Bridget Jones's Diary
by Helen Fielding
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Book Reviews of Bridget Jones's Diary
Book Review: Chick Lit Worth Reading
Summary: 5 Stars
...I'd just like to say a few things. First of all, I'm an over-achieving, teetotal, drug-free, boyfriend-free, slightly plump jobless teenager. See - some similarities and some differences with Bridget. I'm also Christian, and I find it very tiresome in chick lit books when the heroine sleeps her way through for no reason other than drunkeness/boredom/mild lust. So - I don't know whether I'm "meant" to like this book, but...you know what? I do! I like it because it makes me laugh. A lot. Humour, as we all know, is in the eye of the beholder (or something like that) and so whether you like this book depends a lot on whether you find Helen Fielding's humour funny.
But I do NOT agree that this book is demeaning to women OR that it provides a role model for them. Okay, no one should choose to try and emulate Bridget (well, I don't think so) - but on the other hand, as a female I didn't feel degraded or stereotyped by this book.
Other people have criticised this book for saying that you're nothing without a man. A lot of chick lit books DO do this, but Bridget Jones's Diary isn't one of them. Trust me, I get very frustrated with books that say this, and this book isn't saying it. It may be saying, however, that it's nice to have a boyfriend - and where's the problem with that? Why can't women be allowed to say that they really want to go out with someone? Why do we have to act like admitting that is degrading?
I recommend this book highly. If you watched the film and are interested in the book, you may be disappointed as the two versions are somewhat different, but read it anyway!
Book Review: a hilarious and captivating read
Summary: 5 Stars
Bridget Jones is one of the funniest books I have ever read. We have all had our "Bridget moments". She is a thirty-something who writes down everything she eats, her weight gain and loss, her daily intake of fags (cigarrettes) and alcohol consumption. The diary starts off detailing Una's New Year's Day Curry Buffet where she's asked "How's your love life?" She thinks to herself, "Oh God. Why can't married people understand that this is no longer a polite question to ask? We wouldn't walk up to them and roar, 'How's your marriage going? Still having sex?'" This is just one example of her engaging humor. While at the party, her parents try to set her up with Mark Darcy, a boy that she used to play in the wading pool with as a child while she was running around naked. She sees him and immediately disqualifies him as a potential candidate because he is wearing a V-neck diamond patterned sweater. "As my friend Tom often remarks, it's amazing how much time and money can be saved in the world of dating by close attention to detail. A white sock here, a pair of red braces there, a gray slip-on shoe, a swastika, are as often as not all one needs to tell you there's no point writing down phone numbers and forking out for expensive lunches because it's never going to be a runner." And so the diary goes. She later talks about her moments at work where she has ongoing e-mails with her boss's boss, Daniel, about the length of her skirt. This book is a must-read! I have already purchased Edge of Reason and can't wait to begin reading it.Book Review: not a rave
Summary: 2 Stars
How could I resist a book with such rave reviews? Unfortunately, I didn't fall in line to be among those of you gushing over this novel. After the first 50 odd pages I revisited the site and re-evaluated my interpretations of customer's reviews. Had I missed something? Yes, there were a few skeptics in the reviews and those that just did not "get her". Refusing to believe I am someone that can not "get" Bridget, I perservered, determined to find that missing link that would catapult me into a raving reviewer. Around the middle of the book I realized that it had improved somewhat, but I had yet to have huge guffaws, loud, raucous laughter and the temptation to down a bottle of scotch and smoke a pack of fags.(In America, that could be interpreted as something different entirely.) Bridgit is fun, and I can see her in most women, but I continued to anticipate hilarity beyond belief. In the end, I was relieved for her and wished her much happiness and more laughs. I do appreciate that she thrilled so many of the readers out there. When I get that kind of response from a book, I can not help but feel ecstatic.That is why we read, to anticipate that possiblility that the next book will edge itself into that category of being so excellent one is moved to exhult it's success. I almost have to laugh at myself, for I have a "Bridget" type comment to make.. I feel nearly guilty that I do not agree with most of the customer reviewers that this was the one of the best books I have ever read. It simply was not.Book Review: loveditloveditlovedit
Summary: 5 Stars
I read this as light reading over the summer, and read it again, then again. This was a very non-threatening book--not very long, no lengthy paragraphs, no large odd-sounding words (except for occassional British terminology)--and I picked it up randomly off of a library shelf. When I read it, and found out that it had been made into a movie, I just had to go see it.Of course it wasn't as good. But it was good.
I was also an avid Jane Austen fan, and the frequent overt references to Pride and Prejudice were funny and good at tying the plot together and giving a better perspective of what the author wanted the characters to seem like. I'm not quite sure about this cover...a little scary (the one I read had a woman writing in a diary on it).
Anyway, the heroine, Bridget Jones, is a British woman feeling her biological clock tick--and feeling others feeling that tick for her. Her garulous mother and Smug Married acquaintences persist on ribbing her for not having a boyfriend, and don't even believe her when she finally gets one.
Bridget is drawn to her attractive yet irresponsible employer, Daniel Cleaver, and finds herself constantly bumping into Mark Darcy (get the name hint at all??), the dull divorcee barister that everyone is trying to shaft upon her.
Think Ally McBeal and some of Meg Ryan's more neurotic roles. Bridget Jones is a normal, healthy woman obsessed with her weight, smoking and drinking habits, and self-help books. Social satire and hilarious situations abound.
(it's much, much better than this review, I assure you:)
Book Review: Hurrah for Singletons!
Summary: 5 Stars
Bridget sounds like every woman's nightmare. She's a seemingly shallow, insecure, ego-centric, delusional, semi-feminist, weight-obsessed, cigarette-and-alcohol-addicted, boyfriend-hungry "singleton" surrounded by "smug marrieds" and her garish mother - at least in her diary, where all her flaws get to come out. All in all, a pretty normal woman. The nightmare part is that it's constantly (and publicly) found out that she's not the superwoman/goddess that modern society seems to expect.But that's alright. She's also beguilingly charming, warm-hearted, witty (after disaster occurs, of course), and keenly observant when you least expect it. All the wrong funny things lead to all the right funny things. Follows Pride and Prejudice much closer than you would believe (try reading them in succession/concurrently), this is an inspired re-writing of Jane Austen's classic. A fresh voice in an timeless situation of woman v. the world. Guess who wins?
So, it's a bit predictable, but that doesn't take away from Bridget's charisma. She's wonderfully, deleriously human. An overdose of self-help books has her aiming for high, vague ideals like Inner Poise. Her friends, having read different self-help books, aren't much help, but a crazy continuation of Bridget's frazzled, endearing self.
The movie captures Bridget's screwball comic essence (as well as Daniel Cleaver's caddishness) brilliantly, but the rest didn't do justice to her friends or mother. A great read at any time, it will go all too quickly. V. v. good.