disappointed with the entire book, there was no set story line, no humerous family hijinks, none of what makes me love Adrian Mole. In fact at the end of the book I felt a dislike towards his character. I've always had a slight issue with Sue Townsend's continuity in the series of Mole books but this one took the cake-in 'The Cappucino Years' set in 97-98 Adrian's sons are 3 and 13, in this book, set in 99-01 they start off as being 7 and 13, so William has miraculously aged 4 years in 2 and Glenn has not aged at all! Small details which I have picked up and know from re-reading previous Mole books hundreds of times like Glenns birthday being in April and now in this book being in February just irritated me. That may sound a little precious but when Ivan Braithwaite-who is mentioned to have died in 2000 in the book 'Adrian Mole & The Weapons of Mass Destruction' (set in 02-03) while still being married to Pauline Mole at the end of this book- he is still alive and kicking and back living with his ex-wife Tania. There are repeated storylines such as Adrians dad, George, being hospitalised with back injuries leading to him suffering a super bug which is straight out of 'Weapons of Mass Destruction' and whole lines are re-used from earlier books. I may have a pedantic view on this but I think as a long time fan and reader of Townsend's books that she could at least keep track of even the simplest facts. I wouldn't recommend this book to others who have read all the previous books as I believe many would feel the same way as I do.
 Always, reliably, hilarious and contemporary November 8, 2008
4 out of 6 found this review helpful
I have now read every version and permutation of Adrian Mole's diaries, from when I was a teengaer to the present day as a mother in my thirties. I never fail to laugh out loud at this Middle England pedant, whose obsession with detail, shameless snobbery and outrageous intellectual pretension makes him strangely likeable.
Townsend has started making surreal cameos into Mole's life, but rather than interfere with your suspension of disbelief, it enhances the joke. Adrian's surroundings pose a succint picture of modern Britain and this book is no different. We find him raising his two sons, William and Glen
with admirable steadfastnes: one of the many qualities that prevents the reader ever actually dislking Mole. For all his pretensions and self importance, the reader cannot help but root for him, especially contrasted with the unbearably smug Pandora and his fickle parents.
The poetry and prose that Mole subjects the reader to, is hilarious by its very banality and self importance. Townsend is firing arrows at the literaray establishment left, right and centre, always with tongue firmly in cheek.
Once more, an unsuitable ladyfriend plagues Adrian's disastrous love life to comic effect, but his capers are nothing compared with the chopping and changing of his and Pandora's parents. Pandora herself is a ruthlessly ambitious MP and again, Townsend merrily lampoons Blair's Britain. Its hilarous how much Adrian annoys her and serve her right too!
I thoroughly enjoyed this from cover to cover. It takes real skill to make a franchise fresh and entertaining every time, but I could never get bored of Adrian Mole. Five stars every time!
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