ADRIAN MOLE is thirty-nine and a quarter. Unable to afford the mortgage on his riverside apartment, pay his credit-card bills or keep up with the p...
read full description
reviews
May 14, 2011
Sarah
rated it: 
As I started reading The Prostate Years in the midst of an outpouring of Christmas presents, many of which included novels, annuals and book tokens, I was spoiled for literary choice over the holidays, and almost didn't know where to start. However, Adrian has remained my first love ever since the day I picked up my dad's battered old copy of 'The Secret Diary'. He would have to be read first, no questions asked. I hurried through the book feverently, but was hit with bitter disappointment as I
More...
0 comments
like
(2 people liked it)
Apr 03, 2011
CaterinaAnna
rated it: 
Adrian goes through the book moaning that people can't spell the name of his troublesome gland correctly and as a result I mis-type the name of the book when searching for it. Adrian 1 - CaterinaAnna 0
I first met Adrian in the pages of Woman's Realm in 1982, when I was just enough older than him to feel superior, and each new installment of his diaries is like getting a news-filled letter from a friend one hears from infrequently enough for it to contain plenty of news, but frequently More...
I first met Adrian in the pages of Woman's Realm in 1982, when I was just enough older than him to feel superior, and each new installment of his diaries is like getting a news-filled letter from a friend one hears from infrequently enough for it to contain plenty of news, but frequently More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Aug 30, 2010
Paula
rated it:
I am a massive fan of the Adrian Mole books, I have lost count how many times I have re~read the books. Adrian Mole ~ The Prostate Years finds Adrian now almost 40, married with a daughter (as well as two sons, Glenn serving with the army in Afghanistan and William, who lives with his mother in Nigeria) and lives next door to his parents in the piggery. As always with Adrian his unusual family are causing endless problems, his marriage is not working, his daughter rules their home and her sch
More...
Sep 15, 2010
Susan
rated it: 
I read this book because it was left behind for me by my good friend from England who was here visiting. Amazingly, I had never heard of the Adrian Mole series. As I read, I realized the history of these characters. Still, the book stood on its own. As an American who hasn't spent a great deal of time in England for 20 years, a lot of the pop culture/ political references were sort of lost on me. But the richness of the characters came through! Though each of the main characters were rather
More...
Jul 25, 2011
Megan
rated it:
I have read all the Adrian Mole books - indeed, I was delighted when the library catalogue told me there were two I didn't realize had been published! And while I plowed through and loved The Weapons of Mass Destruction, I would have to say that I find the Prostrate Years the weakest entry in Adrian Mole's extensive output. (Or, you know, Sue Townsend's.)
It felt less topical - the last two were both extremely topical and sharp-tongued about current events and celebrity, and this one, More...
It felt less topical - the last two were both extremely topical and sharp-tongued about current events and celebrity, and this one, More...
Feb 05, 2011
Steven
rated it:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
To view it, click here
Jan 28, 2010
De Meulder
rated it:
Helemaal niet zo goed als de andere. En hij heeft kanker wat een domper is op het plezier.
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
May 13, 2011
Dickon
rated it:
In which Adrian Mole hits 40, having lost his wife and daughter and job, his only gain being... prostate cancer. Doesn't sound like the funniest novel in the world, but Ms Townsend pulls it off. She balances the tragicomedy with poignancy, spot-on satire about real world events (the smoking ban, the financial crash) and a real love of her characters. I'm still reeling in admiration as to how she managed to get the tone so pitch-perfect. She's up there with Alan Bennett and John Mortimer in the B
More...
Aug 05, 2010
Meaghan
rated it:
Adrian is now 39, working in a bookstore, living in a converted pigsty with his second wife and their little girl, suffering from prostate trouble and as much of a loser as ever. The large cast of characters include the usual from the previous books (Pandora, Nigel) as well as some new ones. Adrian's son William is curiously almost entirely absent; he is mentioned in I think only one sentence. I understand the boy is living in Nigeria but I thought it was a bit odd that he and his father didn't
More...
