Bridget Jones's Diary
by Helen Fielding
|
List Price: Our Price: $1.83 You Save: $13.17 (88%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $0.01 (click here) Category: Book See more book details and other editions |
|---|
Book Reviews of Bridget Jones's Diary
Book Review: Bloody Brilliant - Kicks the Movie in the Arse
Summary: 5 Stars
I read Bridget Jones' Diary on a whim, after seeing the movie. I thought that the movie was an interesting take on singles life, with these little gems of comedic, yet completely right on target, observations about life. (The whole good vs. bad underwear thing for example) It might have been these little jewels that led me to believe that there was something more in the book. Lo and behold, yet again the movie was as deep, at most, as a puddle after a two minute drizzle. The book on the other hand, really digs deep into the innards of single life. Helen Fielding focuses on so much more of the isolation that "singletons" feel living in a big city, and the blatant fact that they spend a lot of time by themselves lamenting about their life, weight, lovers, "alcohol units" of the day, etc. I thought that Fielding presents Bridget's life in a very painstakingly detailed way so as to paint an accurate picture of her life. Bridget disappoints the reader occasionally with her random stupid mistakes, but at the same time is someone that most people can relate to... who hasn't been on a date, met someone in a bar or done something so completely ascine that your friends are still making fun of you for to this day? While that may be ordinary, Fielding does a great job of crafting Bridget's dilemnas as being just as screwed up as everyone else's yet with such a brilliant comedic tone that it crafts a wonderful novel. Frankly, what singleton (female anyway) can't relate to your mother wanting you to "find someone", your lovely gay male friends, the constant flux of men that you meet, the trouble of finding one you actually LIKE, and then of course the trials and tribulations and joys of your girlfriends. Life is pretty crazy, and I think that Helen Fielding does a superb job of describing just how crazy, desperate, lonely, passionate, conflicted and joyous life can be all at once.Book Review: "Bridget Jones's Diary" by Helen Fielding
Summary: 5 Stars
I read this novel and its sequel last year and laughed out loud at the many hilarities that Bridjet does in the course of one year. The word "singleton" has replaced "spinster" and many of the book's readers, especially women, are left feeling elation because of the plight of modern woman is no longer frowned upon but celebrated. Bridjet Jones is a semi-miserable, overweight, alcoholic, nicotine addict whose only crime is being unmarried, as deemed by her mother. Daniel Cleaver and Mark Dacry spice up the novel as the men Bridjet must choose between January and December. But, not all is concentrated on the idea of the newly contemporary romantic comedic fiction genre because the story's also about perfection. All of Bridjet's addictions are what most people today have but because Helen Fielding realized that a character with flaws makes a beautiful person, as is the ancient Japanese adage, Bridjet Jones makes herself a symbolism of the best that is yet to come with a little help from her "urban family" and a new and improved attitude. It's amazing how Bridjet pines for the one who doesn't really want her (Daniel Cleaver) while the one she should be with (Mark Darcy) is pursuing her, which represents the basic human desire to want what's unavailable to us. "Bridjet Jones's Diary" is the first and most original book in women's fiction that presents a new genre in which all people, "singletons" and "smug marrieds", can enjoy. Readers would also love its sequel, "Bridjet Jones: The Edge of Reason", and the "Shopaholic" trilogy by Sohpie Kinsella: "Confessions of a Shopaholic", "Shopaholic Takes Manhattan", and "Shopaholic Ties the Knot". Other novels to enjoy are "Simply Divine", "Bad Heir Day", "Farm Fatale", and "Gossip Hound" by Wendy Holden. Happy reading!Book Review: The truth hurts so good
Summary: 5 Stars
