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Growing Pains of Adrian Mole--Hilarious and Yet Touching Book I wrote my review as if I sent a letter to the main character, Adrian, because I felt pity and affection for this boy so greatly that I could not possibly write it in just a run-of-the-mill format. He feels so real! Dear Adrian, Hello, Adrian. My name is OO and I am from Korea. I teach English at high school and I came to know about you through some extracts from your diary in my English textbook. The part in the textbook is about when you suffered from a toothache. I thought it was quite hilarious and wanted to read the entire diary of yours. By a massive stroke of luck, one day while surfing on the online bookstore homepage which I frequent, I ran into the ad about your diary. Was I delighted when I spotted your book! My delight was doubled when I found out that there is a sequel to your book, about which I am writing a book review at the moment. They were a steal at just about 3,300 won each-the current won-pound exchange rate is about 1,850 won per pound. Don't get me wrong; I'm not saying that your books are cheap but I am saying that I was in such luck to purchase your valuable books at such reasonable prices! Your books--actually your book, because I am not finished with your first book yet--lived up to my expectations, though at first I was pretty shocked at some parts in your book. Those shocking parts are not in my and my students' textbooks because there are only three to four days' of entries in them. I think if there had been more entries in the textbooks, the shocking parts would have been edited out. I had thought that you were an ordinary and normal teenage boy with happily married parents, with typical petty juvenile problems e.g. spots on the face, friends making fun of you, skiving off school and being told off by teachers. Quite contrary to expectation, what I read in your book, instead, was your not-so-attentive-to-her-son mother's relationship with Mr. Lucas, your father's affair with Stick Insect, the birth of your half-brother Brett, the abject poverty in your home. While reading, my heart went out to you; it wouldn't have been easy to go through all the difficult situations and yet, you faced them with unchanging wit and politeness. I really liked that you were well-mannered to your mother, father and your acquaintances and ever remained warm-hearted and cared for other people's feelings. Not all people can react in the same way as you in a situation like yours; they lose their temper easily and make rude remarks which could hurt others' feelings. I also liked that you cared about society's morals. I suppose it is not usual for a fifteen-year-old boy to suffer a nervous breakdown worrying about his nation's decayed mores. I'm not being sarcastic. I mean it. Youths like you are Britain's future. I admire you for your intellect and prowess as a poet, Adrian. Influenced by you, I tried writing my own poem. Haha. :D To tell you the truth, I've loathed poets ever since I knew abot poetry, but now that I know about you, I will reduce the degree to which I detest poets. How are you and Pandora doing lately? I hope I am not being nosy; I just want you two to get along well together and your love to grow ever after. One more thing, Adrian, I admire your vocabulary. I was surprised to see that you used some words like 'antagonistic', which I considered difficult. I've donated your first diary to my school library so a lot of my students could read it and I plan on donating the sequel as well in the foreseeable future. You will be famous in our school! Best wishes, Tantandaro |
| 이 소설을 처음 접한게 88 올림픽이 끝나고였던가..벌써 15년이 훌쩍 지나버린 시간..얼마전 다시 구입해 읽게 된 이책..처음 읽었을때가 초등학생이었으니 사춘기를 겪어보지 못했던 나에게 사춘기란 이렇게 다가오는 것이라는 인상만을 심어주었던 기억이 난다. 사춘기도 다 지나고 20대가 훌쩍 지나가 버린 지금 그의 고뇌(?)와 삶이 이해가 된다. 물론 저자는 어른이었겠지만 저자도 역시 사춘기를 겨었을터..싸움만 하다 결국은 이혼하고 각자 따로 결혼해서 사는 부모들, 학교에서 왕따..어른이라고 생각하지만 주위에서는 어린애로 보는 좌절감..80년대 초반을 살던 주인공이나 2000년대 초반을 사는 우리나 그 차이는 없어 보인다. 누구나 겪을 수 있는 지극히 평범한 이야기를 맛깔나게 풀어 쓴 유쾌하면서도 조금은 슬픈 이야기..라 할 수 있지 않을까..80년대 문화 코드인 롤러 스케이트장, 소니 미니 워크맨, 플로피 디스크, 퍼스널 컴퓨터..에서 최신식 자전거에게 까지..역시 나에게도 멋진 추억거리가 되는 것들이다. |