[.ca] Adrian Mole: The Cappuccino Years (ISBN 1569472475)

From Amazon.com:
Adrian Mole is balding, he's bitter, and he's back, this time at age 30. Though he may be older, Sue Townsend's comic creation is certainly no wiser. With his marriage to a Nigerian beauty in tatters, he passes his time dreaming of old flame Pandora Braithwaite, now a shining star in Tony Blair's new government. But underneath the layers of experience and sophistication, fans of the Mole family will find the same dysfunctional mess that made The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13 3/4 an instant bestseller. This diarist's young son is being brought up by his mother in Ashby-de-la-Zouch, his 16-year-old sister has left home to live with her multiply pierced boyfriend, and his father is bed-bound with manic depression. Adrian himself still makes constant lists of juvenile neuroses, and spends an unhealthy amount of time grading his penile performance (only when he reaches the bleak score of zero out of 10 does he finally take action). And what of his career? The hero of The Cappuccino Years works at Soho's Hoi Polloi restaurant, rustling up deliberately grubby blue-collar cuisine, from "Heinz tomato soup (with white bread floaters)" to "Boiled cabbage avec Dan Quayle Potatoes." At a certain point, he's spotted by a cable producer and ends up starring in a television show celebrating offal--yes, it's called Offally Good. Yet even Adrian is somewhat perplexed by his culinary gifts: My mother's family (Norfolk) were practically illiterate, and seemed to live on boiled potatoes with HP sauce, and my father's family (Leicester) viewed books with deep suspicion, unless they had pictures which "broke up the pages." My paternal grandmother, May Mole, was a plain cook, who regarded eating as a gross indulgence. Thank God she died before I became a professional chef. It was her proud boast that she had never eaten in a proper restaurant in her life. She spoke of restaurants as others speak of crack dens. As the above should make clear, Townsend's acerbic (and very English) wit is still much in evidence. Occasionally she'll go to corny lengths for a joke: "I arrived at the Brent Cross shopping centre car-park, to find that my car had been towed away five days ago and was in a police compound somewhere in Purley. A £25 cab ride took me to the Purley gates." True Mole fanatics, however, will forgive Townsend her infrequent excesses. Accessible, amusing, and appealing, The Cappuccino Years reflects an Adrian who has tolerated the growing pains and survived the lost years. Now he's ready to face the only really important question: Is it cheating to use Viagra? --Lucie Naylor

Great prelude to Adrian Mole series...:
I've just finished reading Adrian Mole: The Cappucino Years and I'm throughly exhausted. It is extremely hilarious! Even after reading more than 4 or more of Adrian Mole's diaries, his wit and commentaries never fail to tickle the funnybone. He is still the same egoistic boy (inside a man) only now a so-called adult with a kid called William and a divorced Nigerian ex-wife. He is however now living in a storeroom in London and goes back now and then to The Lawns to see his parents and his son. As in all Adrian Mole's diaries, he comments on anything and everything he sees, hears, etc. He talks freely of the British government and is a staunch supporter of Pandora Braithwaite now awaiting to become the MP of Agriculture (i think), he bravely takes on his job at Hoi Polloi cooking Offals which later becomes somewhat popular in the student community. And he finally reaches celebrity status, if you can call him that, with about 4 fan letters. It is quite amazing that Sue Townsend is able to seamlessly connect all the diaries together and we receive the picture of his dysfunctional family and world through the eyes (and wit) of Adrian Mole. However, I have to say that the ending was quite disappointing. Before this, we were highly expecting a happy ending (although this is never the case) but again something horribly unfortunate happens and his fate is then returned to the bottom again. It's like a full vicious circle. The book begins dismally and ends miserably and for once we feel immense pity for the man. This is the reason I give it four stars. But for the humour and wit, I would gladly award it five stars (esp. because of Miss Bridget Jones' brief presence) !

Adrian Mole.. he's 30 1/4 with the mentality of a 15 yr old.:
Never read this book without reading the first few books. If not, you can't exactly get he's going through. His family's dysfunctional than ever, with a depressed dad, a desperate mum, and a loud-mouth sister half his age. The wit and humor is like that of the first book (Secret Diary Of Adrian Mole, Aged 13 3/4). He still has the teenage mentality even though he's 30 and has children. I found myself laughing with him. Least he doesn't sign his letters with "A. Mole" anymore, instead it's "A.A. Mole".

Adrian Mole should be retired...:
Adrian Mole: The Cappucino Years should serve as a cautionary tale for writers who are interested in creating "franchise" characters: when a character has outlived his usefulness, he should be gracefully retired. Adrian, now 31, is a single father, a sous chef at a London restaurant specializing in offal, and later becomes the host of a cooking show called Offally Good. His quirks and pecadilloes are less endearing and engaging at 31 than they were at age 13 and 3/4. Adrian has become a hopleless pedant, is emotionally stunted, and for the life of him finds it difficult to understand how his own shortcomings contribute to his poor life choices and failures. Luckily, Mole is surrounded by a lively cast of supporting characters who compensate for his personality flaws. Mole fans will find comfort in the (very British) wit and sensibility, and will relish Townsend's attention to detail, particularly in her discussion of Tony Blair's rise to power, and the lingering effects of Princess Diana's death, yet I'm afraid there is little else to celebrate in this installment.

Adrian Grows Up:
A fitting tribute to Aidrian age 30. Absolutely hilarious. Adrian has physically matured and has managed to father two children but is still grappling with the same issues he did when he was 13 and 3/4. His family are as dysfunctional as ever and his yearning passion for the gorgeous Pandora has been excacerbated by the fact that she is now the new labour candidate for Ashby De La Zouch in Leics. A definite must for all Adrian Mole fans - Can Adrian overcome his fears and trepidations and make his sons proud of him?

'Offal'ly unputdownable...a little depressing though:
I love Adrian Mole, he's awesome. I have read every Mole diary since the 13-3/4th book and I'm truly amazed at how Ms.Townsend has so wonderfully captured the mind of the underdog male in her writing. The whole concept seems quite similar to the excellent TV series 'The Wonder Years'. If you dont look at the author's name, you would probably not expect it to be a woman. In other words, she seems to have fully understood the mind of the opposite sex. That said, I found this book to be a little too depressing albeit there is a lot of humour. Of course you have got to read the first book at least, if not all of them to understand what is going on in this one. There are lots of references to characters from earlier diaries. They are so interesting and yet so down-to-earth that they almost become a part of your life. The only reason why I didn't give it 5 stars is because I don't like how the author projects Adrian as a loser at many things. His family is still as dysfunctional as ever. I'm not going to give away anything as to how Adrian does in the end. But the story could do with a little more cheer. Anyway, its a thoroughly enjoyable book and worth the money.