The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13 3/4

The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13 3/4 - Sue Townsend [These notes were made in 1986:]. I read the sequel before I read this, so in many ways it was "the same again," but it wasn't exactly hard to take such well-devised, giggle-provoking apparent naiveté. The secret of Townsend's success is, I think, that she doesn't shirk the big issues; Adrian's parents break up, &c., but tho' he certainly reacts to these things, he doesn't have that neurotic self-analysis that grown-ups have - or where he does, he's charmingly ignorant about himself. Some of the entries remind me almost painfully of my own 14-year-old diaries - in tone, tho' not in selection of items for comment or perspicuity. I cannot for the life of me conceive how they managed to turn this into a stage show!