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Summary and Reviews of Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding

Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding

Bridget Jones's Diary

A Novel

by Helen Fielding
  • Critics' Consensus:
  • Readers' Rating:
  • First Published:
  • May 1, 1998, 271 pages
  • Paperback:
  • May 1999, 267 pages
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About This Book

Book Summary

This laugh-out-loud chronicle charts a year in the life of Bridget Jones, a single girl on a permanent, doomed quest for self-improvement.

"130 lbs. (how is it possible to put on 4 pounds overnight? Could flesh have somehow solidified becoming denser and heavier (repulsive, horrifying notion)); alcohol units 2 (excellent) cigarettes 21 (poor but will give up totally tomorrow); number of correct lottery numbers 2 (better, but nevertheless useless)..."

This laugh-out-loud chronicle charts a year in the life of Bridget Jones, a single girl on a permanent, doomed quest for self-improvement--in which she resolves to: visit the gym three times a week not merely to buy a sandwich, form a functional relationship with a responsible adult, and not fall for any of the following: misogynists, megalomaniacs, adulterers, workaholics, chauvinists or perverts. And learn to program the VCR.

Caught between her Singleton friends, who are all convinced they will end up dying alone and found three weeks later half-eaten by an Alsatian, and the Smug Marrieds, whose dinner parties offer ever-new opportunities for humiliation, Bridget struggles to keep her life on an even keel (or at least afloat). Through it all, she will have her readers helpless with laughter and shouting, "BRIDGET JONES IS ME!"

January: An Exceptionally Bad Start

Sunday 1 January

129 lbs. (but post-Christmas), alcohol units 14 (but effectively covers 2 days as 4 hours of party was on New Year's Day), cigarettes 22, calories 5424.

Food consumed today:
2 pkts Emmenthal cheese slices
14 cold new potatoes
2 Bloody Marys (count as food as contain Worcester sauce and tomatoes)
1/3 Ciabatta loaf with Brie
coriander leaves--1/2 packet
12 Milk Tray (best to get rid of all Christmas confectionery in one go and make fresh start tomorrow)
13 cocktail sticks securing cheese and pineapple
Portion Una Alconbury's turkey curry, peas and bananas
Portion Una Alconbury's Raspberry Surprise made with Bourbon biscuits, tinned raspberries, eight gallons of whipped cream, decorated with glacé cherries and angelica.

Noon. London: my flat. Ugh. The last thing on earth I feel physically, emotionally or mentally equipped to do is drive to Una and Geoffrey Alconbury's New Year's Day...

Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!
An Introduction to Bridget Jones's Diary
(as if you really need one):


Single, thirty-something career woman Bridget Jones has taken the best-seller lists by storm -- much to her creator's surprise -- and entered the English language and psyche. As Newsweek put it, "Ally McBeal better watch her scrawny little back -- Bridget Jones is coming to America." Too thin and upwardly mobile, Ally nevertheless shares with Bridget an obsessive, slightly paranoid preoccupation with her love life (or lack thereof), which proves the point: Bridget lives in all of us. She is every woman who has ever looked in the mirror and groaned, resolved to Do Something About It (whether via gym membership, slashing caloric intake, or marshaling Inner ...
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Reviews

Media Reviews

Elle Magazine
.... readers will giggle and sigh with collective delight.

The New Yorker - Daphne Merkin
(the book is) the sort of cultural artifact that is recognizably larger than itself. . . .[It] sits so lightly on the reader that it is easy to overlook the skill with which it has been assembled. --

Publishers Weekly.
It's hard to imagine a funnier book appearing anywhere this year.

Reader Reviews

Lisa

Wonderful
I´m from Germany and I read the book because I had do to at school. but I think it´s very good and funny and I like to read it. But sometimes it was difficult for me to understand all. And so I can´t say if the book is the same like the film, or if ...   Read More
Kerry

Fantastic
Of course the book is all about Bridget's feelings and emotions....it's a diary!! I think anyone, man or woman, would quietly admit to themselves the selfish thoughts they have when something terrible happens to someone they know, Bridget is just ...   Read More
Ezhik

Well, Hello!
I'm from Russia! I must say, that Helen Filding is one of the most popular writer nowadays, of course after the film being released. Wonderful!!!!!!!!!
Una

The film was great but the book was even better. I can't stop reading them and I can't wait for the third one to come out . Come on Helen...Write Away! You are my favourite author.

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Read-Alikes

Read-Alikes Full readalike results are for members only

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