From Publishers Weekly
This fifth installment of Adrian Mole's diary (The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 3/4; Adrian Mole: The Cappuccino Years , etc.) breaks new ground with its concern for current affairs and its sympathetic treatment of not-always-exemplary characters. Adrian, as usual, is struggling with various relationships and with constant financial problems, always trying to do the right thing, but usually giving in to his baser urges, in love and in spending. He becomes accidentally engaged to dollhouse-building homebody Marigold while spending flirtatious evenings with childhood love Pandora; fires off missives to the likes of Tony Blair and Tim Henman; and works, genuinely, to be a good father, friend and ex-husband to a cast of often bizarre but always human characters. Townsend, author of numerous non-Adrian novels, plays and nonfiction, makes Adrian's adult disorientation palpable as he tries to figure out how he went from hosting a popular television show to working in a failing second-hand bookshop, and copes with the shock of seeing childhood bullies make good and childhood dreams go awry. Arguments about the war figure prominently: one of Adrian's sons is sent to Iraq; his best friend, Robert, is there, too. Adrian's reactions to the war are complex, funny and wrenching. By the time the diary breaks off (on Sunday, July 22, 2004), things are looking up for Adrian and a bridesmaidβand he is considering (to her consternation) writing an autobiography. (Dec.)
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From
In the Adrian Mole diaries, Townsend has brought her hero from teenage angst to single parenthood, brief television stardom, and near bankruptcy. In the sixth installment, Adrian is 34 but still not connecting with life's realities. He has cancelled a holiday in Cyprus because of Tony Blair's warnings that Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction could target the island in 45 minutes, but his travel agent won't refund his 57.10 deposit until evidence of the WMDs is put forward. So, Adrian writes a letter to Mr. Blair requesting such proof. He buys a ridiculous flat, complete with rats and marauding swans, with a down payment from his credit card. He gets involved with a disturbed young woman, whose family is only too happy to have him take her off their hands. And his parents have sold their home and bought a pigsty, literally, with a plan to renovate and live the country high life. Through it all, Townsend treats the serious issues seriously, but the rest is just pure fun. Elizabeth Dickie
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