This book has received some of the most vicious and petty reviews of any in recent history. Of course if Fielding had been a man, she would have been universally appluaded for her exhuberent wit and candor and entertainment skills. As a woman she is ripe for marginilization and outright crucifixtion. How sad that we as a culture havent evolved to a sense of humor about ourselves as women -- that every heroine must be living alone and loving it, performing neurosurgery for charity, or ladling soup to ophans unless she is to be praised. The fact that this book rocketed to the bestseller list and stayed there speaks for itself. I found it fun, hilarious, fresh, charming and a great read -- bridget is self deprecating, doesnt claim to be mother theresa or ghandi. why must we wish that on her? nick hornby wrote with wit and irreverence about his sex life and everyone just about broke a leg trying to deify him (I love him too) but helen fielding is being skewered with red hot needles, and I'm not sure why. she wrote a comic novel, not a sequel to The Feminine Mystique. So what? And it may be true that this book doesnt hit everyone's mirth spot -- then why not just ignore it? why go out of one's way to throw poison darts? I think I know why. It's called Jealousy, and it's been aorund since the beginning of time. Ms Fielding deserves not derision, but applause -- for a sharply honed novel and for starting a Bad girl trend that moves away from the banal let's not-offend-anyone-or-tell-too-many-truths claptrap that female writers seem doomed to. Helen? I say write another book, make it even more shocking and irreverent, and send your critics a superbly wrapped lemon they can suck on. I thought her plot was skillfill and would make a terrific film, especilly the finale. Loved it, and that doesn;t make me a mindless idiot. It makes me human.Book Review: Novel & Film Are Different But Equally Wonderful
Summary: 5 Stars
I deliberately held off from reading this novel because I'd heard Colin Firth was the romantic lead. I loved him in "Pride & Prejudice" and when I heard this was a modern reworking of that favorite novel and series, I wanted to "save" myself. I'm glad I did because the two works are very different. Firth plays the hero, Mark Darcy, and Hugh Grant, the romantic rat, Daniel Cleaver, Bridget's boss. The movie is much more romantic than the novel, with Firth and Grant onscreen the majority of the time. Renee Zellwegger does a bang up job as Bridget but the men do take time away from her that they didn't in the novel. The novel, by contrast, is Bridget's with the two men really being supporting characters. The novel is funnier because you are reading Bridget's LOL diary entries. The movie is also funny but that accent is shared with the overall romantic mood. I promptly began reading the novel just hours after having seen the movie. Bridget's life as an early 30s single in London, who wants to find a boyfriend, is about as timely and universal a theme and a plot as possible. It's the entertaining way she writes her diary that "makes" the novel. It is the three leads, Zellweger, Firth and Grant who "make" the film. The screenwriter reworked many of the scenes and got rid of many scenes altogether, which if you adored the novel may be a problem for you. I didn't have this problem since I did them in reverse order. Bridget's mother remains a comic and controlling force in both versions and she goes about her own way of "finding herself" with an oily tv con man from the continent. She nevertheless advises her daughter throughout and, just like the mother in "Pride & Prejudice," is right in her advice even though you think she hasn't a brain in her head!Book Review: Why bother?
Summary: 1 Stars
I just can't understand the hype about this book. This tedious, shallow-minded excuse for a heroine bumbles her way through an entire year, learning nothing and changing little. On and on she moans, mostly about not being in a permanent relationship, with endless reflection about couple and 'singletons'. And why is she single, we might ask? It's because she's a child.
The book is very much in the manner of the Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, aged 14. A common device used in both books is the accumulation of facts and circumstances, all pointing to an obvious conclusion which the reader can see but the main character cannot until late in the day (we all know, long before Adrian works it out, that his sister has been fathered by a man who is not his mother's husband; we can see the signs that Bridget's mother's boyfriend is a crook long before she can). But while this touching naivety is amusing for a 14 year old, it wears pretty thin for someone in her 30s.
So when we hear her, near the end of the book, talking about going 'home' for Christmas - meaning the place where her parents live - it's no surprise. She bemoans that she isn't treated as an adult, she can't have an adult relationship; it's because she's never grown up or even tried to. She still thinks of herself living with Mummy and Daddy, even though she might sleep over in her London flat (which they probably pay for) from time to time. Emotionally, she's 14.
So, Bridget, I'm not surprised you're a 'singleton', and I don't think the relationship you've stumbled into at the end of the book will last long. Stop wallowing in your childhood and grow up.
If you're still reading this book and wondering whether to press on to the end just to see what happens, don't bother. It's not worth it.