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    The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13 3/4
    The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13 3/4
    The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13 3/4
    Audiobook5 hours

    The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13 3/4

    Written by Sue Townsend

    Narrated by Nicholas Barnes

    4/5

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    About this audiobook

    Meet Adrian Mole, a hapless teenager providing an unabashed, pimples-and-all glimpse into adolescent life. Writing candidly about his parents' marital troubles, the dog, his life as a tortured poet and 'misunderstood intellectual', Adrian's painfully honest diary is still hilarious and compelling reading thirty years after it first appeared.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherW. F. Howes Ltd
    Release dateJun 4, 2015
    ISBN9781471293610
    Author

    Sue Townsend

    Sue Townsend was born in Leicester, England, in 1946. Despite not learning to read until the age of eight, leaving school at fifteen with no qualifications, and having three children by the time she was in her mid-twenties, she managed to be very well read. Townsend wrote secretly for twenty years, and after joining a writers’ group at the Phoenix Theatre, Leicester, she won a Thames Television Award for her first play, Womberang, and became a professional playwright and novelist. Following the publication of The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13¾, she continued to make the nation laugh and prick its conscience with seven more volumes of Adrian’s diaries, five popular novels—including The Queen and I, Number Ten, and The Woman Who Went to Bed for a Year—and numerous well-received plays. Townsend passed away in 2014 at the age of sixty-eight, and remains widely regarded as Britain’s favorite comic writer.  

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    Reviews for The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13 3/4

    4/5

    961 ratings30 reviews

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    • 5/5
      I loved this book so much!!! The diarist is a 13 3/4-yo boy named Adrian Mole and for anyone who likes to read blogs/diaries/journals of others, I'm pretty sure you would like it. I don't have kids or brothers so I don't know much about teenage boys so it was fun to get inside Adrian's mind. Poor kid is being raised by immature, irresponsible parents. He is the adult in the family. Very likeable kid. 

      Seems like I'm the last person to discover this book as there is an entire series of books, TV shows, stage plays, and the author has been dead almost six years now. 
    • 5/5
      The book of my teenage years, almost 30 years on it still makes me laugh.
    • 4/5
      I may have read this long ago...in any case, it was a pleasure to reacquaint myself with Adrian and his...ummmm, dilemmas...adventures...insights. I'm now 3 books into Adrian's story and plan to follow him into adulthood (maybe all the way to my age...gasp!)
    • 4/5
      The type of book that can blindside you with witty remarks you'll find yourself laughing uncontrollably. Characterizations are excellent especially for the titular character. The story is quite directionless, but if you can read for the ride alone, it's a fantastic one.
    • 3/5
      Adrian, a self-identified intellectual, is the narrator/diary-keeper in this book. He describes the typical teenage problems--bullies, acne, on-again/off-again romance, etc. To him, these problems are enormous; he frequently visits the doctor, asks to stay home from school, and generally makes the adults laugh (he doesn't see why) when he over-dramatizes these moments. He seems to take the bigger problems--his parents' separation, his father losing his job, the electricity being cut off--in stride. He complains about these issues, but he also deals with them in much more practical and mature ways. I read the sequel to this, The Growing Pains of Adrian Mole, first, and the books were almost too similar for me. When an author writes a popular book, I think it is difficult to produce a sequel that is similar enough to the first that the people who liked the first will want to read it, but not so similar that the two run together. For me, the two really ran together. But, Townsend does an excellent job of letting the reader see how others view Adrian even though the book is written entirely as his diary. The reader can see the adults laughing at his unintentionally funny actions and statements or groaning at his teenage pretentiousness.
    • 5/5
      Loved this book in the 80s. It was a must read and one of the only times I remember a book having that word of mouth appeal. Lads understood and the hotels thought it was hilarious too. Bittersweet and funny, Adrian is a messed up kid in a dysfunctional family trying to make sense of the world.

