Adrian Mole And The Weapons Of Mass Destruction (2006) - Plot & Excerpts
“But the truth was, dear diary, I remembered Animal Farm as being a book simply about animals on a farm” No, the Monthly Book Group had not met to give their informed criticism of George Orwell’s classic; rather the book was “Adrian Mole and the Weapons of Mass Destruction” (2004) and the quote in question came from Adrian himself attending the Leicester and Rutland Creative Writing Group (aka Readers’ Club) in the bookshop run by Mr Calton-Hayes. Although arguably missing the metaphor in Animal Farm, the LRCWG did spot the resemblance between Tony Blair and Jane Eyre, showing Charlotte Bronte to be well ahead of her time.The proposer gave a short summary of Sue Townsend’s eventful life from 1946 to 2014, a bestselling novelist since 1982 when she commenced her Adrian Mole series. She had left school at 15 years of age, married at 18, a single parent at 23 with three children. Previous to her writing career, she had experienced several low-paid jobs in her native Leicester and this experience shone through in her writing. She was also an award-winning playwright and had amassed several other honorary degrees and prizes.Discussing the book, the attendees had all enjoyed it, most reading it for the first time. It was ‘laugh out loud’ funny with a cast of British eccentrics, a number of running plots and gags, most notably the deployment of Adrian’s son Glenn and mate Robbie to Iraq to deal with the WMD, and Adrian’s (Kipling’s) amorous adventures with Pandora (continued), Marigold and Daisy (French Fancy) Flowers. (Yes, really, the other sister is Poppy.) One of us commented on feeling pathos; at how poor AM couldn’t get on whereas Pandora sailed through all her exams. Another seemed to identify with Adrian’s experience of credit cards, as he opened one after another to pay for the one before, commenting on the early 2000s financial irresponsibility and willingness of banks to back a bad risk. Of course this book was written in 2004, but we suspect Sue T. had a good idea of what was coming later in the decade. Another running gag deals with Adrian’s letters to Latesun Ltd., asking Mr. Blair to confirm the existence of WMD so AM could recover his £57.10 Cyprus holiday deposit. As the book progresses Adrian mirrors the British public in questioning the validity of the Iragi invasion. Alas, Mr. Blair never writes to confirm that the WMD are targeted at Cyprus. The group wondered at Adrian’s naivety (playing the ‘daft laddie’) in writing to Blair, Beckham, Jordan, Arsene Wenger, Tim Henman et al. to offer advice. Well, Tim, you never did win Wimbledon. You should have listened. Some celebrities seemed to be less than keen to contribute to AMs forthcoming book on ‘Celebrity and Madness’.What is enduring in life? Taking the series as a whole, one reader was unhappy that Adrian’s character doesn’t develop, and he is still naive at 35. This isn’t plausible. Overall, the group felt that ST had captured the early 2000s mood in Adrian’s aspirations to better himself, notably in renting the less than exclusive property in Rat Wharf. (The clue is in the name.) Equally, he bought all sorts of unnecessary and overpriced accoutrements to improve the decor. One unwelcome neighbour at Rat Wharf was the aggressive Gielgud the Swan; this led to some classic comedy of misunderstanding with the Council’s Neighbourhood Conflict Unit as a series of letters were exchanged about AMs troublesome neighbour, Mr. Swan.We loved some of Sue’s turns of phrase; we laughed, we cried. She captured the gradual realisation that the pretext for invasion was wrong. Who was the targeted audience? We felt that it appeals to any age and demographic. We talked of the advantages of the diary format that allows inconsistency, showing how public opinion is influenced by the popular press and politicians. Nevertheless, after the humour and pathos, the book ends on a serious note.No doubt they’ll soon get well; the shock and strainHave caused their stammering, disconnected talk.Of course they’re ‘longing to go out again,’—These boys with old, scared faces, learning to walk.They’ll soon forget their haunted nights; their cowedSubjection to the ghosts of friends who died,—Their dreams that drip with murder; and they’ll be proudOf glorious war that shatter’d all their pride…Men who went out to battle, grim and glad;Children, with eyes that hate you, broken and mad.(Siegfried Sassoon, Survivors)This is an extract from a review at http://www.monthlybookgroup.com/ Our reviews are also to be found at http://monthlybookgroup.blogspot.co.uk/
