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An accidental celebrity, with a spreading bald patch, despairing of family values, Mole is still worrying: Is Viagra cheating? Why won't the BBC produce The White Van, his serial killer comedy? Mole, aged 30 1/4, chronicles the closing years of the 20th century with slanderous abandon.Tags
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I encountered the first Adrian Mole book when I was in high school - not much older than Adrian at the time. I just recently picked up The Cappuccino Years, remembering how much I enjoyed the first book.
Sadly, Adrian did not improve with age. The first diary was of a fairly self-centered, neurotic kid, who progressed to become someone with a bit of a future, and whom you probably wouldn't mind meeting.
The Cappuccino years follows almost exactly the same story arc. Adrian is insufferable, clueless, gormless, and self-centered. Eventually he demonstrates that he isn't a total waste of Oxygen. Unfortunately the sort of person that I could completely identify with as a teenager, and can appreciate looking back is not the sort of person I show more can identify with or enjoy as an adult.
There certainly seems to be a lot more references to contemporary (late 90's) British culture, which might make the book more entertaining for those more familiar with it than I am. show less
Sadly, Adrian did not improve with age. The first diary was of a fairly self-centered, neurotic kid, who progressed to become someone with a bit of a future, and whom you probably wouldn't mind meeting.
The Cappuccino years follows almost exactly the same story arc. Adrian is insufferable, clueless, gormless, and self-centered. Eventually he demonstrates that he isn't a total waste of Oxygen. Unfortunately the sort of person that I could completely identify with as a teenager, and can appreciate looking back is not the sort of person I show more can identify with or enjoy as an adult.
There certainly seems to be a lot more references to contemporary (late 90's) British culture, which might make the book more entertaining for those more familiar with it than I am. show less
I love Adrian. Even though I don't think any of the other books have begun to touch the hilarity of the first one, I still enjoy them immensely. Adrian may be firmly entrenched in whiny victim mode, which in real life would make me want to strangle him, but I still find him so endearing.
Adrian Mole: the Cappuccino Years could be seen as a cautionary tale for men in their 30s: do not get too dependent on mama. Adrian, at this stage in his life, is divorced, lusting after a former flame while being the father (a decent one, I might add) to two boys, and yes, still living with mother. As he tells his journal, he is frequently constipated and suffers from bad breath and ill penis health.
This was a silly read. I almost gave up on it a few times, especially when it became over the top ridiculous. Case in point, Townsend seemed to be poking fun at the Food Network with the creation of "Ping with Singh," a cooking show aimed at microwave users. The show becomes popular enough to create a stage adaptation to satisfy the masses. show more Adrian's own show "Offally Good" produces a book deal (which his mother ultimately ends up ghost writing, go figure).
The best parts were the current events of the times: Tony Blair's election, Lady Di's love affair with Dodi and Bill Clinton's Monica scandal. The latter got a chuckle out of me.
The one line I laughed at, "'Your money, Mr Mole, is an abstraction wafting in the air between financial institutions, at the mercy of inflation and interest rates, dependent on the health of the global economy'" (p 151). That, sadly, is banking in a nutshell. show less
This was a silly read. I almost gave up on it a few times, especially when it became over the top ridiculous. Case in point, Townsend seemed to be poking fun at the Food Network with the creation of "Ping with Singh," a cooking show aimed at microwave users. The show becomes popular enough to create a stage adaptation to satisfy the masses. show more Adrian's own show "Offally Good" produces a book deal (which his mother ultimately ends up ghost writing, go figure).
The best parts were the current events of the times: Tony Blair's election, Lady Di's love affair with Dodi and Bill Clinton's Monica scandal. The latter got a chuckle out of me.
The one line I laughed at, "'Your money, Mr Mole, is an abstraction wafting in the air between financial institutions, at the mercy of inflation and interest rates, dependent on the health of the global economy'" (p 151). That, sadly, is banking in a nutshell. show less
Wonderful writing. Townsend captures the zeitgeist perfectly, and the chasm between what life should be and what it is, with humour and humanity.
A few years on, Adrian is much more grown up as he finds himself implausibly turned (briefly) into a cable TV chef and has to take on the responsibilities of fatherhood, against the background of the rise of New Labour, with Pandora sitting at the right hand of the Tony. It's fun to see a walk-on appearance from the upstart diarist Bridget Jones at one point — Adrian does a few entries in her style, but soon gets bored with it.
This is another brilliant Adrian Mole diary reflecting the times we live in. Adrian is now 30 ¼ and is working as the Head Chef at Hoi Polloi, which has a “Traditional English, No Choice Menu”. A typical menu is “Heinz Tomato Soup (with white bread floaters), Grey lamb chops, Boiled cabbage avec Dan Quayle potatoes, Dark brown onion gravy, Spotted Dick à la Clinton, Bird’s custard, Cheddar cheese, Nescafé, After Eight mint. Two types of wine, white and red.” He is still in love with Pandora, who is now a prominent M.P., often in the news.
