Helen Fielding – 4/5 Stars
Read this if you:
· have ever set New Year’s resolutions to improve yourself
· have ever felt embarrassed by your mother
· like to watch the movie after reading the book
Synopsis:
Bridget Jones is a perpetually single 30-something woman just trying to keep her weight down, find a boyfriend, and limit her caffeine and alcohol intake as her New Years’ resolutions. Unfortunately this is more difficult than she originally planned for but her journey from January – December is hilarious nonetheless.
My thoughts on the book:
This book was such a flashback to the 90s! I found it to be lighthearted and funny but there was definitely a ton of problematic themes throughout. If you need a reminder of where all your body image issues came from, it’s all in this book. I actually felt so bad for Bridget and her seemingly unreachable goals that seemed simple enough but were almost near impossible for her.
The character development throughout this book was a bit on the shallow side. Even though this is written in diary format, we don’t get much about Bridget’s deepest thoughts and feelings, mostly just her daily musings. Aside from this, Bridget is so relatable and so funny, I found myself laughing out loud throughout the book. I don’t think there’s any book with such a candid MC, her excessive smoking habit made me feel so much better about my own vices.
While I really enjoyed this book, I don’t feel very compelled to pick up any of the others in the series – maybe I’ll save them for a time when I’m feeling particularly bad about myself… I’ve heard the movie is way better than the book here, might need to give that a go!