The True Confessions of Adrian Albert Mole

Adrian Mole #3

by Sue Townsend

Adrian Mole has grown up. At least that’s what it says on his passport. But living at home, clinging to his threadbare cuddly rabbit ‘Pinky’, working as a paper pusher for the DoE and pining for the love of his life Pandora has proved to him that adulthood isn’t quite what he hoped it would be. Still, intellectual poets can’t always have things their own way …

Included here are two other less
well-known diarists: Sue Townsend and Margaret Hilda Roberts, a rather
ambitious grocer’s daughter from Grantham.

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

Audio Cassette

First published January 1, 1989

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

[Heather · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't really get this book, and I'm not sure what the author's point was in writing it. Is it a collection of short stories? A stand-alone novel? An intended sequel to the Mole books? An effort by the author to introduce alternative characters/series besides Mole? An amalgamation of previously-separated pieces thrust together into a (semi) workable book? I have no idea.
The book is presented in three parts. The first part is comprised of random Mole writings, chronicalling various events and correspondences in his life over the span of a few years. I really enjoy the daily-diary format of the previous Mole books so didn't really take to this new structure, but the section was still entertaining. The second section contains (either real or fictional) diary entries by the author herself, which I found to be ridiculously boring and quite pointless, whilst the third section is a satirical take on a teenager Margaret Thatcher and the kinds of thoughts that may have permeated her diary. I'm not too familiar with Thatcher or her impact on the British economy so found that a lot of the references in the book went over my head, but the entries were still quite funny. Overall, not a great addition to the Mole family, but not bad enough to turn me off reading future Mole adventures.

[Michelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really didn't enjoy this one as much as I did with the first in the series and I can't put my finger on exactly why.

I felt like Adrian was ranting a lot and for me it didn't flow as well.

Two stars.

[Fátima Linhares · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Bom, eu acho que a Arte e a Cultura são importantes. Tremendamente importantes. Sem a Arte e a Cultura desceríamos ao nível dos animais que, sem objetivos, preenchem o seu tempo rondando as latas do elixo e envolvendo-se em brigas. É sempre fácil identificar as pessoas que não permitem que a Arte e a Cultura façam parte da sua vida. (...) Nunca se ouvem referências a Van Gogh ou Rembrandt ou Bacon (...). Não, tais nomes nada significam para os incultos; estes nunca farão peregrinações ao Museu do Louvre para ver a Mona Lisa de Michaelangelo."

Adrian Mole - agora mais velho - e pior, com a mania que é culto! Não és, um bocadinho snob e com a mania de que és intelectual, talvez. :P

Este livro já não foi tão interessante como o anterior, o que é pena. Além das peripécias do Adrian Mole, temos também os devaneios da Sra. Susan Lilian Townsend (talvez uma forma de a própria autora ter um pouco de destaque nos livros), mas não achei que as dissertações dela sobre uma visita a Maiorca na época baixa e à Rússia tivessem trazido algo de novo e refrescante.

Além da Susan Lilian Townsend, temos também excertos do diário da juventude de Margaret Hilda Roberts, aqui uma clara alusão à primeira-ministra britânica Margaret Thatcher. Apesar de não saber muito sobre o período em que governou os destinos do Reino Unido (entre 1979 e 1993), temos aqui claras e divertidas alusões ao porquê do seu governo ter sido o que foi.

Foi uma leitura leve, mas não tão engraçada e divertida como a do livro anterior.

[Anna Janelle · Rating 1 out of 5]

*sigh*

After waiting patiently for this next installment of everyone's favorite angsty, self-inflated British teen to arrive from InterLibrary Loan, I was given roughly 80 pages of Adrian - not all of it new to faithful readers. *double sigh* Seriously, Sue Townsend?! I waited for THIS?

Yes, some of it was delightful - but too brief and not at all fulfilling. The rest of the novel is devoted to an essay by the author *yawn - quite literally - YAWN* and then the diary of a teenaged Margaret Thatcher. I skimmed Sue's essay, and read through Margaret's account, but I was ultimately uninterested in both. After all, I wanted more Mole - not all this filler designed to lure readers in and then frusterate them beyond belief.

The next Mole installment has been requested. I just hope there is some substance here with this next read. I feel duped. I feel mad. I feel cheated that I bought into this disaster. Here's hoping #4 isn't so disappointing. I really don't want to stray from loving this series, but this book left a bad taste in my mouth.

[Colin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not quite as good as the others because it's not a full narrative, but composed of odds and ends which I guess were written for magazines and specials. The Mole material is only about half the book, and then there are some other pieces but we decided to ditch those and go straight on to the next volume.

