Adrian Mole: The Lost Years

Adrian Mole #3-4

by Sue Townsend

A compilation of the third and fourth books in the series:

The True Confessions of Adrian Albert Mole;
Adrian Mole: The Wilderness Years;

Also includes "Adrian Mole and the Small Amphibians".

Genres: Fiction, Humor, Contemporary, Young Adult, British Literature, Comedy, Novels

310 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1994

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Susan Lillian "Sue" Townsend was a British novelist, best known as the author of the Adrian Mole series of books. Her writing tended to combine comedy with social commentary, though she has written purely dramatic works as well. She suffered from diabetes for many years, as a result of which she was registered blind in 2001, and had woven this theme into her work.

Reviews

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good ole Adriaan Mole.... Is Adrian Mole's overdramatic writing style my biggest influence?! It very well may be.

[Mitch · Rating 4 out of 5]

This series is reliably funny. Explaining that is like explaining a good joke; just take my word for it and read any of the series at all. It's quite good.

[Kate · Rating 1 out of 5]

Maybe I just don't want Adrian to grow up and have sex with Sharon Botts. Or maybe these later books just aren't that funny.

[Carol · Rating 4 out of 5]

Probably more funny if you are a brit, but I am sure american's can appreciate the humor too

[Sharon Falduto]

Piper picked this book up off the stack that sits on our living room floor (formerly of the basement), I started reading it, and couldn't put it down, again. Funny, and charming in his own geeky way, Adrian follows his alleged love Pandora to Oxford where he lives in her "box room" (if someone can tell me what that is, I'd appreciate it) and has many adventures.

[Arthur · Rating 5 out of 5]

Chronologically set between The Cappuccino Years and The Weapons of Mass Destruction, but published after both of these. Mole moves, with both his sons, to a "sink estate" and enters into one of the strangest relationships (can you even call it that?) with the official referring him to the house. Overall another funny entry in the series.

[Holly · Rating 2 out of 5]

The first books were amusing but this one became pitiful and rather depressing. Not likely I'll continue this series.

[Margery Osborne · Rating 5 out of 5]

love!

[Prithvi D · Rating 5 out of 5]

almost as funny as me

[Derek Baldwin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Slightly confusing at times because although published afterwards it is set BEFORE The Weapons Of Mass Destruction - so some of the things described in the later book haven't happened yet. I also had the impression maybe someone hadn't proofread this terribly carefully as there were a few bits that didn't make much sense. A real howler was a description of Adrian's posh half-brother Brett's one-night stand as "Sharon" but then a couple of lines later as "Tracey" (or it might have been the other way around). I wondered if this was a sneaky homage to The Fat Slags.



I'm not convinced that Adrian's comments about the fradulent Sue Townsend pretending to be him work entirely either.



So many books which claim to be comic come complete with extracts from reviews describing them as a laugh a minute etc etc but barely have a joke in them. But with Adrian Mole I really do laugh just about every page. Fantastic.



Sue Townsend should bow to the inevitable and simply publish Adrian Mole as a daily blog! But so long as she resists the temptation to write those mediocre non-Mole books, and sticks to this format, I can't see myself ever getting tired of them.

[Jackie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Adrian is more or less insufferable most of the time, and his self-absorbed perspective hits a little to close to the outlook of a roommate I used to have, so at times it was hard for me to read the book. On the same note, it is a quick read style and parts are very enjoyable. Still can't decide how I feel about the series overall, it seems like something I got sucked into and then stuck in--I wanted to know enough to keep reading, and I didn't enjoy some of the reading but it was ok enough to keep going. Near the end I started to hate Adrian less, as his character does come along some.

Not sure if I'd recommend them, it depends on your tastes. Read the first one, and if you find it funny, read on. If not, know that things don't get any different (better?) so you might as well stop there and save yourself the trouble.

[Michelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

My edition of The Lost Years contains True Confessions, Small Amphibians, and The Wilderness Years (not Secret Diary or Growing Pains, like Goodreads says it contains). I would give The Lost Years a higher review if it contained Secret Diary and Growing Pains because those books were hysterical. For True Confessions, Small Amphibians, and The Wilderness Years, Adrian Mole is in his late teens and early twenties, and his behavior is no longer as funny, it's more just annoying. As a young teen, his cluelessness was fine because that's how young teenagers are, but you would expect him to grow up some. I guess he wouldn't be Adrian anymore...
I'll still check out the next book (will it work out with JoJo?).

