ADRIAN MOLE: THE CAPPUCCINO YEARS

Are American fans of the fictional diarist Bridget Jones aware of her literary ancestor, Adrian Mole? They might like to meet him! Adrian's first diary came out in 1982, when he was entering his angst-ridden teen years as a middle-class Brit. This volume finds Adrian a cook (specialty: offal!) and a single father, suffering writer's block, and still pining for the heartless Pandora. The crises are suitably ridiculous, the social satire inimitable. Daintry has an attractive voice, and his reading captures Adrian's befuddlement, anguish, and self-delusion with precision, although the long pauses between sentences often disrupt the flow. Like many sequels, THE CAPUCCINO YEARS is even funnier for those who have read earlier Mole diaries. S.P. © AudioFile 2000, Portland, Maine [Published: OCT/NOV 00]