Review – Bridget Jones’s Diary by Helen Fielding (Book)

Bridget Jones’s Diary, the first episode in the Bridget Jones’s Series, is a novel written by Helen Fielding.

Although I know this novel has been in the market for more than a decade now but I recently got the chance to read it. Yes sometimes I completely forget about a task… for years. This book had been on my to-read list for years now and I forgot about it every time.

Anyways, starting with the review, this book did hold up to the popularity it had gained. It is a funny book written about a normal English girl in her early 30s who is fretting about her weight problems, single life and career issues, though career being of the least importance.

The story starts with Bridget, single and a very accident prone person, who is frustrated with her life as nothing in it is as she would like it to be. She has no idea where her career is going and what she is doing with her life as a whole. On top of that her mother and Mrs. Jones’s friend is trying to set her up with an old acquaintance’s son, Mark Darcy toward whom Bridget forms an immediate dislike.

On New Year’s Eve, she makes a journal to keep a record of her resolutions and evaluate by the end of year how much she has accomplished. Some important points that make her resolutions list are her losing weight, lower alcohol and smoke intake and her obsession and progress with her boss for a relationship.

This book takes on how woman often go for an ass leaving or ignoring the good guy totally. This is one point I guess every one of us can relate to easily.  Also how most woman assume/daydream that they are superwoman and can easily ace in every task they take. Some unfortunate events also take place relating Mrs. Jones.

It is hilarious in parts where you can actually find yourself grinning or often laughing out loud as well. The set of friends that Bridget has are equally amusing in their own way. Jude, the emotional one, who suggest books of all kind of healing and understandings, Tom, the homosexual who is a sweetheart (which girl doesn’t want to have a gay friend to talk about boys and shopping) and Shazza, the feminist.

A few points that increase a reader’s interest are:

1)      Extensive use of the word “Fuckwittage” gets you intrigued to understand its complete meaning which is explained pretty nicely with lines like

“That is such crap. How dare you be so fraudulently flirtatious, cowardly and dysfunctional? I am not interested in emotional fuckwittage. Goodbye.”

“I will not fall for any of the following: alcoholics, workaholics, commitment phobics, people with girlfriends or wives, misogynists, megalomanics, chauvists, emotional fuckwits or freeloaders, perverts.”

If you still don’t get what it means here it is:

Mind games men play when dating. It can also be applied to women in rare cases.

It can be preceded by “emotional” to make it about manipulating emotions or just plain “fuckwittage”.

2)      The mention of a kind of power Mrs. Jones posses over men.

“Mum has power over dad and Julio and tax man and they sense it and want a part of it making her even more irresistible.”

I think this part was simply amazing. It was very interesting and served as a food for thought too.

3)      How treating a man in a very ‘aloof; unavailable; ice queen’ manner gets him more and more attentive to a girl. 

This book is a MUST read for anyone in their 20s or have been through enough relationships (problems) regardless of their own or friends’ to understand every bit of it.

Not written as a normal novel but more like diary entries makes it interesting to read. A reader won’t get impatient to wait for a whole chapter to end before taking a break. A little diary episode ends and that is it, end of chapter.

Lastly, there have been some arguments made as to how a person can write a journal while they are in places creating havoc. Well I being an ex-journal keeper myself can actually verify that YES we can do that very easily which is the precise reason why we lose so much time on tasks that require our immediate attention. We are too busy writing away our inner-selves that we don’t even notice how seconds turn into minutes and minutes turn into hours. 

Haha! Hope you guys enjoy the review and if you haven’t read it already will think of reading it. Do share your opinion about the review or the book. Anything is welcome.