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Tuesday, March 30, 2010
title: Bridget Jones's Diary
author: Helen Fielding
genre: romance, humor
pages: 267
published: 1996
first line: I will not drink more than fourteen alcohol units a week.
rated: 4 out of 5
I've been meaning to re-read Bridget Jones's Diary for a while now and am glad I finally picked it up again.
Written in the form of her diary, Bridget takes the reader into a year in her life as a 30 something singleton living in England who works at a publishing company. Bridget's family and certain friends keep asking her when she's finally going to settle down and marry. Bridget meets Mark Darcy, a successful, rich lawyer at a party and her mother tries to get the two together. Darcy however is a bit of a snob and dislikes Bridget right away.
Meanwhile, her playboy boss Daniel Cleaver, begins to send her flirty emails and the two end up having an affair. Bridget is hoping Daniel will take thier relationship seriously, but she has the distinct feeling he is cheating on her.
I like that this book is inspired by Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice and enjoy the references throughout the book:
It struck me as pretty ridiculous to be called Mr. Darcy and to stand on your own looking snooty at a party. It's like being called Heathcliff and insisting on spending the entire evening in the garden, shouting "Cathy" and banging your head against a tree.
Throughout the story Bridget is also trying to drink less, smoke less and lose weight. As cute as they were at first, the beginning of her journal entries began to annoy me toward the end of the book. I found myself skimming over them.
Sunday 26 February
126 lbs., alcohol units 5 (drowning sorrows), cigarettes 23 (fumigating sorrows), calories 3856 (smothering sorrows in fat-duvet).
This book had me laughing out loud and I could totally relate to some of the things Bridget was talking about. She's one of those heroines I think most women can relate to.
Being a woman is worse than being a farmer-there is so much harvesting and crop spraying to be done: legs to be waxed, underarms shaved, eyebrows plucked, feet pumiced, skin exfoliated and moisturized, spots cleansed, roots dyed, eyelashes tinted, nails filed, cellulite massaged, stomach muscles exercised. The whole performance is so highly tuned you only need to neglect it for a few days for the whole thing to go to seed.
When someone leaves you, apart from missing them, apart from the fact that the whole little world you've created together collapses, and that everything you see or do reminds you of them, the worst is the thought that they tried you out and, in the end, the whole sum of parts adds up to you got stamped REJECT by the one you love.
The film version of Bridget Jones's Diary is one of my favorites and I recommend the book for a good dose of light and fun chick lit. In this case, I do prefer the film to the book.
Some of my favorite scenes in the movie are not in the book, like the famous fight scene between Darcy and Daniel.
