AW Flashback Review: Bridget Jones’s Diary by Helen Fielding
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.
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April 16th, 2011 at 5:41 pm
Interesting Review! I read this when it was first released and LOVED it. I happened to be nearing Bridget’s age, had a few of the same issues and even some similar scenarios at work, so reading a book I could relate to so well was astounding and sealed my love of chick lit.
That said, I can see how it’s appeal may have dampened over the years with all the quality chick lit we see now. Bridget Jones will always remain a classic for me though!
Thanks for the review!
Lydia
April 16th, 2011 at 5:53 pm
Leah, I just think you read a good book at wrong time! Ten yrs ago I think you could love Bridget Jones! (of corse it depend your age) Maybe you like more the number 3! It will come out soon
I can not wait!
April 16th, 2011 at 6:01 pm
I totally and 100% agree with you, or I would if I could remember *anything* about the book.
I have vague recollections of being annoyed by exactly the things you were annoyed by and… Nothing else. All my “Bridget Jones” memories are memories from the film(s).
I saw the film when it first came out, and then picked up a copy of the book because I was curious. I even went so far as to read the second book because I couldn’t understand what I was missing. Why these books left me totally cold despite a legion of people saying they were wonderful.
Part of the problem with the writing style stems, I think, from the original format - it was a newspaper column. As a social satire on a weekly basis, it worked, and worked well. As a book read in a much more condensed period of time, all the weaknesses in plot, style, tone, characterisation etc become apparent.
It served a purpose to bring quality chick lit into the mainstream, but please - let’s not call it a classic.
(For the sake of fairness, I am feeling the need to reread the books, just to make sure I am not remembering them wrong. But I don’t think I am).
April 16th, 2011 at 7:22 pm
I think it was very much a book for the time and that’s why it did so well. I loved it, but whether I’d feel the same if I read it again now, I’m not so sure. I thought the second book was terrible, just a rehash of the first and even by that time everyone in the country had moved onto low-carb diets and good old Bridget was still counting calories. I understand that there’s a third diary due and I’ll still buy a copy of that… C : ) xx
April 16th, 2011 at 8:09 pm
Leah,
I just had to respond and say, “Good for you”, for daring to speak your truth! It took guts (so many, as you said, see that book as some kind of Grail…) and I admire you greatly for being willing to go against the grain, as it were.
And, as a side note, I have to tell you I agree with you. Sometimes the hype far outweighs the actual thing, book, movie etc. that is the subject of the accolade.
Kathleen
May 7th, 2011 at 5:29 pm
As this is one of my favourite books I felt I should respond! After reading your review I re-read the book again for the first time in probably about ten years.
And I still love it. Reading the book again was rather like bumping into an old friend in the street; someone who could fill you with nostalgia, make you laugh and evoke fond memories like they had never been forgotten.
And here is where the film got it wrong. Bridget is not someone to be ridiculed, an object of hilarity or derision; she is just someone struggling on through normal life. No, at nine stone she is not fat, but that is exactly the point. She is someone with no self-control, no judgement over men and is completely absorbed by her insecurities and worries but everyone loves her anyway. Bridget is human and flawed like anyone else but tackles life with such good meaning and gusto that you have to be rather envious at her resilience. She battles on, withstands the rejections, the family crises and the put downs and in the end she gets her man – exactly what is required from any good women’s fiction.
Bridget Jones was first published in 1996 – before Jane Green had arrived on the scene (‘Straight Talking’ wasn’t published until 1997) and while even Marian Keyes was still starting out. She was something fresh and new (even making popular the perfect phrase ‘fuckwit’); a recognisable representative for single women in the nineties. Even now, in a time where the bookshelves are crowded with authors of the genre jostling for an original voice, Bridget shines out as unique.
So will she stand up as well in 2011 as she did in 1996? My only hope is that Bridget has been able to grow up – to give up the smoking and move on from Daniel Cleaver; to learn her lessons from her early years and maybe get a hang of life. And with the new book coming out soon, we will soon find out.
I, for one, am looking forward to it.
July 17th, 2011 at 10:31 am
I read Bridget Jones’ Diary as a young teenager and thought it was wonderful. However, as an American, I always assumed the 9 stones she fretted about was indeed somewhat overweight. One day I looked it up online and it’s 132 pounds, fyi, other Americans.
Ever since then, it’s been hard for me to be very sympathetic to this delusional heroine. I was actually sort of happy at that weight. Now I’m 140 - ish and can only imagine the anger one feels if they are anywhere near overweight.