I discovered this book because I had watched the TV series that was based on it and the reason that I watched the TV series was because when I was flicking through a computer magazine (when I was a kid) I found an add for 'The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, aged 13 ½'. I guess that is how advertising is supposed to work because the only reason I read the book was because I had watched the TV series, and the only reason I watched the TV series was because somebody had written an adventure game based on it and I like adventure games (though I didn't actually buy the book – I borrowed from the library). Come to think of it I went through the same process with regards to The Hitch-Hikers Guide to the Galaxy (and I watched the show to see if I could get any hints for the game – I didn't). Though for some reason I think that the reason the computer game was written was so that Sue Townsend could cash in on the popularity of her books rather than sell more books (and since I borrowed the book from the library, I didn't actually buy it, so in the end she didn't sell more books, or at least sell another one to me).

The story is written in the form of diary entries (which is not actually all that original since Bram Stoker did something along those lines about a hundred years before, though his diary entries were by multiple people and also included newspaper clippings) as a young teenager travels the road of high school (not sure what it is called in England, but here in Australia it is high school). During this year he gets his first girlfriend, struggles with his O levels (whatever that is, though I suspect it is some form of standardised testing, though we didn't have them in Australia), and I believe he watches his parents get divorced.

I guess this is one of those books where we get to see inside the head of a teenager and are meant to realise that he goes through the same struggles as we all do. He deals with puberty, but also shows himself to be a bit of a geek by reading Peer Gynt (nothing wrong with that, I quite liked Peer Gynt). In fact, he sets himself a goal to read Peer Gynt.

I wonder if this book is actually a more modern version of Peer Gynt. I don't think so because Adrian Mole does not go through the turmoil that Peer Gynt goes through, and we are only privy to Mole's teenage years, not his whole life, as is the case with Peer Gynt. I also do not believe that Mole earns the entire enmity of the town in which he lives by getting drunk at a wedding, running off with the bride, and then dumping her on some high mountain. However, one thing that we can consider is that Adrian Mole does seem to live in a dream world similar to Peer Gynt.

Could this book be a handbook on surviving puberty? Maybe, maybe not. It is clearly targeted towards those of Adrian's age, though I suspect much has changed in society since the days in which this book was popular. However, despite all of the changes in our society (especially the interconnectedness we now have with mobile phones and the Internet) there are still many things that are the same. However, I am unsure whether this is supposed to be a guidebook because everybody's experience of puberty is different. Still, it was a fun book to read, and in a way I did relate to Adrian Mole, and it did not matter that he was in England and I was in Australia, high school culture, somehow, seemed to be much the same.

This continues on with the tradition of the first book that Townsend wrote and follows Adrian's life as he continues to struggle as a teenager in Britain in the 1980s. The series does continue on right up to the Iraq War and it appears that throughout his life he is madly in love with a woman named Pandora (I don't think that she is his first girlfriend, but I believe that he dumped his first girlfriend for Pandora). It seems that the idea is that Adrian Mole is a loser that seems to make predictions that never turn out the way he believes they will.

I guess I can relate to Adrian somewhat, and it is probably closer than I feel comfortable with because I was still behaving quite childishly even a couple of years ago. We all face struggles and problems though, and we all deal with them differently. I remember speaking to somebody once who said that the best thing he did was to move interstate because even though he loved his parents, he had to get away from their influence and learn to become his own person.

However this is interesting that in the world in which we now live this is possible. It used to be the case that unless you were wealthy, then you would be born, live with, and die in the same village among the same people. I guess this has changed with the more mobile nature of our world. We see this in modern American culture where it is expected that the child leave home at eighteen, and even move a considerable distance from their parents. I suspect that this is not only a result on the individualist nature of our society, but also reflects, and is probably responsible, for the breakdown of the family unit.

The breakdown of the family unit is something that is explored in the Adrian Mole books, and at one point it simply becomes quite weird. The idea of the dysfunctional family (if there is actually such a thing as a functional family) is also explored. I guess this may be the result of us ditching our traditional morality or honour and loyalty. However, it is not necessarily the result of children rebelling against parents, but also of parents neglecting the children. Children, in may cases, are a hassle and a burden. They are unproductive and are a drain on resources, and when they grow up to become productive members of society (if they ever do, since the youth unemployment rate is quite high) they do not repay what they have earned. In fact, it almost appears that as an investment, children are the worst one people can make.

Then there is the issue of unemployment. Adrian Mole struggles with unemployment and low paid jobs as well as shattered dreams. He wishes to write a novel, and also considers himself an intellectual, however he appears to be forever ignored amongst the intelligentsia. Pandora is a member of the intelligentsia, but she seems to prefer people that are much more socially aware than he his. Despite his claims to being an intellectual, Adrian Mole is, in reality, naive.

