Date Finished: 04/01/2012
My Rating: 4/5
I think this was probably the 4th or 5th time that I've read Bridget Jones, and I have seen the film a bunch of times too. In fact, it was the first DVD I ever owned - I won it in a competition about 3 years before I had the means of watching it. I was excited about reading it again, and I knew that it would only take me a couple of days and that I would enjoy it.
The thing that surprised me this time, though, is how dated it seems now. The sentiments of the book and the self-doubt of Bridget are ageless and still relevant to today's world, but the part about being unable to set the video to record... I can imagine girls reading that now and thinking "can they not just watch it on iPlayer??". Also, facebook has been invented since this was written, and I can just imagine how obsessed Bridget would have been about that - checking Daniel's friend list, analysing all the comments made by any girl on his wall, and being annoyed because Mark Darcy wasn't even on there. I also suspect Bridget might be one of those girls that puts far too much information in her status updates about the dramas in her life. There is also a lack of mobile phones, and I can quite imagine Bridget wondering whether she should text Daniel, and how many kisses to put at the end. Oh, and the drunken text message sagas that would have ensued would have been brilliant!
All of that, however, just goes to show how far we've moved on in the last 16 years or so since it was first published, and the fact of the matter is that any girl who has ever got involved with someone she probably shouldn't, who has felt stuck in their job, or wondered if they were ever going to meet that special someone or has a hugely embarrassing mother will enjoy this book. Reading it this close to New Year just made me want to go out and buy a diary and write some New Year's Resolutions. I laughed loudly at many points of the book, often in public, and that, to me, is the sign of truly funny book. I think I'll dig out the DVD at the weekend and enjoy it with a glass of wine or two. Actually, I might just make that a bottle.
So, who should read this book? Any woman that has ever made outrageous, unachievable New Year's resolutions about weight loss and healthy living, obsessed about the wrong man or been shown up in public by their mother. It's definitely re-readable if you have read it before, and if you've only seen the film, I think the book offers a few more subtleties that make it even more endearing. It won't take you long, and you'll probably feel better about yourself after you've read it!
Next book: Matilda, Roald Dahl
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