[Nathy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Quite a disappointment if you compare this volume to the first three.

I must be about Adrian’s age, and though I could still feel some sympathy for him during his later adolescence, it’s come to an end here.

Moving from funny to awkward, poor Adrian has become sad and frustrating. I pity him.

Still, Sue Townsend’s writing is smooth, and I suspect that if you’ve been reading and loving the series up to now, you'll want to read this as much as I did.

[Louise · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have not read the other Adrian Mole books, picked this one up in a charity shop and although let down by 'The Woman who went to bed for a year' (or whatever its called) which was quite frankly unforgettable and boring. I was pleasantly surprised by this Sue Townsend novella!

This story is utterly brilliant. Its very funny and also sad and frustrating at times. I couldn't put it down. Excellent light read. Cant wait to read the other Mole books now.

[James of the Redwoods · Rating 5 out of 5]

I did not expect this to be funnier than the first set of diaries.

This volume is off the chart! I have to read this in spurts because my stomach hurts so much from laughing!!

I am at about the halfway point.

04/25/2009 - Finished this a few days ago. Off-the-charts-funny!!!!!! Aren't we all, at some level, Adrian Mole?

[Starasia · Rating 3 out of 5]

About halfway through, Adrian Mole stopped being funny, cute, and naive and was just sad, frustrating, and pathetic. The ending redeemed itself, or else I would have given it only two stars. I am now reading Adrian's Cappuccino Years, and, 60 pages in, I haven't laughed once. Time to put some more books on hold at my lovely library!

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sue Townsend passed away not long ago, and serendipitously I discovered that I had not read this title. A lot of it is, however, excerpted from some of her other books. Still, Adrian's first love affair after Pandora and its difficult conclusion will appeal to all those who have followed his adventures over the years.

[Daisy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not as good as it's precursor, it became somewhat tedious as the self-involved hero of the first book whined constantly - not always in a funny way. In fact, it made me think too much of the lazy do-nothings I currently abhor in my own age group and I was mostly annoyed.

[Cathy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I loved the Adrian Mole diaries when I was a teenager, so I was excited to see this one. Didn't like it, though. I guess the character traits that were so funny when Adrian was a teen aren't funny anymore in his twenties. Or maybe it's just because I'm older.

[Will · Rating 4 out of 5]

Started out slow. Then Adrian got pathetic as a young adult still pretentious and such a wretched loser (as opposed to a lovable loser). But then gradually something amazing happened and it ended quite satisfactorily!

[Molly B · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is pretty similar to The secret diarys of Adrian mole aged 13 3/4 but Adrian has grown up a little bit. He is now 16 years old and has moved on a little bit.




I was in the middle of this book but i had to return it to the libary....

[Kim · Rating 2 out of 5]

Time to start the next Adrian Mole book -- hope it's funny!

I didn't enjoy this as much as the first book of the series. It still had the humor of Adrian's cluelessness, but that was less endearing in a young adult than a teenager.

[Čavle Margarin · Rating 4 out of 5]

not everything in this compilation works that well, but it's still some of the funniest shit ever and adrian mole is still every modern loser's hero. i should really catch up with the stuff i've missed in the great mole series.

[Gabriela · Rating 3 out of 5]

So, I thought this third book was more despairing than it was funny, maybe because he's my age so it's closer to heart. I am already really attached to Adrian and I felt true anguish at how awful he is during this period.

[Priscilla · Rating 3 out of 5]

Adrian continues to be clueless. Reading these all at once is fun. I wonder if Adrian is what Sue always feared she could have been or could become.

[Vanessa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nothing was Lost on me with this book!

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you want a laugh, you really can't go wrong with Adrian Mole. Delightful stuff if you are open to it.

[Himanshu · Rating 3 out of 5]

With every new volume, watz-er-name (and hence Adrian himself) gets lesserly andlesserly funny.Bright orange cover though- you can never go wrong buying a book with a bright orange cover...

[Anusha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just as oddball funny as the rest of them, this one is kind of weird because it follows him as an adult, and clearly your adult years aren't as awkward as your teen years. For most anyway.

[Jane]

Why do I love these Adrian Mole books so much? Once I start, I can't stop.