ragon
THE
P RTAL
April 2012
Page 8
The growing pains....
Remarkably it
was thirty years ago that we first chuckled at the teenage angst
of Adrian Mole who started pretentiously compiling a diary at the age of thirteen and three
quarters. We shared in the intimacy of his growing pains as he coped with embarrassing
parents, searching for love, annoying old people and spots!
she manages. In fact she
becomes quite an internet
phenomenon: with people
flocking to her door as some
sort of mystic healer. Her
family keep forgetting that
she is there: but she manages
to make her presence felt.
Sue Townsend,
his creator, became
something of a
household name
along with her
troublesome
teenager
who
always had a lot
to say for himself on a host of
subjects.
But...what happened next?
Nothing! His popularity waned
and his creator withdrew from
public gaze. One can only
imagine that the Harry Potter
phenomenon, from the pen of
another (unknown) authoress,
took over and his grown up years
were of less interest to us all.
Only recently have I read
that Sue Townsend found
fame difficult to cope with. In
addition, the wealth it brought
her did not bring contentment. She devoted a lot of the
profits from the books and merchandise to charitable
endeavours, but even then found it hard to reconcile
her fame with the “beast” she had given birth to. Thus
it was that she suffered from depression and withdrew
from public life.
The pains of being grown up.....
So it was with great interest that I saw a review of
a recent re-emergence from the literary pen of Miss
Townsend: a very different sort of character has been
born. I can’t believe it to be autobiographical: but her
latest work, published in March this year is entitled
“The Woman who Went to Bed for a Year”. It’s a ripping
yarn and every bit as entertaining at the Adrian Mole
adventures. Eva Beaver takes to her bed. She cannot
fully explain
why: but she needs a break
This of course becomes more of a problem for
everyone else than for her: not least broaching the
subject of what to do with her bodily wastes. But
stream).
The book is a fascinating
insight: a comment on our
modern world where there is
little option but to get swept
along with an ever-increasing
merry-go-round of madness.
The characters created around
Eva are real and all too
identifiable (or is it just me?):
from intelligent but socially
inept twins Brian Junior and
Brianne to batty mother-in-law
(and the vicar gets her muddled
up with someone else when he
conducts her funeral service
and has to be corrected mid-
stop the world I want to get off
Lent was meant to be about some serious spiritual
reading. I feel that I gained more from Sue Townsend’s
new literary offering! I am genuinely pleased that
she has now felt able to move on from Adrian’s angst
years which obviously brought angst to her as well.
Experience often shows us that fame and fortune do
not bring happiness. Perhaps her new character is
trying to tell us all something – stop the world I want
to get off (at least for a time).
Many of us can identify with that experience. This
last year has been one such rollercoaster ride: and
for others it is just about to begin – with what has
always been referred to as the “second wave” of the
Ordinariate. Time will tell how these waves will ebb
and flow. May it bring fulfilment and contentment.
Hardback ISBN: 978-0-718-15715-9
Published by the Penguin Group at £18.99