The unsecret life of Aled Seago aged 21 and 1/4

Maybe this is whatI should have called the blog? Ahh well.

The new Adrian Mole book was out this week: 'Adrian Mole: the Prostate Years'. Now, I love this series, since I was 13 in fact!
It all started when I was selected to play Adrian in the play adaption of the first book: 'The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole aged 13 and 3/4'. Now up until that point I had barely heard of it, so my mum got obtained a copy for me, and I read it quite quickly (as I am one to do). I loved it!

I'll admit, that when the previous title 'Adrian Mole and the Weapons of Mass Destruction' came out a fair few years ago now, combined with a prequal last year 'Adrian Mole: the Lost Diaries 1999-2001' I thought that that was it. 'Weapons' had tied the series off nicely, with Adrian married again, with a daughter, happy. This was an awesome ending, for I find myself empathising and indeed sympathising with Adrian, not at least because I spent 6 months of my life playing him. I find that he and I are quite similar, or at least were some years ago: unlucky in love, yearning for publication, interesting and sometimes secret family life, unpopular and at one point, keen diarists.
I find I have changed since those days, for of course the main difference between us is that I am a Christian, and Adrian can't seem to make up his mind. Adrian's life is a constant battle with continued suffering in his life: starting with his parent's divorce in the first book, bullying, constant rejection, many bouts of depression, divorces and custody battles, a son fighting in Iraq and later Afghanistan, and indeed, parents with overzealous and truely eccentric sex lives!
In this latest book we find Adrian at 39-40, the happy ending of the first book now gone. His wife Daisy is having an affair behind his back, which we as readers can see plainly while Adrian does not find out until the end of the book. She leaves, and takes their badly-behaved daughter, Gracie with her. Also, in a move I found a sobering step in Adrian's many sufferings, Adrian contracts prostate cancer, having to deal with chemotherapy throughout most of the book.
The appeal of the Adrian Mole books is that the mishaps of Adrian's life are played out as what seems on the surface as a Greek tragedy, but played out in such a way that it is sometimes funny, as Adrian is blindingly oblivious to what goes on around him, while we as readers are entertained by this, along with sharp and satirical commentary on that contextual society by a gem of an author, Sue Townsend.
I confess I do not laugh much when reading. My interest in the books lie with the characters in the unfolding story of the Mole saga, and yes, I do find some bits hillarious, now as I grow older and understand the more sophisticated of humour. For example, a line from 'The Prostate Years', which to my joy and chargin I managed to read in two days, had me laughing so loudly that I had to stop and take many deep breaths: "To my horror he removed his hair and began to cry."
I am happy to report (and be aware I am completely going to give away the ending!), that the book does end on a light note. All the way through the series, the enigmatic figure of Pandora Braithwaite flirts in and out of Adrian's life. As blokes, Pandora represents the soul mate we crave, the first crush, the first love, the girl that we compare all subsequent to, one we may never quite get over. Not everyone has figures like this in their lives, but some do, and for Adrian, Pandora is his first crush, and in a surprising twist which I could never identify with until I was 17, they become boyfriend and girlfriend, which lasts for 4-5 years. He never gets over her, and all subsequent girlfriends are irravoidbly compared. Yes there are many for Adrian, two wives and countless girlfriends. None last however. Pandora throughout the later books pops back in and out of his life, and over time, through subtle hints that began towards the end of 'Adrain Mole: the Cappucino Years' (covering the years 1997-98, ten years before 'The Prostate Years'), through 'Weapons of Mass Destruction' (2002-4), until the end of 'The Prostate years' (2007-8), which ends with an enigmatic and cliffhanger type meeting between the two as the book closes.
I love the Adrian Molem series, and this latest book is a worthy addition to the canon.