Bridget Jones's Diary: A Novel (Bridget Jones, #1)

by Helen Fielding

The iconic #1 bestseller by Helen Fielding and basis for the films starring Renee Zellweger, Colin Firth, Patrick Dempsey and Emma Thompson. 

Bridget Jones's Diary is the devastatingly self-aware, laugh-out-loud account of a year in the life of a thirty-something Singleton on a permanent doomed quest for self-improvement. Caught between the joys of Singleton fun, and the fear of dying alone and being found three weeks later half eaten by an Alsatian; tortured by Smug Married friends asking, "How's your love life?" with lascivious, yet patronizing leers, Bridget 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. With a blend of flighty charm, existential gloom, and endearing self-deprecation, Bridget Jones's Diary has touched a raw nerve with millions of readers the world round. Read it and laugh—before you cry, "Bridget Jones is me!"

• ISBN10: 014028009X
• ISBN13: 9780140280098
• Publish Date: 1 June 1999 (first published 25 October 1996)
• Publish Status: Active
• Out of Print: 22 October 2004
• Publish Country: GB
• Imprint: Penguin Books Ltd
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 336
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9780140280098

Reviews

[thepunktheory]

Book vs. Movie:
Beginning with the book, I have to say that it took me a while to get into it. Maybe it is because I am to young to relate to everything Bridget goes through but I was already halfway through the novel until I could connect with her. In general I was rather annoyed that Helen Fielding constantly tried to make a point that Bridget is just like every other woman while about half of the stuff that's going would never ever happen in real life. So, the book was somewhat enjoyable and at bits even made me giggle a bit.
Let's get to the movie. I've seen this one about 10 times by now. Renée Zellweger is absolutely adorable as Bridget. To be honest, I consider the film Bridget by far funnier and more relatable than the novel heroine. In general the movie was much smarter and made me laugh constantly. I really appreciate the plot-changes that were as thus some things are more realistic than in the novel. In the adaptation Bridget really is a typical woman in her thirties.
By the way, both Hugh Grant and Colin Firth (who play Bridget's suitors) are both mentioned in the book and I just love that it's them who were chosen for the adaptation.

Summing up I have to say that the adaptation was far more enjoyable than the novel. The book was difficult to get into, not realistic and Bridget wasn't relatable. However, Renée Zellweger was absolutely divine in her role and the adaptation never fails to make me laugh!

[Michael @ Knowledge Lost]

Bridget Jones’s Diary is the year in the life of a thirty-something single working woman living in London. While she writes about her career, problems, family, friends, and a quest for a romantic relationship she is also on a quest for self improvement. To quit smoking, cut down on drinking, lose weight and develop Inner poise, this novel is a comical look at the modern woman.

First of all, I think of this book as a pseudo feminist novel; while there are plenty of elements in the novel that could be considered a critique of feminism; this is more satire than anything else. Bridget wants to be that kind of woman but she never gets there, she tries to come across as a strong independent working woman who does what she wants when she wants, but when it all comes down to it, what she wants is a man. Interesting enough the strongest feminist is the mother who has legitimate feminist ideals, but not portrayed in a very positive light.

There is this idea that Bridget Jones’s Diary is based on Pride and Prejudice but I have some issues with this and I will try to explore some of my basic thoughts on this. Firstly Bridget is not Elizabeth Bennett; she would like to be, but in the book her personality would be more like Lydia. Her goal is to become more like Lizzie but her relationship with Daniel Cleaver (possible the Wickham of the story) shows us that she is living a life of self gratification. If we are going to compare characters to those in Pride and Prejudice, then Bridget’s mother might start off as a Mrs Bennett but in the end turns into a Lydia as well. Mark Darcy is obviously Mr Darcy and probably the only character that closely resembles the original character. There is also the desire to find a husband (or mate) due to the pressures put on them by their mothers as well as the perception of running out of time. In Lizzie’s case, she was at the age where she needs to seriously consider getting married as it was expected of her and in Bridget’s case it was more to do with her biological clock.

Here is how I think the comparison was made; in the novel Bridget was obsessed with the BBC TV adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, she considered Lizzie and Darcy the idea of the a great romance and wanted to find her own Mr Darcy. She loves the lake scene with Colin Firth in the wet white shirt (not in the book), so when it come to moment where Bridget realises who’s the right man for her, the book tries to replicate the scene with the description of Mark Darcy coming in dirty and sweaty and her attraction to him at that moment. Obviously since the movie had Colin Firth playing Mark Darcy, they were able to replicate this scene a lot better and this is why the ending was changed.

I don’t know much about Chick Lit so it is hard to talk about the writing and how it compares to other books in this genre but I have some thoughts I want to explore. First of all, this novel is almost like a soliloquy; obviously being a diary she is expecting no one else to read her thoughts, so she can express feelings that she would never consider sharing with others. The diary takes the reader through the year with her, as it happens, not with the wisdom of hindsight or any wisdom at all. The only problem is that it blurs the line between a first person narrative and third; there are parts of the book where it would be obscure to think Bridget was writing down everything happening, minute by minute as it was happening. This is to help add to the comedy of the book but to me it added to the absurdity.

