Bridget Jones’s Diary (Bridget Jones, #1) by Helen Fielding
Pages: 288
Published by Penguin Books
Date Read December 22, 2024
Source: Library
Genres: Chick Lit
Format: Physical Book
Goodreads
Meet Bridget Jones —a 30-something Singleton who is certain she would have all the answers if she could:a. lose 7 poundsb. stop smokingc. develop Inner Poise
"129 lbs. (how is it possible to put on 4 pounds in the middle of the night? Could flesh have somehow solidified becoming denser and heavier? Repulsive, horrifying notion), alcohol units 4 (excellent), cigarettes 21 (poor but will give up totally tomorrow), number of correct lottery numbers 2 (better, but nevertheless useless)..."
"Bridget Jones' Diary" is the devastatingly self-aware, laugh-out-loud daily chronicle of Bridget's permanent, doomed quest for self-improvement — a year in which she resolves to: reduce the circumference of each thigh by 1.5 inches, visit the gym three times a week not just to buy a sandwich, form a functional relationship with a responsible adult - and learn to program the VCR.
Over the course of the year, Bridget loses a total of 72 pounds but gains a total of 74. She remains, however, optimistic. Through it all, Bridget will have you helpless with laughter, and — like millions of readers the world round — you'll find yourself shouting, "Bridget Jones is me!"
I was excited to read Bridget Jones’s Diary as I loved the movie and had heard good things about the book. The novel started out strong and Bridget was endearing at first…
Bridget started out as someone I’d like to know but as time went on I began to roll my eyes and just wanted to shake her, to wake up and smell the coffee, realize all the poor mistakes she was making, and actually fix them, rather than just record how many lottery tickets she’d bought or pounds she’d lost. Like in the film, Daniel was bad news and had red flags flying all over him, whenever he’d do something horrible like blowing Bridget off or cheating on her, she would call her friends, get horrible advice that was clearly out of Cosmo, and treat it like gospel. This annoyed me to no end.
Bridget’s parents are in the book more than in the movie and I think this was a mistake. Her mother has an undefined affair which ends in fraud involving conning her friends and family to think they were purchasing time-shares that never existed. This ended with Mark Darcy swooping in to save the day and Mrs. Jones miraculously getting off scot-free. Bridget’s father wasn’t much better as he was constantly near tears over his wife who needed to be tossed to the curb – I wonder where Bridget gets it from.
While there were some funny parts the majority of Bridget Jones’s Diary was one big eye roll. Mark Darcy, was in so little of the book, that sometimes I forgot he was even a character. In Pride and Prejudice, Elizabeth Bennett and Fitzwilliam Darcy eventually unite and their differences (or Prejudices) bring them together. Bridget and Mark always felt mismatched and their inevitable meet-up felt more like a one-night stand.
Bridget Jones’s Diary is a book I’d been wanting to read for a while so I’m glad to check it off my bookish bucket list, however, it was rather tiresome and in the future will stick to the adaptation.
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