[Thomas Stroemquist · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bit of a strange mix of just over a third of the continuing (mis)adventures of Adrian, followed by a section of diary entries of the author (slightly absurd) and finally one with diary entries of M. Thatcher at 14 and some. Still enjoyable, but with a big feeling of filler material (both non-Adrian parts) to eke it out to a full book.

[Viola · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5⭐ Labākais bija pēdējā nodaļa, kur publicēta 14gadīgās Margaritas Tečeres "dienasgrāmata". Īpaši smieklīgs likās Tečeres apjukums ģeogrāfijas mājas darba laikā. Viņai nekādi neizdevās sameklēt Folklendu salas, liels bija viņas pārsteigums uzzinot, ka tās atrodas pie Argentīnas.

[PBRS · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Mole bits were OK, although not as good as the previous two books. The parts about the author and the young Margaret Thatcher I didn't care about at all, so I skipped them.

[Mike Steven · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read the first two Adrian Mole books when I was an adolescent and reread them recently and found them amusing. I therefore decided to read the rest of the books to see what has happened to Adrian as he grows up. This book has stopped that plan dead in its tracks. It's awful. Terrible. There are a couple of laughs but the diary format has been scrapped to be replaced by chapters - between which huge leaps in time take place. Pandora has gone off to university so presumably we missed the college years out entirely and Adrian has lost his virginity which would have been hilarious material for Townsend to write. Instead, what we do get is a really tedious account of Townsend and some other writers visiting Russia and some unsubtle anti-Thatcher satire in the form of a diary of the ex-Prime Minister. It's not as funny a the other books and much of it is just plain boring.

[Richard · Rating 2 out of 5]

Considering the strength of the first two books, this is a real let down. Having spent over two years intimately aquainted with the daily traumas of tne character, this collection of what is clearly some Mole related stuff , which was never written to be published in one volume, thrown together dissappoints somewhat. Over 88 pages, we get the gist of Adrian's life from aged 16 to early twenties, enough to give you an overview of his life (his first job, splitting with Pandora, his first "proper"girlfriend if you know what I mean) but it seems over too quickly and the most you get is a few pages of diary before we are whisked to another time or place. I would rather have had a couple of books that cover the same period.

The other two sections are just space fillers and are not even Mole related. You need to have this book to fill in the gap between "Growing Pains" and "The Wilderness Years" but I doubt you will reallu enjoy it.

[Milica Stojiljkovic · Rating 3 out of 5]

Daleko losije od prva dva dela. Prvo, nismo pratili Adrijanov zivot onako redom, nego je ispreskakano po godinama, bilo bi zanimljivo citati o tom njegovom tinejdz periodu i odrastanju, scene deluju nabacano skroz. Drugi deo je u potpunosti nepotreban, iz ugla Suzan Taunzend, a treci deo iz ugla devojcice je bio zanimljiv, ali kratak. Autorka je trebalo da nastavi u istom maniru u kom je pisala i prva dva dela serijala, jer je ovo eksperimentisanje l o s e i razocarala sam se. Iskreno se nadam da ce naredni delovi u serijalu, a ima ih 5, ponovo imati slican stil kao i prvi.

[Chantal · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book missed the usual magic like the first 2 books had. I found it also a weird that there was mention of 2 other diaries including pages. They could have been deleted from the book and that would have made this book beter!

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

So this is a Sue Townsend riding Adrian Mole's popularity for a cash grab? There's some new stuff here, in the beginning, but the publishers were baying at the door, and she'd done a few AU spots for the BBC, so she just threw everything she had into a bucket and here we are. We have Adrian's trip to Moscow with Pandora's father, which I've read before for some reason, Adrian's sordid first sexual relationship with Sharon Botts, and some general diary continuation. That's all pretty good. Then there are some recycled BBC commentaries by Adrian. Brevity is wit. This is a bit long. Then there's some straight-up filler that has absolutely nothing to do with Adrian Mole. Sometimes, when one goes on holiday, customer service isn't up to snuff. Then there was another diary, sort of a female Adrian Mole of the 1930s, who turned out to be Margaret Thatcher, but I always forget her maiden name so I did not understand it while reading.

[Graeme Eyre · Rating 1 out of 5]

Like many previous reviewers I did not get this book.

I enjoyed the previous two books in the Adrian Mole series and found them to be page turners. The different style of this book made it much harder to read and as such much less appealing. I found it hard to get to the end.

I am not sure of the point of the sections of diary's by 'Sue Townsend' or 'Margaret Roberts'; I also felt the Adrian Mole section was too disjointed to be enjoyable.