Adrian has a three-year-old son called William by a Nigerian woman who has moved back to Nigeria leaving the boy with him. Later, after Adrian undergoes a DNA test, it turns out he is also show more the father of 12-year-old Glenn. The mother, Sharon, with whom Adrian once had a short affair, writes painfully bad English, and Glenn is practically illiterate. Adrian senses that the boy doesn’t have “a single strand of intellectual DNA in his body”.
Adrian’s mother, Pauline, gets engaged to Ivan Braithwaite, Pandora’s father, while his father, George, gets together with Tania, Pandora’s mother.
Adrian gets a TV programme called “Offaly Good!” In the first episode he makes sheep’s head broth. (I’m glad I didn’t have to watch the programme.) A group of Oxford undergraduates gives it the thumbs up – they found it great comedy. But the Times reviewer does not agree: “’Offaly good!’ is offally bad.”
Adrian has a contract to write a book of the same name, but can’t even get started. However, Mum comes to the rescue.
William is obsessed with Teletubbies and Jeremy Clarkson. Adrian is addicted to Opal Fruits and obsessed with his rapidly balding head.
In short, this as another enjoyable parody of British life, and I found it to be one of the best of the Adrian diaries show less
Adrian has a three-year-old son called William by a Nigerian woman who has moved back to Nigeria leaving the boy with him. Later, after Adrian undergoes a DNA test, it turns out he is also show more the father of 12-year-old Glenn. The mother, Sharon, with whom Adrian once had a short affair, writes painfully bad English, and Glenn is practically illiterate. Adrian senses that the boy doesn’t have “a single strand of intellectual DNA in his body”.
Adrian’s mother, Pauline, gets engaged to Ivan Braithwaite, Pandora’s father, while his father, George, gets together with Tania, Pandora’s mother.
Adrian gets a TV programme called “Offaly Good!” In the first episode he makes sheep’s head broth. (I’m glad I didn’t have to watch the programme.) A group of Oxford undergraduates gives it the thumbs up – they found it great comedy. But the Times reviewer does not agree: “’Offaly good!’ is offally bad.”
Adrian has a contract to write a book of the same name, but can’t even get started. However, Mum comes to the rescue.
William is obsessed with Teletubbies and Jeremy Clarkson. Adrian is addicted to Opal Fruits and obsessed with his rapidly balding head.
In short, this as another enjoyable parody of British life, and I found it to be one of the best of the Adrian diaries show less
I finally got around to reading Adrian Mole and found that I shouldn't have been so highbrowed as to put off reading it in the past. Some big things happen in the years this diary covers; Adrian becomes a star of sorts as a celebrity chef, inherits a pile before (spoiler alert) losing it. At the end though, he comes out a hero, and that's the most any of us could hope for.
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49+ Works 16,522 Members
Sue Townsend was born in Leicester, England on April 2, 1946. She left school at fifteen and worked a series of jobs before becoming a full-time author. She was best known for her books about the neurotic diarist Adrian Mole including The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 ¾, The Growing Pains of Adrian Mole, Adrian Mole: The Wilderness Years, show more Adrian Mole and the Weapons of Mass Destruction, and Adrian Mole: The Prostrate Years. Her other works include The Queen and I, Number Ten, The Public Confessions of a Middle-Aged Woman Aged 55¾, and The Woman Who Went to Bed for a Year. She died after a stroke on April 10, 2014 at the age of 68. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Awards and Honors
Series
Work Relationships
Is contained in
Adrian Mole collection 8 Books set. (Sue Townsend Adrian Mole series collection set.) (The secret diary of Adrian Mole aged 13 ¾, the Growing pains of Adrian Mole, True confessions of Adrian Albert Mole, Adrian Mole: the wilderness year, Adrian Mole the cappuccino year, the lost diaries of Adrian Mole 1999-2001, Adrian Mole and the weapons of Mass Destruction and Adrian Mole the Prostrate year) by Sue Townsend
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Adrian Mole: The Cappuccino Years
- Original title
- Adrian Mole : the cappuccino years
- Original publication date
- 1999-10-14
- People/Characters
- Adrian Mole
- Related movies
- Adrian Mole: The Cappuccino Years (2001 | IMDb)
- Epigraph
- The great baby you see there is not yet out of his swaddling-clouts. Shakespeare, Hamlet
True, we might never have arrived, but the fact is we did. If only people thought a little more about it, they would see that lif... (show all)e is not worth worrying about so much. Lermontov, A Hero of Our Time - Dedication
- To Louise
- First words
- I take up my pen once again to record a momentous time in the affairs of men (and, thank God, because this is intended to be a secret diary, I am not required to add 'and women').
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)I expect that by tomorrow I will have embellished the story and given myself a heroic status I do not deserve, but all the same, on this night at this hour, I am pleased to record that I acquitted myself well.
- Original language
- English
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- ISBNs
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