Clara’s Verdict
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Ugly Truth is the fifth of Greg Heffley’s journals, and it finds our hero running headlong into the least glamorous part of growing up. Greg has always been in a hurry to get older, and this book gently, and very comically, asks whether that is really such a good idea after all. It is one of the more thoughtful entries in the series, without ever once losing the humour that made it a phenomenon.
What I enjoy about this one is how neatly it balances the silly and the true. The awkwardness of being not quite a child and not quite a teenager is entirely universal, and Kinney captures it with real affection. In audio the book becomes an easy, companionable listen, and beneath the laughs there runs a quiet and welcome message about friendship and responsibility.
This entry has a little more on its mind than some, and it is all the better for it. The awkward lurch towards adolescence, all changing bodies, shifting friendships and baffling new social rules, is handled with a light touch but real understanding. Greg is growing up whether he likes it or not, and the book finds a surprising amount of gentle truth in his reluctance to do so.
About the Audiobook
Greg Heffley has always been in a hurry to grow up, but he is starting to wonder whether getting older is really all it is cracked up to be. Suddenly he is contending with the pressures of boy and girl parties, a pile of new responsibilities, and all the awkward changes that come with leaving childhood firmly behind.
To make things worse, Greg has fallen out with his best friend Rowley, which means he is going to have to face the ugly truth of growing up entirely on his own. This is the fifth book in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, and it stands perfectly well by itself, though listeners meeting Greg for the first time may want to go back and start his story from the beginning.
The falling out with Rowley gives the book its quiet emotional core. For once Greg has to navigate the pressures of getting older without his best friend at his side, and that absence shapes the whole story, from the boy and girl parties he dreads to the growing list of responsibilities he would much rather avoid. It is comedy with a genuine undertow of feeling.
It is, for all its jokes about spots and school dances, a rather kind book about the confusing business of leaving childhood behind, and that mixture of comedy and quiet reassurance is a large part of why the whole series has endeared itself to so many families.
The Narration
Dan Russell narrates across a neat two hours and twenty nine minutes, and he remains an ideal match for Greg’s wry, self justifying voice. He plays the comedy of adolescence with a light touch and keeps the supporting cast, from family to friends, clearly and warmly drawn from start to finish.
This edition is once again produced in binaural audio, intended for headphones so that Greg’s world surrounds the listener completely. The short running time makes it a perfect quick listen for a journey or an evening, and, as with the rest of the series, the publisher recommends downloading in high quality for the best effect.
As with the rest of the series, the audio format does the material real favours. The brief running time and Dan Russell’s knowing delivery make it an easy listen for a young audience, and the binaural production lends Greg’s world an appealing immediacy. The reviews are full of parents and grandparents describing children who devour these books, drawn in by the relatable humour and kept there by the gentle messages about friendship and responsibility woven quietly underneath.
What Readers Say
The book carries an average of 4.6 stars from 18 ratings, and the reviews are warm and often surprisingly detailed. One reader recommended it highly as the fifth book in the series, praising the way it follows Greg’s hilarious and relatable misadventures through the challenges of adolescence with Kinney’s usual wit.
A parent whose child loved it singled out the relatable humour and the gentle messages about friendship and responsibility, while a long time reader who had eagerly awaited this instalment called it hilarious and very much a book to share. A four star review kept things simple, finding it funny and entertaining, and a grandparent was glad to add another title to a grandson’s growing collection.
Who Should Listen?
This is for young listeners edging towards their teenage years, for families who want a funny but quietly reassuring story to share, and for anyone already fond of Greg who wants to follow him a little further along. Reluctant readers, in particular, tend to find these journals quite irresistible.
If the awkward business of growing up sounds like a story worth a laugh, you can Listen to Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Ugly Truth on Audible and see how Greg copes with it.