[Karo · Rating 2 out of 5]

A real disappointment compared to the first two books. "Adrian" only updates his diary occasionally. The entries are pretty random at times. I really lost interest halfway through but I somehow managed to get through the whole book. I wouldn't recommend it to Adrian-fans who want to read more after the first two books. Maybe the later Adrian books are better *fingers crossed*

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a weird one and can probably be skipped when reading the whole Adrian Mole series. The Mole section was confusing. The Townsend section was pointless, but I found the Thatcher section to be hilarious!

[Nigeyb · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm working my way through the Adrian Mole books, and so to The True Confessions of Adrian Mole (Adrian Mole #3).

The Adrian Mole section is less than a hundred pages. The book is augmented with a section on Sue Townsend's holiday, and another about the young Margaret Thatcher. It finishes with a Q&A with Sue Townsend. I have no idea why the book was not solely focussed on Adrian Mole - it should have been.

All in all a little underwhelming. I hope things pick up in the next book.

3/5

[Jen MacDonald · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm a little confused, to tell you the truth.

Adrian Mole was a character I grew up with. My high school boyfriend had the first two books, which I'd read if he was being moody. Needless to say, I grew quite close to young Adrian.

I remember enjoying the books back then and, although I knew it wouldn't be the same experience as reading them as a teenager, I was looking forward to seeing what had become of our favourite Mole. However rather than the eloquent ramblings I'd come to enjoy, this book was more of a mish-mash of letters and diary entries which didn't tell much of a story and didn't seem to be connected much at all.

As for the last two parts of the book.. the entry from Sue Townsend about a fairly uneventful autumn trip to Majorca and a business trip to Russia was humorous at face value, but a strange addition to the book. The section by Margaret Roberts I just didn't get at all. Something to do with Margaret Thatcher. A bit odd, to say the least.

A little disappointing on the whole, and hoping that the next book in the series includes more Adrian.

[Tijana · Rating 3 out of 5]

EDIT: Poslije drugog čitanja digla sam ocjenu na 3, jer me je knjiga uspjela nasmijati nekoliko puta u toku čitanja. A mislim da sam ovaj put više uživala u umišljenosti Adrijana Mola, kao i u činjenici da smo na kraju imali priliku da pročitamo i odlomak iz dječijeg dnevnika čuvene "Gvozdene lejdi" Margaret Tačer :D

[Maureen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I should I have awarded 1 star, however I felt mean. It's not good. Don't waste your time on it.

[Nadine · Rating 2 out of 5]

What is endearing in a teenager is far less so in a young adult and this book only manages to highlight that.
I was vaguely interested in the Susan / Margaret bits but didn’t know why they’d been included.

[Amy Elizabeth · Rating 1 out of 5]

It was okay the Adrain mole parts where the only bits I was interested in the rest was drivel to me.

[Jasmine · Rating 1 out of 5]

Absolutely shit!

1 🌠

[FicusFan · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is the 3rd book in the Adrian Mole series, about a hapless teen in the UK in the 80s. He writes a series of letters and diaries that are often very funny. This book wasn't. The Adrian Mole part was very short, not book length at all, and really covered nothing new in Adrian's journey through life.

I just got it from a Book Mooch, because I wanted to complete the series.

The book also has diary entries from the author Sue Townsend, and from someone called Margaret Hilda Roberts, which appears to be the demented childhood of Margaret Thatcher, to actually make 117 pages.

[Ксения Чистопольская · Rating 5 out of 5]

современный Человек в поисках конечного смысла своего существования в мире, которым правит бюрократия, амбиции и бездушие, а замысел того, кто его создал, совсем не очевиден. способна ли Смерть на жалость? что будет, если не повиноваться приказам? что значит быть живым? замечательная книга, которую, закончив, тут же хочется дать почитать еще 10 людям :)

[Tara Anderton · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointing to say the least number 4 better be worth my time! Why did Sue Townsend think we would care about some random girl for a few pages and then to throw in a few things about herself or was it just some made up story! Very Weird!

[Andy Whittle · Rating 2 out of 5]

A bit of a mess this one. The Adrian Mole bits are more like a series of short stories, the writer's trip to Russia segment a waste of space and the Margaret Hilda Roberts piece is amusing in places. A definite case of "could do better".

[Sarah · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'd rather not include this in the Mole series.

[Sara Eames · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was ok - standard Adrian Mole fare - amusing in parts. Once the "diaries" moved away from Adrian Mole, the whole book took a turn for the worst.

[Marko · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5