Jul 27, 2011
Matti
rated it:
Adrian Mole on nyt 39 ja 1/4 vuotias. Sympaattisen antisankarimme elämä ei ole keski-iän myötä seestynyt ja helpottunut, päinvastoin: avioliitto Daisyn kanssa on ajautumassa karille (miksi vaimo onkaan hankkiunut uusia pitsisiä alusvaatteita?), Englantia jäytävä talouuskriisi uhkaa tehdä selvää työpaikasta herra Carlton-Heyesin kirjakaupassa, lähisukulaiset tahtovat välttämättä märehtiä dysfunktionaalisia ihmissuhteitaan television keskusteluohjelmassa eikä vanha suola lakkaa janottamasta, sillä
More...
Sep 21, 2010
Michael
rated it:
Having enjoyed a couple of the series when I was a teenager I bought the latest on a whim. I read it from cover to cover in a few hours, could not put it down. It made me laugh out loud several times, with bathetic moments and sharp satire. It was also touching and bleak, as Adrian struggles with his health amid a dysfunctional, self-absorbed family. Sue Townsend writes wittily, tenderly and acidly, commmenting on our times through the character's lives. The only real problem I have with this
More...
Dec 06, 2009
Jennifer
rated it:
Adrian is back and grappling with some harsher realities than just another rejection letter from the BBC. Cancer, global economics and the war in Afghanistan are all bearing down on Adrian as he turns 40. And yet, he is still as funny and pathetic as ever, living in a converted pigsty on the other side of the wall from his parents with wife Daisy and daughter Gracie.
I've been reading Adrian since his first diary at aged 13 3/4 and while the diaries could be enjoyed out of sequen More...
I've been reading Adrian since his first diary at aged 13 3/4 and while the diaries could be enjoyed out of sequen More...
Jul 13, 2011
Amy
rated it:
I was dubious when I heard that there was another Adrian Mole book. I liked the ending of Weapons of Mass Destruction. I liked the way it "finished" Adrian's story — he'd finally stopped obsessing over Pandora, he'd found a fantastic woman to love and live with, he had a job he liked that suited him and he finally had his daughter. I thought it should have stopped there.
I read it, though — how could I resist? I LOVE the Adrian Mole books — and I did so in one sitting. That, i More...
I read it, though — how could I resist? I LOVE the Adrian Mole books — and I did so in one sitting. That, i More...
Apr 06, 2010
Nathan
rated it:
Adrian Mole's nearly forty, and I've lost track of how many of his diaries have been published now. You probably remember him when he was thirteen and three quarters. I love the chronicle of a life that Sue Townsend has unfolded at intervals over the last twenty years, not quite up to the standard of John Updike's Rabbit Angstrom sequence, but a humorous barometer of the times and chronicle of failure.
That said, this is one of the weaker books to my mind - but maybe it's me who's ch More...
That said, this is one of the weaker books to my mind - but maybe it's me who's ch More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Jul 29, 2011
Derek
rated it:
Poor Adrian. Just like the rest of us he's getting older, less healthy, and still not learning from his mistakes. And still profoundly in love with Pandora (who is clearly being lined up for a fall from power due to her parliamentary expenses...). While every bit as funny as all the other brilliant Mole diaries, this one is quite a lot more sobering, and poignant. There's an air of inevitability about many of the things that happen, both at a personal level and in the wider society described so
More...
Jul 30, 2011
I love the Mole books, they might me laugh out loud. I had the original diary when it was published and so probably feel like people who've been watching Corrie/EastEnders since it started.
It's the saddest so fa and also the one which really shows Adrian's kindly nature. What a ***** Daisy turns into. I wonder if she'll came creeping back in the future, or will Adrian be on to wife number three?
This one had lots of loose ends which make me think the next installment can't be far off (Bert's tru More...
It's the saddest so fa and also the one which really shows Adrian's kindly nature. What a ***** Daisy turns into. I wonder if she'll came creeping back in the future, or will Adrian be on to wife number three?
