Bridget Jones's Diary - Helen Fielding

★★★★★★★★★★ (9/10)

Nearly everyone I know has either heard of or seen the film version of Bridget Jones's Diary, with the interesting casting of Colin Firth (forever THE Mr. Darcy for me) cast as Bridget's Mark Darcy. However, I haven't met anyone who'd read the book, or at least, no one had ever told me they'd read it. Imagine my surprise when I find this in a closing Borders (yay for discounts!), and think to myself, "I liked that movie, I guess I should read the book."

I loved it! Bridget really does have some strange and interesting problems in her life, but the way she deals with them is what makes me like this novel so much. At the beginning of each entry, she's keeping track of something, but the items change depending on what's happening in her life. For instance, she is obsessed with her weight, but after being dumped, gives up keeping track because she doesn't think it's worth it anymore. At one point, she starts counting how many fruit smoothies she drinking, or how many lottery tickets she's purchased. It's fun to see what's important to her, and how her priorities change based on the emotional turmoil in her day to day life.

But Bridget's life is full of drama; slightly unrealistic, but completely hilarious drama. She has a boyfriend, gets dumped for thinner woman, gets called "squashy" by a younger man, her mom becomes an international thief with her lover from Portugal, makes blue soup (really), and still manages to come out at the end of the year with a comprehensive list of how many calories and cigarettes she's gone through. It's a wonderful mess of horrible things, and all of them somehow relate to her weight.  A strange episode was when she finally got down to her goal weight, only to have friends ask her why she looks drawn, flat, and tired.  This is a good example that the way we see ourselves is NOT the way others see us.  Her friend Tom even told her that he liked her better before she lost the weight, because she was herself.

So, a roller coaster of ups, downs, breakdowns and breakthroughs, Bridget Jones's Diary is almost a self-help book. She faces problems that real women face (weight issues, relationship fears and woes, family problems, friendship troubles, etc.), but Fielding gives Bridget the courage and fortitude to get through it all, even when things are really difficult.  Fielding also includes bits of actual "self-help" in the form of the books and articles Bridget and her friend Jude read.  Jude starts Bridget reading Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus and together they learn about Feng Shui, and various ways to try to improve mental stability.  Not everything worked for Bridget, but her attempts are like a never-ending trial and error, the way most people have to do things. 

Very happy with this book, and looking forward to reading The Edge of Reason.  I've read other diary-form books before, but this one is so much more than a simple recounting of daily activities.  Bridget Jones's Diary is really Bridget's life with nothing left out and nothing (overly) exaggerated.  If it weren't for the fact that Bridget is fictional, I'd feel kind of a bit awkward for reading it because there are personal things about Bridget (her pregnancy scare) that I wouldn't want people to read in my diary if I had one.  But luckily for me, Bridget isn't real, and I can read books "written by her" as much as I'd like!