      They are still hilarious almost 40 years on. Great narration!
    • 5/5
      A piece of history conveyed with do much humour that I'm in stitches.
    • 5/5
      The diary entries of Adrian Mole, a naive teenager who believes himself to be an intellectual. I read this as a child and found it funny then and even funnier now that I understand Adrian's misinterpretations of the event in his life even better. The audiobook narrator, Nicholas Barnes, does a really great job with Adrian's voice.
    • 5/5
      Laugh of loud funny and anyone of a certain age will remember the angst of being 13 and 3/4 and being ticked off and embarassed by your parent's behavior and seemingly lack of concern for your never ending ' crisis situations ' which are nothing more than the equivilant to a broken nail. Huge fan of Sue Townsend, sadly she is gone now.
    • 4/5
      A 13-year-old boy keeps a diary for 15 months.Yoicks. I didn't care for this one at all. Not a likeable character in the entire thing, and two dogs get nonchalantly mistreated, to boot. Nopenopenope.
    • 4/5
      Living in South Korea in a time before Kindles, I was always on the look out for fresh reading material, which meant that books I would normally avoid I grabbed eagerly and read. One such book was "The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole".By happy providence Adrian Mole was a character I warmed to far more than I thought I would. As I read his diary entries I would laugh and think "what a git" but in the back of my mind I knew that somehow Townsend was channelling my 13 year old thoughts. I liked "The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole" so much I read more of the Adrian Mole series, even though I was living in an English speaking nation by then, and that's as high a compliment I can give.
    • 5/5
      Can't even get past the first page without laughing. The dog. The cherry brandy. What could possibly go wrong?
    • 2/5
      Seriously? The blurb on my edition compares this to Catcher in the Rye. I might compare it to Running with Scissors scrambled w/ Diary of a Wimpy Kid. Slice of dysfunctional life - funny if you can empathize? I felt, at most, schadenfreude. How did this get on my list? I don't like *any* of the books I can compare this to. TG it's short.
    • 3/5
      sharp, funny and very well written. A very "of its time" novel
    • 4/5
      A re-read from my youth in honour of the author's recent death. Adrian is fact was in the same school year as me and during this book starts his O level courses when I did. The humour is timeless, though some of the social attitudes are different and it is interesting to see what has changed over the past thirty years (the book covers January 1981 to the beginning of the Falklands War in April 1982). Great stuff and I will download the sequel Growing Pains which I also read at the time, though I never bothered with any of the several later sequels.
    • 4/5
      I've read this twice now. That's not to say that it's such a wonderful book that it bears re-reading, but it's amusing enough and is relatively light fare. It's also easy to forget most of the details, because it's written in a straightforward diary format. The storylines aren't complicated or particularly enthralling, nor are they meant to be. There's a lot of humor, a bit of heart, and cultural reference aplenty for those who recall the early 1980s. It doubtless has even more resonance for those in the UK. As often happens with these things, as an American I don't get most of the musical and personality references, so I'm missing quite a few amusing or nostalgic comments. But the major incidents are easy enough to spot: Thatcherism, mass unemployment, Charles and Di, the conflict over the Falkland Islands. And I always like having reasons to learn about things like Blue Peter and Lucozade.

      I'd forgotten how naive and obtuse Adrian Mole can be, but that's part of the fun. The reader is always a step ahead of him, and his astonished declarations are all the funnier because of it. The people around him are all rather average, if eccentric, which helps give the book more universality than something populated by outlandish characters. Their faults, as well as Adrian's, are all very familiar and can easily draw a smile. That's why I took a detour from some of the more somber fiction I usually read, and it's a relief to take a spell from dystopian drama and savage journeys of the soul. Adrian's problems can often be solved by getting the attention of the girl he's keen on or having his grandmother confront a schoolyard bully. Some things should be as easy as that.
    • 4/5
      I first read this book when I stole it form my older cousin at 9.

