Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding

Bridget Jones's Diary (Bridget Jones, #1)

by Helen Fielding

The multi-million copy number one bestseller
One of The Sunday Times's top 100 bestselling books of the past 50 years

Welcome to Bridget's first diary: mercilessly funny, endlessly touching and utterly addictive.


A dazzlingly urban satire on modern relationships?
An ironic, tragic insight into the demise of the nuclear family?
Or the confused ramblings of a pissed thirty-something?

As Bridget documents her struggles through the social minefield of her thirties and tries to weigh up the eternal question (Daniel Cleaver or Mark Darcy?), she turns for support to four indispensable friends: Shazzer, Jude, Tom and a bottle of chardonnay.

Helen Fielding's first Bridget Jones novel, Bridget Jones's Diary, sparked a phenomenon that has seen four books, newspaper columns and the smash-hit film series Bridget Jones's Diary, The Edge of Reason, Bridget Jones's Baby and Mad About the Boy.

Bridget Jones's Diary was featured in 'The 100 bestselling books of the past 50 years' published by The Sunday Times on 18/08/2024

Reviewed by thepunktheory on

3 of 5 stars

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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!

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 3 November, 2016: Finished reading
  • 3 November, 2016: Reviewed