Lastly I want to talk about Bridget Jones; the modern woman, obsessed with romance but still wanting to appear as a strong independent woman. She starts the diary in an effort try to improve herself but it also suggests that she is self-absorbed. What really got me was her negative body image; each day she weighed herself and throughout the course of the entire book the most she ever weighed was 9.6 stone (just over 60kg or 132 pounds) and she considers herself overweight by that? I know she compares herself to people on TV but it’s just ridiculous. Also with the amount of calories, cigarettes and alcohol she drinks, I’m surprised she is so under weight and that is where the satire started to frustrate me.

Overall, I was entertained by this book; as a novel it did have its issues and is riddled with chick lit clichés. As a satirical novel, it worked on some levels but most of the time it had to rely on the chick lit elements to help push it through. I didn’t remember much about the movie, except for the fountain scene and Renée Zellweger putting on weight for the role. Which when comparing it to the book doesn’t make sense but on a personal level, I think it was an improvement; she looked fantastic. Overall the book was quirky but the real surprise for me was the wit and irony used throughout the novel; enough to entertain me.

this review originally appeared on my blog; http://literary-exploration.com/2013/04/25/book-review-bridget-joness-diary/

[Leah]

Bridget Jones worries about a lot of things, her weight, her job, her lack of a boyfriend and the amount of calories she consumes each day. As a late twenty-something, the pressure is on for Bridget to find a man and settle down, particularly as her family keep thrusting Mark Darcy upon her. Bridget, however, is in love with her boss Daniel Cleaver and it appears that he likes her, too. However, the relationship doesn’t run as smoothly as you might expect and there are a lot of ups and downs. Is Daniel the man for Bridget or could it be Mark Darcy?

Although I’ve heard about Bridget Jones’s Diary and seen at least one of the films (or maybe both – I can’t remember either of them, though) I’ve never actually gotten around to reading the book. Which, according to some people, appears to be sacrilege. It just never took my fancy, no matter how much people raved about the book. I know, also, that it helped launch the genre I read so much of: chick lit, but again it never appealed. However after hearing how much Rhiana enjoyed it – and trusting her opinion, I finally picked myself up a copy and decided to give it a read.

I have to admit, that hours later, I’m failing to see what all of the fuss was about. I have got absolutely no idea why anyone thinks this is an example of good chick lit because, to be blunt, it’s not. It might have been back when it was first released – in the 90′s – but it doesn’t seem to have aged well and there are tons of chick lit books I would place ahead of Bridget Jones’s Diary. On the front of my copy, Nick Hornby says Helen Fielding is ‘one of the funniest writers in Britain’ but I didn’t laugh once. Not at all. I have a very simple sense of humour but I didn’t find Bridget Jones’s Diary amusing in any way at all.

I thought the book was just plain annoying. For the first few diary entries, Bridget’s weight and calories consumed and cigarettes/alcohol units was interesting but it soon became very dull and I just skipped those points completely. Mainly due to the fact that Bridget keeps saying it’s ‘bad’ that she’s – gasp – 9 stone. The fact of the matter is 9 stone isn’t fat. At all. Unless you’re really really short and Bridget just comes across as another thin woman thinking she’s fat and it gets really irritating after a while to hear her moan and whinge about putting on a pound. I understand weight insecurities, don’t get me wrong, but neurotic doesn’t even cover Bridget. Any person over 9 stone reading this book will want to bash Bridget’s head against a wall while simultaneously chucking away everything in their fridge because it’s as if anything over 9 stone is horrifically obese.

I know a lot of women really love Bridget, but I really couldn’t see her appeal. From her neuroses about her weight to her shallowness and vapidity, I just couldn’t warm to her. All I did whilst reading the book was tolerated her because I had to; because she was the narrator. I didn’t even really much like Bridget’s parents either, in particular her mother. She wasn’t particularly nice and her mid-life crisis (or whatever it was) was rather strange and she didn’t really come across at all well. As for Bridget’s dad I just thought he was a bit wet. As for the men in Bridget’s life, I thought Daniel Cleaver was a rather nasty piece of work and was totally undeserving of Bridget. I may not have liked her, but I certainly didn’t want her to end up with that idiot. I quite liked Mark Darcy, in fact he was probably my favourite character of the entire book, although I would have liked him to appear a bit more.

Bridget Jones’s Diary isn’t really that well written either – sure, I managed to read it in a fairly quick amount of time but that was only because I wanted it to end. I suppose the main problem with the writing is that Bridget just spends the entire book whinging and moaning. It’s rather relentless not to mention the idiots her girl friends go out with. They all seemed rather doomed from the start to be honest. In fact, thinking back, the book is just plain boring. All about men, her weight, her job… and in the end, it’s as if everything’s just going around in circles.

I think the main reason a lot of people liked Bridget Jones is because it was the only book of its kind back when it was first released, hence the huge hype. I think it’s definitely an over-hyped book and I think it’s place as a classic chick lit book is more because it was the first than because it’s a genuine chick lit classic. There are many better books in the chick lit genre and it’s clear to see that the writing now compared to the 90s is just so much better and, for me, Bridget Jones’s Diary lags far far behind.