      I only understood like 10% but I still thought it was great. 16 (SIXTEEN!) years later, I still think this is pretty awesome and completely worth it of a read.
    • 3/5
      Adrian has declared himself to be a misunderstood intellectual who has fallen in love with his classmate, Pandora. He is pretentious and irritable and a bit slow on the uptake - in other words, a pretty typical teenager. I found much of this book quite funny, but mostly because I was reading from an adult's point of view. I have no idea how many of the jokes I would have understood had I been reading this at Adrian's age (which is generally the audience to which the book is marketed). I also don't see many adolescents reading this because it's so very dated: for example, there are several references to Margaret Thatcher and a big party to celebrate the marriage of Charles and Diana. That said, I could see it appealing to us adults familiar with British culture from that time period. I don't know that I'll seek out any other Adrian Mole books in the future, but this was a quick and amusing read.
    • 2/5
      Read this when I was about 11 years old and all I remember is that I was disappointed that Adrian wasn't actually a mole...
    • 3/5
      I loved this back in '82 and I can see why. It's still funny, but doesn't make the leap to being a book I want to keep and reread as an adult (unlike other books I loved in my childhood such as those by Edith Nesbit and Arthur Ransome.) That said, it's really a 3.5 star book -- a little above average. I'd still recommend it to 14- to 15-year-olds (I think it might seem a little naive to today's older teenagers), although the setting further limits the appeal. Unless you know a bit about early 80s Britain, culturally and politically, a fair bit is going to pass you by.
    • 5/5
      This was so funny when it was new. It's still hilarious, all these years later.
    • 5/5
      Anyone who has ever been or known a 13-year-old boy will surely enjoy this book. Although it's in the Family and Self section of the Guardian list, it could just as easily have been in the Comedy section.
    • 4/5
      The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13 3/4 reminded me of the excellent Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole in the best way possible -buffoon forces us to relate by way of academic and societal realization of place. Mole is a fairly bog-standard Midlands kid growing up in Thatcher's England. His life is upset by the adults around him, and the seeming disorder of this fellow adolescents. Mole considers himself an intellectual, an untapped mind that nobody but himself understands. The format of the diary is perfect for this story in that it really gives the reader an insight into the secret thoughts that we've all had, but most of us fear sharing or admitting to. The idea that we alone (in the sense of Mole and the little relationship formed by our role as the reader) 'get it' really stand out as the critical factor in this book. We don't really pity Adrian throughout, nor do we really see him as pathetic despite some of the rather silly situations that are handled appallingly. The reader is struck with the fact that this teenage boy is able, despite his own delusions to lay himself out with more honesty than many of us would be able to muster; even to ourselves.
    • 3/5
      I only just finished the book and I must say that I'm not really that convinced by it. It was funny but quite tiring to read. Adrians constant ramblings don't really have any structure or a real story unfolding, so it is slightly more difficult to read. Adrian himself seems to be a typical teenager in many things, higly self-absorbed and contantly bussy with his image. Although I can't help but wondering that when it comes to his home-situation he 'underreacts' a little.
    • 4/5
      The first and funniest book in the series. Adrian Mole is a working class teenager with intellectual pretensions, who keeps writing to the BBC in the hopes of being discovered.
    • 4/5
      Lately a lot of book blogs I nose around have been concerned with reading the classics. I see the sci-fi masterlist being posted everywhere, and more than a few of the non sci-fi blogs I read are tackling some less speculative classics (Pride and Prejudice and Zombies doesn't count). It made me feel like maybe I should stop being such a philistine and start exploring the great literature of days gone by. Should I start with Tolstoy (wasn't he a Bolshevik?), or maybe Dickens? (Would Dan Simmons' Drood count?) Then I started to feel a little lightheaded, so I decided to ease myself in with the Secret Dairy of Adrian Mole, which my coworker Kim told me she had to read in school, and everyone knows its only a classic if you had to read it in school. Plus I bought the book and it's sequels ages ago, so it was already conveniently on my bookshelf. This book falls squarely into the genre that possibly already exists or that possibly I just made up called ‘Thatcher-eqsue.” Thatcher-esque literature, so named for the period under Margeret Thatcher in which is was written, is characterised by the appearance of depressing working class surroundings and a feeling of overwhelming Britishness. And trust me, the Secret Diary of Adrian Mole has both of these things in spades. It's all angst and pence, which now I think about it sounds like a law firm...I would have to say that The Secret Diary, etc is probably the best example of a book in the form of a diary that I've ever read. Hell, scratch the probably. The things reads like an actual diary. Oftentimes with this style of book the