Mumsnet Talk

It would have such an amazingly better soundtrack if truer to the book IMHO! So annoyed Rae is supposed to love bleeding oasis rather than the smiths. The time is now is her song!! So disappointed having adored the book for a few yrs now.

i think it's ok, i'll watch it, but it just doesn't measure up to the book, imo.

but then, that's always the way, isn't it?

I'm watching as I work for the NHS Mental Health Trust that the writer was in the care of. I'm trying to work out which psychiatrist she saw

Same as little brown mouse / don't think teenagers would relate to it - where I can being almost 40 more mature

Yes, I agree that The Smiths suit Rae better then Oasis. But Radiohead and the Stone Roses do too (and make me happy in a nostalgic way).

Definitely aimed at 40 somethings not teens!

iirr all that fuss about Knebworth last night was actually The Smiths in the book (which turned out to be The Family Smith, something else completely.)

DH was watching with me and when they had the footage of Knebworth he was saying "that's my cheering there".

How many episodes has there been? I watched for the first time last night and thought it was sad but very good. Would like to catch up on what I've missed. I didn't know there was book - I will have to buy it now.

3rd one was last night

Thanks Blondeshavemorefun.
Will go and google to see if there anyway I can catch up on the two episodes that I have missed.

I've gotten sucked in. It's not the most amazing piece of drama ever, but I find it compelling. I was a year older than her character at the time, went to Oasis at Knebworth and everything. I battled with my weight and my best friend was the school heartthrob. I was the joker with all the boys. I had a lot more self esteem though. Thanks to my parents.

I definitely think its aimed at 30 somethings.

ViviPru, me too. I was 15 at the time, and the same weight. With a skinny popular best friend. I can identify with a lot of it. Will buy the book on Kindle in a bit.

I've just watched the 2nd episode (about to watch the third)

WTF was all that with Archie peeping? Rae thought he was a pervert until she found out he was gay - then it was like "oh its perfectly OK to spy on other people in the shower because you're gay"

forgot to say - apart from that I am enjoying the show

I quite enjoyed the book - well, enjoyed might not be the right word, as it was almost uncomfortably familiar (I was a mad fat teenager not too long ago!) - but I haven't found the series to be as good. Maybe just because it wasn't the same as I'd imagined it, and there are quite a lot of differences to the book.

FWIW, I read an interview with Rae Earl herself in which she said that she and her mum get on well now, and that in her diary she definitely made her mum out to be worse than she really was. Remember that it's all from teenage Rae's point of view, so it's quite biased.

I can sort of relate - I was the big girl among my friends (still am, but shrinking ) and have had some self-esteem/borderline MH issues due to extensive bullying through school. I've been to Knebworth too (but not to see Oasis)

I think it is more aimed at those in their 30's, but depending on what you've been through in life, you might be able to relate to it at a younger age, like I do.

chloe is selfish

why didnt rae put her coat round her waist when she had a leak with af?

but yah she got her hero to stand up for her

im really enjoying this - female Adrian mole

Chloe pregnant by teacher??

Hope he was prosecuted at the time!!

I wasn't ever particularly fat, but I was definately mad, although probably 3 or so years later than Rae's tale is set. Find the whole thing pretty familiar and unsettling because of it -but think Rae is brilliant.

The first episode was a bit clunky, but loved the second one. not sure how much i'll watch though, as a bit close to home. Or does that make me a wuss?

I must say, I was very disappointed. The book is one of my favourite books ever. It is hilariously funny, set in the 80s, with 80s music anfd fashions, and I did not recognise any of the characters in the TV series from the book.

I stopped watching about 20 minutes in because it was talking down to the viewers as if it was made for 14 year olds. The graphics and the voice over was really written for teens.

The book was brilliant and the TV series changed almost everything except Rae and her Mum. I stopped watching because I want the book to stay special and I knew that the TV version was ruining it for me.

It is targeted for people in their late 30s/early 40s who remember being teens in the 80s. Except they changed the setting to the 90s and targeted an audience of teens who weren't even born then. They balled it all up if you ask me.

I cannot recommend the book highly enough, but stop watching the TV version because it will ruin it for you.

As always books and tv never tally up

I try and not do both as always end up disappointed

I don't recognise any of the storylines at all. It's as if the screen writer took two characters out of the book, didn't bother reading the rest, and just wrote a completely different version.

The names have been changed, the characters have been changed, the plot has been changed, the events have been changed, and it has been put in the 90s instead of the 80s.

I haven't read the book...i have it when the televised version doesn't live up to the book.

I'm catching up now and really enjoying it. I've been singing about being in love with Pandora in my head.

I have not read the book either but I am enjoying watching the tv show.

Try the book. It made me cry with laughter. The TV series just left me feeling annoyed.

It's as if they took the story of Oliver Twist, made him a girl, set it in modern times, gave him an affluent upbringing where he never had any problems, and set it in Jamiaca and then still called it Oliver Twist.

THAT'S how far away it is from the book.