I do wonder if Pandora was given that name because of the concept of Pandora's box. In a way Adrian did not have any choice when she came into his life, she simply appeared, but once she appeared, Mole's life was never going to be the same again. Maybe it is because of his infatuation with her, and maybe it is because he simply could not let go of her. I have been in situations like that, but thankfully I have managed to let go and walk away. I remember when I finally walked away from one of my pasts, and in walking away I actually became stronger. I have now walked away from the town of my youth, and once again feel stronger, and in a way much freer. Yes, I may have a sucky job, but with all the other blessings that I have received, this does not seem to be all that much.

I am told that this was the novel that made Stephen King the famous writer that he is today. The story that I was told was that Hollywood was looking for a story with a strong female role to turn into a movie, and they happened upon this book and decided to buy the rights off of King to turn it into a movie. Obviously King accepted their proposal (otherwise there wouldn't have been a movie based on this novel, and King probably would not have become so famous). In fact this was King's first novel and Wikipedia suggests that he actually had thrown it into the bin when his wife pulled it out and encouraged him to finish it. Well, I must admire his wife for giving him a kick where it was needed otherwise he would have not even become a footnote in history. Some would probably suggest otherwise, but as I have said previously, I do not think King is a bad author, and his use of the horror genre is actually quite thought provoking.

Horror is a lot more than just monsters and ghosts running around killing people, and to be honest, that type of horror is pretty bad horror in my view (let's call it schlock horror). It is what one expects from Hollywood movies such a Fright Night, Nightmare on Elm Street and the millions of other movies that are cut from the same mould. King does not write novels like that, and of many of the movies that I have seen from his writings, he does not use that standard device to write his horror. The genre has been around for quite a while, and it is only in recent times that it has degenerated into this particular mould, and while I am not going to say that King resurrected it from this mould, I will say that he has a better understanding of traditional horror than do many Hollywood writers.

Horror is about our fears, and while we may fear some rampaging monster storming through our town destroying anything in its path, that is not necessarily horror. Fear can take any form, whether it be of imprisonment, alienation, or simply being rejected from society. Carrie takes the form of being rejected from society, and that is because she is different. In this story she is different because she has psychic powers, and it is not necessarily that she is fearful but rather that others are fearful of her. People fear being threatened, and even if the threat is unfounded, they will act to remove that threat. Take minority populations for instance. Minorities are always threatened that they are going to be overrun by a majority population, and as such will act to prevent the majority from doing so. We have seen this happen throughout the twentieth century, and usually when that happens, the persecution of a weak majority can have the effect of causing that majority to rise up. Take Iraq for instance. Up until the American Invasion, the minority Sunni ruled the country, and would act against the majority Shiite population of the south. Dare I say that we also see this struggle between the white and Negro populations of America? In fact, some cultures have actively prevented majority populations from breeding in an attempt to prevent them from overrunning the country (and the biblical book of Exodus has a well known story about that type of action).

In this story though it is a minority that is persecuted, that being Carrie. However despite being a minority she is an incredibly powerful person, and it is her psychic powers that scare people. In a way, one could say that the horror in this novel is the horror of being different. We don't want to be different, we want to be the same, we want to be like everybody else. If we are like everybody else there is nothing anybody else can or will do to us for being different. However sometimes it is impossible not to stand out from the crowd, though if we are weaker it is easier to persecute and alienate us than if we are stronger.

I guess that is why intelligent people tend to be persecuted at school. People fear intelligence, and in fearing intelligence they will attack it and attempt to undermine it. The jocks, for want of a better word, will push the geeks around, beat them up, and give them royal flushes. Yes, the geek is generally weaker than the jock, but physical weakness is made up by intellectual strength. However, the sad thing is (and this is very true in my case) is that we can react to that by dumbing ourselves down. We don't like to be different or alienated, so we will hide what we can hide from our persecutors. However, we can react in a different way, as Carrie does, and lash out in violence. That, indeed, is the wrong way to react because in the end it plays into the hands of the persecutors.

One example that I will use is the Columbine Highschool Massacre (though, as it has been pointed out to me, may not necessarily have been the truth). In that situation a group of boys, known as the Trenchcoat Mafia, were harassed, persecuted, and alienated. One day, after they had had enough, they got their fathers' guns, stormed the school, and went on a killing rampage. Who, in the end, are the bad guys in this story? The murders of course because the persecuted had turned around and become the persecutors. Yet we quickly forgot and ignore the reason why they snapped, and lay the blame of societies problems at their feet. I have heard Christian leaders proclaim how they went out specifically targetting Christians? Did they? Truth be told I do not know, however, the fact that they are now dead, they do not have the opportunity to defend themselves. Hell, even if they were locked up, they would lose the opportunity to defend themselves. What I am showing here is that there is a right way and a wrong way to deal with persecution, and lashing out at it is the wrong way. Carrie pretty much destroys the town, but it ends badly, very badly for her. The Trenchcoat Mafia left a huge impact in the Colorado Springs highschool, but it also ended very badly for them. Their persecutors have been vindicated, while they have been demonised.

See, we can learn something about ourselves and the world around us in a book written by Stephen King.