Setting of the book

Adrian Mole lives in a working-class community in an English town. The town is not mentioned by name, because the themes in the book are so general that there could be Adrian Moles in practically any English town.

The last entry is April 3, the day the Falklands War began, so it must have been 1982. Therefore it follows that the book opens on January 1, 1982.

Plot

Adrian Mole tells us what happens, but he is only a young boy and does not understand the implications of everything that goes on about him.

He gives us some information that he does not understand himself.

Characters:

Major character:

Adrian Mole is a boy who is getting grown-up. He's very worried about his appearance and the development of his body. He thinks he's an intellectual but he is not very good in school, he is grown in a poor British family.

Minor characters

Mr Mole, Mrs (Pauline) Mole, the dog, Pandora, Pandora's parents, Mr Lucas, Doreen Slater, Bert Baxter, Queenie Baxter, Grandma Mole, Nigel, Barry Kent, Mr. Scruton

Themes

Several themes can be distinguished. Most important is the development of a teen-age boy. Related themes are the friendship between Adrian and Pandora, the relation between Adrian’s parents and between Adrian and his parents. Adrian’s intellectual development and his achievements at school, his work as a good Samaritan and his becoming a socially conscious member of a society, unemployment and its effects on family life and race relations in England. This list is by no means exhaustive.

Personal opinion

Adrian Mole, the main character. I like hem because he has got Humour. He thinks he’s an intellectual and he does not understand the implications of everything that goes on about him. He worries about many things and he always tries to find a way out.
Adrian’s parents. I don’t like them, because they treat Adrian badly. They always arguing and they don’t have any attention for Adrian.
Yes, there was a lot of humour in the book. Because he thinks he’s pathetic and he’s being neglected. It’s funny when he is writing a poem, because the poem doesn’t make sense.
I feel companioned about Adrian. Because he’s being neglected. He tries to find a way out for everything by himself, because his parents are too busy with themselves.
I especially like the part when Adrian’s mother and father are back together again. Because in a great part of the book Adrian is worried about his parents. His mother ran of with another guy and he hates that man! From that moment on he want his parents to get back together.
There’s no especially boring part in this book. There is always something going on.
The store is written in a very funny way. When Adrian is just 14 he’s worried about things, which are too difficult for his age.
Does Adrian’s parents stay together?
Actually I haven’t learn something from the book. It’s a funny story and I don’t think that the author tries to teach us something from the book.
Did Adrian become a famous poem writer?

Summary

The book is the diary of Adrian Mole, which he starts at 1 January. He makes some resolutions for the New Year. He’s mad at his mum because she doesn’t give him healthy food. In January his parents get ill and Adrian feels sorry for himself because he has to take care of his parents. The neighbour, Mr. Lucas, visits Adrian’s mother very often, even when she’s recovered. Adrian decides to become an intellectual, and he writes poems to the BBC. At school there is a new girl, Pandora, and Adrian is in love with her. Adrian joins a group that’s called the Good Samaritans; they do all sort of social work. Adrian has to take care of an 89-year-old man, Bert Baxter. When he visits him for the first time he’s very disappointed, because Bert is a dirty old man with a very dirty house and a big scary dog. And when Adrian finds out his best friend Nigel is going out with Pandora he feels very depressed. In the mean while Adrian’s mother visits Mr. Lucas very often and after a few days she gets a job at the same office as Mr. Lucas and she rides to work with him every day. Because of this, Adrian’s parents argue a lot. Barry Kent, a classmate of Adrian demands money. Adrian can’t pay him, so he takes a paper round. In March his father tells him that he and his mother are splitting up. At the end of the month his mother leaves with Mr. Lucas after his father and Mr. Lucas have had a fight. In April it doesn’t go much better, Adrian’s father has money-problems, Pandora is dating another boy and his father is dating an awful women from work, Doreen Slater. A month later it gets worse, at Adrian’s house isn’t any food left; the electricity is cut off. But there is one good thing, his grandmother hears about the situation with Barry Kent and she visits him and comes back with all the money Adrian has paid for so far. In June Adrian’s father looses his job and he starts smoking en drinking. Adrian and Pandora fall in love. Bert Baxter has to go to the hospital, after a few weeks he escapes and he wants to stay in Adrian’s house. After a while he moves into the house of the neighbours of Adrian, an Indian family. In June Pandora goes on holiday, the Royal wedding takes place, and Adrian goes on holiday to Scotland with his mother and Mr. Lucas. After this holiday Bert Baxter moves back to his own house and Pandora and Adrian clean his house. But in October Bert has to move to an old age pensioner’s home because of leg trouble, first he hate this but a month later he’s very happy because he’s in love with Queenie, a woman who lives in the pensioner’s home too. Adrian and Pandora make a school magazine but nobody wants to buy it. In November his mother sends a telegram, in which she says she is coming home, and his parents fall in love again. In January Bert Baxter marries with Queenie. And his father finally finds a job. Adrian and Pandora make a fight, but after a few days, they make it up again. The diary ends on April 3, a day after Adrian’s birthday. The day that happens to be the day the Falklands War begins.