diary entries don't read true, the diary writer (diary-est? diary-er?) might recount solid passages of dialogue, for example, or they might foreshadow upcoming events (which is ok is the book is 'diary of a chick who can see the future,' but otherwise not so much). Townsend displays none of these faults. The only thing that some people might point to as being un-diary like is Adrian's habit of referring to people by their full names instead of using abbreviations. However I am fully onboard with it as 1) it's a writing technique that bugs me and, 2) as a self proclaimed intellectual I believe that young Adrian would write out full names every time.Now I'm not saying that the book is without flaws, in fact the major complaints I have with it are because it is so true to its diary form. Namely there seems to be no overreaching plot. It's just a self centered kid writing a little bit almost every day about his life. There is not much in the way of traditional narrative road marks, such as a clearly defined beginning, middle and conclusion. Stuff happens, some more stuff happens, and then there are no more pages. There is no real ending, no satisfying conclusion, just no more words. As I said, it reads exactly like a real diary, and when we read the last entry it's prety easy to imagne that Adrian had kept on going in a new journal, (especially considering the three other Adrian Mole books on my shelf). There is character development though. The Adrian in the first entry is not the same Adrian in the last and after all (are you sick of hearing me say this yet?) a book's characters are the most important thing.I found myself not minding the lack of traditional plot too much, or at all really, because Adrian has such a fantastic voice. He's a self centered little burk, filled with angst of ridiculous proportions. What really endears him to you though is the way he gets so hung up on silly stuff like pimples and vitamins, while the pretty epic family drama doesn't seem to phase him at all. (Of course would could argue that his 13 and a quarter year old mind can't deal with him mother's abandonment or his father's nervous breakdown so he obsesses over the size of his 'thing' instead...) It also helps that Adrian is really funny, although in an unintentionally oblivious kind of way. Indeed most of the books humour derives from us seeing what Adrian doesn't, a conceit which should get old but actually doesn't. There's also a lot of clever social commentary going on, which flies right over Adrian's head, but not ours.Possibly I am making Adrian out to sound like a total idiot, and he's not. He's just a little emotionally stunted, and really self centered. It will be interesting to see how Adrian changes as he grows up in the latter books (I have a vague idea that he's middle aged by the last one), and I'm sure I'll find out next time the mood takes me to read a classic.
    • 5/5
      It's difficult to think of a more memorable pompous teenager than Adrian Mole, the English self-proclaimed "intellectual" hero of Sue Townshend's riotous Adrian Mole series.Although Adrian's story is mostly humorous and details his attempts at publishing his atrocious poetry and wooing the girl of his dreams ("Oh, Pandora, I adore ya!"), Townshend includes Adrian's opinions on his parents' indiscretions and arguments.Considering how many families can be described as "broken" families in today's world, the less-than-ideal situation that Adrian's household is in may comfort some students and remind them that they are not alone in their frustrations.Note: the nature of the humor is somewhat sexually explicit from time to time, although perhaps that is its strength - a 13-year-old boy's perspective on the importance of sexual prowess is raw, funny, and insightful.
    • 4/5
      Adrian Mole, precocious British teenager, self-professed intellectual, and diarist tells us of his trials and tribulations during the last part of his 13th and all of his 14th year. His musings are funny, sweet, and ultimately poignant. In this first edition of the series, we follow him through his decision to become an intellectual, his parents separation and reunification, and his tumultuous first love affair with one Pandora Braithwaite (herself precocious, radical and somewhat fickle.) Upon my second reading of this book, I was pleased that I was not any less enchanted by Adrian as when I first became acquainted with him during my freshman year of college. Adrian is such a real and believable character that it's hard to believe he sprung from the mind of a middle-aged woman, who herself has never, presumably, been a 13 and 3/4 year old boy. Of course, neither have I. I am also not British, and not well-acquainted with early 1980's Britain and know nothing of British politics. I often find it difficult to read literature from countries I have not visited or studied extensively, but the colloquialisms herein are not as mystifying or unable to be understood from context in this work as others I have read. I would recommend this book to any American Anglophile or any young adult who would in any way identify with the engaging character of Adrian Mole.
    • 4/5
      read this book a long time ago, but i do remember laughing through most of it!
    • 3/5
      As a little detour from all the more literary works I'm assigned to read this book is ideal. Here no unnecessary lengthy passages or labyrinthine language, just wit and understated humor. It's got some painful, almost tragic moments but mostly it's about having an innocent chuckle. I think the book aims at nothing more than that and achieves every goal wonderfully.