This one had lots of loose ends which make me think the next installment can't be far off (Bert's tru More...
Feb 02, 2010
Christina
rated it:
Poor Adrian Mole. Will he ever find true happiness? Sue Townsend proves that it's far more entertaining that Adrian doesn't find true happiness. Adrian's laments ring so true, I'm sure we've all met someone as consistently disappointed with his lot in life. Where did it all go wrong? You can just imagine Adrian shaking his fist at the sky. However, unlike some of the real-life characters we may know, Adrian's Eeyore-like attitude never becomes annoying.
I definitely recommend More...
I definitely recommend More...
Oct 02, 2010
Kathryn
rated it:
Adrian Mole and the Weapons of Mass Destruction is a tour de force. The Prostrate years is just about as good. The latest instalments of the well-known series are extremely poignant and moving. Despite his best efforts Adrian didn't get the life he imagined and he probably wouldn't admit that at times his life is terribly sad. But he is still so comic that his reactions can be laugh out loud. I've mentioned these books to readers who stopped reading the series as teenagers or young adults and t
More...
Oct 01, 2011
Jim
rated it:
Adrian and I had lost contact since adolesence but, by sheer coincidence and not without some irony, bumped into each other again both aged 39.
A. A. Mole continues to be self centred whilst also being adrift on the ebbs and tides of life: 1 part tosser, 1 part underdog, a dash of adversity mixed with a cast of misfits. The genius of Townsend's character is that the reader (well, this one at least) can see so much of themselves in this protagonist whilst simultaneously hoping these o More...
A. A. Mole continues to be self centred whilst also being adrift on the ebbs and tides of life: 1 part tosser, 1 part underdog, a dash of adversity mixed with a cast of misfits. The genius of Townsend's character is that the reader (well, this one at least) can see so much of themselves in this protagonist whilst simultaneously hoping these o More...
Aug 03, 2011
Gemma
rated it:
My favourite of the Adrian Mole series. The book where I connected to him most. Unlike other reviewers I've always liked Adrian Mole as a character despite his many flaws but in this book because of the fact he had cancer and because he had matured e.g. he had started to realise he was not the next Tolstoy, I felt more attached to him and really wanted him to pull through and things in his life to go right. I also enjoyed reading about Bernard, the alcoholic booklover, who plays a greater part i
More...
Dec 15, 2010
Amy Lavender
rated it:
I've always enjoyed Sue Townsend and especially liked the early Adrian Mole diaries and her non Mole books, chief among them The Queen And I.
Still, as Mole has gotten older, so have his diaries. Where once I found the pathos simultaneously sad and endearing, now I find it increasingly tedious, possibly because I haven't actually identified with Mole since I was about 13 3/4.
To be fair to Townsend, the new diaries are entertaining and well-written, and can easily be recommend More...
Still, as Mole has gotten older, so have his diaries. Where once I found the pathos simultaneously sad and endearing, now I find it increasingly tedious, possibly because I haven't actually identified with Mole since I was about 13 3/4.
To be fair to Townsend, the new diaries are entertaining and well-written, and can easily be recommend More...
Oct 11, 2011
Andrew
rated it:
I am finally up to date with the Adrian Mole saga, having loved the first two books as a kid and then only recently realising that there were another six out there to enjoy.
Like all of the others, this mixes black humour with some sly winks to our knowledge of the future (Adrian's predictions that Woolworths is one of those high street names that will be around forever and his prediction that Gordon Brown will make an excellent Prime Minister are just two examples) but this book is tinged with More...
Like all of the others, this mixes black humour with some sly winks to our knowledge of the future (Adrian's predictions that Woolworths is one of those high street names that will be around forever and his prediction that Gordon Brown will make an excellent Prime Minister are just two examples) but this book is tinged with More...
