Book Report

Title: The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole aged 13 3/4
Author: Sue Townsend
Pulisher & Year: 도솔 & 1990
Reflection: Adrian Mole is a 14-year-old boy who go through what can be called the worst circumstance for a teenager. He is continuously bullied at school; his parents got divorced; his best friend go out with a girl whom he fancies a lot, and his family lives in utter poverty. Nonetheless, Adrian never let goes the hope and even volunteer to look after a pensioner(who turned out to be a communist, as well as an alcoholic).
In these aspects, I think very highly of him. However, I don't think I could understand him completely, for his situation had very few in common with mine of adolescence.
To list some of them, the culture of western teens seemed very much liberal, whereas that of Korean teenagers is rather restricted. We are mostly hooked up with so many schoolworks and exams, lacking spare time to rest our body and mind. I envied Adrian Mole whenever he listed the names of the books he had read, recalling that I've been unable to read the books that I really wanted since entering highschool. Reading Adrian's diary from this kind of busy world, I couldn't but feel a bit isolated.
Also, because of the difference in sexuality, I found Adrian's excessive carnal interest in adult's world simply weird. Not only Adrian but also those people around him seemed a little too much open about the sexual issues. These days, the conservativeness in our society is rapidly fading away as we westernise, but I wish a reasonable order between male and female could remain, at least for those who have the role to be a model for the kids.
Yet, despite these kind of differences, there were many things that I could have empathy as well. One thing that I thought I really kind of understood was the feeling he might have had for having only a dad. I know that missing any of the maternal or the paternal love is critical to an adolescent life through my friend's case. One of my friend in England who lived only with her mum used to spit out the phrase "Life was better before mum and dad split up" whenever things didn't go well. So I was very glad when the Mole family reunited in the end. Although his parents are extremely irresponsible with the household, I would say nothing is worse than a single-parented teen life. I think it was sort of a happy ending.
The secret diary of Adrian Mole was a hilarious book that made my emotions rich with various colours. I wish I could too, write my diary always sincere and lucid like him. Surely I've learned a lot from his diaries.