Sue Townsendin ""Adrian Mole ja järisyttävät joukkotuhoaseet"" (WSOY, 2008) jatkaa hersyvän humorististen päiväkirjojen sarjaa, jotka tulivat suomalaisillekin lukijoille tutuksi 1980-luvulla ("Mikä tsäkä, Hadrianus" ja niin edespäin).Teinipojasta on kasvanut kirjasarjan myötä vähän yli kolmikymppinen mies. Adrianin elämässä oikein mikään ei tunnu toimivan niin kuin pitäisi, olipa kyse sitten dysfunktionaalisesta lukupiiristä tai uuden loft-asunnon äänieristyksestä. Suhteet niin entisiin kuin nykyisiin tyttöystäviin aiheuttavat ongelmia, taloudellinen tilanne on kehnonlainen ja oman jälkikasvun tulevaisuus huolestuttaa - eikä suotta, onhan vanhini pojista komennettu brittiarmeijan mukana sotaan valmistautuvalle Persianlahdelle. Oma roolinsa on myös Gielgudilla, paholaismaisella joutsenella, joka terrorisoi Adrianin uutta asuinympäristöä. Ei siis ihme, että joskus tuntuu siltä, ettei tämän kaiken kaaoksen keskellä voi luottaa kuin pääministeri Tony Blairiin - vai voiko häneenkään?Kyseessä on hauska ja suhteellisen nopealukuinen romaani, jonka parissa viihtyy erinomaisesti. Townsendin huumorintäytteisten rivien välistä paljastuu myös vakavampi puoli, kirjailijan aito suuttumus Irakin joukkotuhoaseista valehdellutta ja Englannin sotaan johtanutta hallitusta kohtaan."Adrian Mole ja järisyttävät joukkotuhoaseet" sopii myös ensimmäistä Adrian Mole -kirjaansa lukevalle noviisille, mutta epäilemättä sarjan parissa kasvanut lukija saisi romaanista vielä enemmän irti.
What do You think about Adrian Mole And The Weapons Of Mass Destruction (2006)?
Sue Townsend did it again with this poignant tale of a grown-up Adrian, working in a seedy second-hand bookshop in London. I wonder if Adrian was secretly a bit autistic, as some of his behaviour, especially towards his girlfriend, Marigold,seems redolent of Don Tillman in The Rosie Project.I just read that Sue Townsend had gone blind from diabetes when she wrote this novel. She dictated it to her husband. also, she was working on a sixth Adrian Mole novel when she died, entitled Pandora's Box. She was only 68, 3 year solder than I am now!
—Robyn Smith
I feel like I've grown up with Adrian Mole. I've been following his exploits since I was 13 years old, and as a character fixed in time, he's a year or two older than me.This book chronicles Adrian's life in 2003, age 34, with the backdrop of the war in Iraq. He worries about his 17-year-old son, who has joined the army and has been deployed to Kuwait, he struggles with a debt problem that's spiralling out of control, and still his love life is as disastrous as ever - he's trying to extricate himself from the clutches of a needy, clingy young woman called Marigold, whilst fancying her free-spirited sexy sister Daisy.Adrian Mole is a comic character, and it's his flaws and foibles that we laugh about. But ultimately his heart is in the right place, and that's why we're fond of him. In a way it's good that as Adrian grows older he growns no wiser, and he retains the ability to make us laugh. And the fact that Adrian's life is always such a disaster is a source of some reassurance - no matter how bad life gets, it's never as bad as Adrian Mole's.
—Sara Townsend
okay...so this book was good. really good. Adrian Mole is in his 30s working at in an Independent Bookshop. his song Glenn is in the army and his son William is living with his mum in Nigeria. this book is about adiran mole's blind faith in tony blair and how he just spends money on unnecessary things and gets into debt. oh and he end sup in this messed up relationship with this woman Marigold who loves building dolls houses...and then ends up falling in love with her sister?! it's crazy...this book is madly genius. oh and he moves out of his parent's house and gets his own place near the canal and he hates all the swans coz they're evil and it's just insane. i have come to the conclusion that adrian mole is a very stupid person who has delusions of grandeur because he is such a snob and thinks he is better than everyone but really everyone finds him amusing...and that is quite sad because there are so many people like this in the world. especially when he supported the war in iraq. this book was interesting for me because i was pretty young when britain and the US invaded Iraq so it was interesting to see the different views and how people went on protests etc also there is a good representation of Muslim characters in this book! i love the book club at the bookshop because they all ended up reading the Quran and really enjoying it! =D so yeah if you like Adrian Mole then it is worth reading this book. if you DON'T KNOW WHO ADRIAN MOLE IS THEN I SUGGEST YOU READ THE FIRST BOOK...i think he is a brilliant character in that he is s stupid and naive and he doesn't even know it and you question HOW DO PEOPLE INTERACT WITH HIM?! also this book is hilarious...i laughed out loud a lot. the ending was sad =( anywaysHappy Reading!=D
—Juwi
