Adrian's back: aged 39 1/2 (Adrian Mole: the Prostrate Years - Sue Townsend)

Member Name: maths_babe

Product:	Adrian Mole: the Prostrate Years - Sue Townsend
Date:	06/11/09 (61 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Adrian is just as neurotic as ever

Disadvantages: Not as good as some of his previous diaries

Adrian Mole is one of Britain's most brilliant comic creations. He's neurotic, pedantic, courageless, but somehow very loveable. Many people will have grown up with the Mole books, and will empathise with Adrian's teenage days in the eighties, his newfound adulthood and responsibilities in the nineties, and his mid life crises in the noughties. Now he's back, it's 2007 and Adrian is aged 39 ½.

Adrian is living in a converted pigsty in Leicester with his wife Daisy and their four year old daughter Gracie. Living next door are Adrian's baby-boomer parents: the wheelchair bound George Mole and his flirtacious and attention-seeking wife Pauline. Adrian is still working in a bookshop alongside the elderly Mr Carlton-Hayes. Adrian's current list of worries includes: the economy, his wife's friendship with Mr Fairfax-Lycett, Gordon Brown's ability to take over from Tony Blair, and the fact that he finds himself getting up to urinate 12 times per night.

People who have read the previous Mole books will recognise many favourite characters from the past, including: Nigel, Wayne Wong, the Stick Insect, "Rat-Fink" Lucas, and, most importantly, Adrian's ex girlfriend, Pandora.

The title is "The Prostrate years", which is a pun really, as Adrian becomes more and more worried about possible prostate trouble in the book, and people insist on pronouncing it prostrate. As we know, prostrate means something to do with lying down (?) which is something Adrian does do a lot in the book, so the title has a double meaning. The illustration on the front shows a vase of flowers, one of which is drooping, hinting at the second meaning of the title.

**The Best Bits**

Adrian's parents appearing on the Jeremy Kyle show to settle once and for all the issue of Adrian's sister Rosie's paternity.

Pauline Mole's hilariously fabricated autobiography, "A Girl Called S***"

Adrian: "I thanked God that I had put my insurance money into that fail-safe Icelandic account".

Adrian: "It is good to know that whatever travails we may suffer in life, Woolworths will always be there".

**The Worst Bits**

Not as funny as the eighties books, not as thoughtful as Adrian Mole and the WMD.


**Overall**

I definitely enjoyed this book but not as much as I have other Mole diaries (you will be relieved to know, however, it is much better than last year's The Lost Diaries which were terribly disappointing).

I was surprised there was a sequel to Adrian Mole and the WMD as the ending was very well written and sealed everything nicely. However, I'm sure lots of people were disappointed that Adrian and Pandora did not get together at the end, and I would definitely like the series to continue as long as possible.

Anyone who hasn't done already should immediately read the old Adrian Mole books because they are absolutely hilarious. In particular, the school trip scene in (I think) the Growing Pains of Adrian Mole. These books are available at almost every library in the UK, but make sure you check the kids' section, as they might be there.

**Additional Info**
RRP is £18.99 but should be around £10 online or at the supermarkets.
Hard back
405 pages

Summary: Worth reading, and make sure you read his previous diaries too!