Nov 04, 2011
Nilesh
rated it:
This is my second Mole book after the Secret Diary and I regret missing the interim ones! The melancholy humour factor has certainly gone up a few levels in the latest book compared to the one I had read. The utterly flawed characters have turned much more likeable by now and the use of the current affairs and general societal issues is more biting than before.
The end of this particular book is unsatisfying, almost a preparation for the next one. Apart from that, the book also suffers from some More...
The end of this particular book is unsatisfying, almost a preparation for the next one. Apart from that, the book also suffers from some More...
Mar 08, 2011
Jane
rated it:
Moley never changes, bless him. A staple of my childhood, I needed something light and gentle to ease me through a couple of dark weeks. Well, I got that - sort of. Also got probably the darkest episode of Moley's life - diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer all tackled with that world weary air and dreadful poetry we've come to expect.
Did what it said on the tin, and I for one am happy about it. Wish I could post 3.5 stars, as 3 seems a little low.
Did what it said on the tin, and I for one am happy about it. Wish I could post 3.5 stars, as 3 seems a little low.
Jan 18, 2011
Daniel
rated it:
Now THIS is a novel that takes Adrian Mole to a completely new level. It almost seems like abuse to inflict an innocent, naive soul like Adrian with such real life concerns as disease and divorce...but here it is, handled with Sue Townsend's usual blend of hilarity and poignancy. In its unflinching look at the pains & sorrows of middle age...and its use of irony and sublime comedy...it may well be the best Adrian Mole novel since the original.
Oct 16, 2010
Rachel
rated it:
I really like Adrian Mole and enjoyed this latest installment where he is coping with his parents living next door, his wife is bored of living in the Leicestershire countryside, and he is coping with a diagnosis of prostate cancer.
usual lovely asides to enjoy about modern life, and a gleeful enjoyment of the Jeremy Kyle show! I found many laugh out loud moments and other times of sadness especially during his treatment. Lots to enjoy in this book.
usual lovely asides to enjoy about modern life, and a gleeful enjoyment of the Jeremy Kyle show! I found many laugh out loud moments and other times of sadness especially during his treatment. Lots to enjoy in this book.
Jan 19, 2011
I felt that this was a good book within the Adrian Mole series, although my favourites will always be the first two (secret diary and growing pains)
I feel that this should be nearing the end of Mole's adventures (or non-adventures) as he's been suffering for so many years, he might be an annoying character, but I do believe he deserves a happy ending. I think that the end of Prostrate Years may be the closest he's going to get...
I feel that this should be nearing the end of Mole's adventures (or non-adventures) as he's been suffering for so many years, he might be an annoying character, but I do believe he deserves a happy ending. I think that the end of Prostrate Years may be the closest he's going to get...
May 23, 2011
Anna
rated it:
I loved this book.
It follows in the long tradtion of Adrian M books though... the book starts with his life a disaster, esp relationship-wise, then finishes with the feeling of an optimistic new start for him, only for this to have been trashed by the start of the next book. They fit together like Lego bricks!
Adrian is a Great British Institution though, and I will always love to read the next installment of his life.
It follows in the long tradtion of Adrian M books though... the book starts with his life a disaster, esp relationship-wise, then finishes with the feeling of an optimistic new start for him, only for this to have been trashed by the start of the next book. They fit together like Lego bricks!
Adrian is a Great British Institution though, and I will always love to read the next installment of his life.
Jan 15, 2010
Jane
rated it:
I always look forward to the latest Adrian Mole book and this one is a fine addition to the series. His marriage is in trouble, his family is as disfunctional as ever and his bookshop is failing. On top of all this he has prostate cancer to cope with. It's not all doom and gloom however because the Pandora starts showing signs that she may finally be responding to Adrian's life-long devotion....superb!
Aug 31, 2011
Judith
rated it:
Never read an Adrian Mole before and didn't intend to read this one. I saw it and got it for Roy but then in waiting at the library (a little too long) to be picked up I started reading it and then couldn't not finish. The style is a little frustrating for me but the pathos and the cleverness combined with the fact that it's dealing with contemporary politics etc. sucked me in.
