Rating: 
Summary: this book is wondeful
Review: if i could, i would rate this book with as many stars as possible. i have owned this book for about 3 years and have read it more times than i can count, each time laughing and loving it more and more. although i can not relate to everything bridget does, i can relate to her emotions facing work and family. this book gives me hope that there is that boy with whom you used to play naked in the paddling pool is out there waiting
the movie is also very good but i would recommend reading the book first.
Rating: 
Summary: funny yet strangely depressing
Review: Maybe it's just me, but I really don't know any single woman (or anyone else) who's quite as pathetic as Bridget. It's not that she smokes and drinks too much, obsesses over her weight and her love life, is incompetent at both her jobs, and allows her mother to manipulate her -- it's that she obviously hates the fact that she does all these things, and yet she never manages to change her ways in the slightest. She's forever running in circles, trying to learn feng shui or become a gourmet cook, but her interest peters out after a few days and she's on to something new. If there was just one thing she was good at or really enjoyed (other than self-destructive pursuits like the aforementioned drinking and obsessing), she would have been a much more likable character.(...)The book's failings are made even more obvious by the fact that the plot draws on "Pride and Prejudice" by Jane Austen. Austen's novel has exactly what this book lacks -- a heroine we can respect, who makes mistakes but who learns from them, and who is actually a very good "match," personality-wise, for her "prince." The borrowing from Austen becomes painful towards the end of the book, when the whole mom-on-the-lam complication arises -- obviously nothing more than an attempt to parellel Lydia's elopement in "Pride and Prejudice." While the plot twist in "P&P" works because the whole book has been preparing the reader for it to occur, it comes out of nowhere in "Bridget Jones" and makes no sense whatsoever. I was actually reminded of another Jane Austen "update" -- the movie "Clueless," which was really pretty good. The difference between that movie and this book/movie is that the girl in "Clueless" actually learns something during the course of the movie, and comes out with a better understanding of herself and, basically, becomes a better person. That's something that's totally lacking here. In spite of my obvious problems with this book, I'm giving it 3 stars because it IS funny and because I'm sure most people won't have the problems with it that I have.
Rating:
Summary: Funny but choppy, unrealistic, and rather meaningless
Review: The structure created many of the problems. It's supposed to be a smooth story, but is supposed to also look like a diary. I didn't know exactly where the character was going, or that she was even trying to get any particular place. I also think she was a loser, one I found difficult to sympathize with. There were several unrealistic things happening, some of which contributed to the climax, thus the climax was not all that amazing to me. Also, there were many things in it that seemed British-specific and incomprehensible (like, who would care about a guy named Daniel Cleaver? He sounds like fish pate on spam.)
Rating:
Summary: Not Hilarious, But Certainly Entertaining!
Review: I didn't find this book "hilarious" and I didn't "split a gut laughing", but I got quite a few smiles and even more chuckles out of it. Just about every page had something cute or witty on it, which I found really enjoyable. I could definitely relate to Bridget & her eternal quests for happiness and a botfriend. Since there are so many reviews on this book explaining what it is about, I thought I'd write a few of my favorite lines from the book: "I realize it has become too easy to find a diet to fit in with whatever you happen to feel like eating and that diets are not there to be picked and mixed but picked and stuck to, which is exactly what I shall begin to do once I've eaten this chocolate croissant." "Maybe Dad will appear hanging upside down outside the window dressed as a Morris dancer, crash in and start hitting Mum over the head with a sheep's bladder; or suddenly fall facedown out of the airing cupboard with a plastic knife stuck in his back. The only thing which can possibly get everything back on course is a Bloody Mary. It's nearly afternoon after all." "...just had cigarette, but no-smoking day does not start officially until I have gotten dressed." "...so all I've got to do is find someone or something to have power over and then...oh G*d, I haven't even got power over my own hair." "Twenty-two hours, four pizzas, one Indian takeaway, three packets of cigarettes and three bottles of champagne later, Daniel is still here. I am in love. I am also now between one and all of the following...a) back on thirty a day...b) engaged ... c) stupid... d) pregnant." Some of these quotes were taken out of context, but I still thought they were cute. All in all, this is a very entertaining book, well worth the read...and it's a quick read, too, and makes for a fun weekend escape from reality.
Rating: 
Summary: A Pamphlet On Real Life
Review: "Bridget Jones' Diary" by Helen Fielding is hilarious!! I found just about everything in this novel funny. Although some of the slang, I did find myself confused on!! I definetly related to Bridget, even though I am a man! and am proud of have read this book!! I know what it feels like to want to lose weight, quite smoking or trying to get that certain special someone to notice you or the fear of being completely alone, forever!! lol. This novel is definetly all of that and a box of cigarettes! And If you like the novel, you might like the movie, too! Check it out. I can't wait to read "The Edge Of Reason"
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely Wonderful!
Review: I read this book in about a day..it was that good! I could not put it down!! I later saw the movie , which was excellent also, but the book was even better! I have recently read the sequel, and again, was not disappointed! Bridget Jones is someone that any woman can relate to on some level! I definitely reccommend this book and its sequel!
Rating:
Summary: Fun in your Thirties - The Life of a Singleton
Review: Well, I saw the movie and just loved it. Decided that I had to read the book and since they were right next to each other on the shelf, picked up the sequel too. Boy did I get my moneys worth. I spent the next 2 days balancing between laughter and amazement.
First, I laughed because I was finally reading a book about a single woman my age who suffers from the same problems I do even though we live in different parts of the world. Bridget is 33, single, isn't 98lbs. and still considers herself a "Sex Goddess". WOW, Me Too! I laughed at her weight chronicles and commisserated with her by eating several pieces of chocolate when she too suffered an "overnight mystery weight gain". I think I fell in love with Mark around the same time she did, but who couldn't love a guy like him. My other reaction was amazement...I kept yelling at the book "Stop Listening to Jude, Shaz and Tom, What do they know? None of them are in a "Normal Relationship" either, so why are you listening to them? In book 2 when Shaz unplugged the phone at Bridget's because she didn't want Bridge to call Mark for an explaination about their misunderstanding, I screamed "What are you letting her do? Plug that phone in and call him!" And if Jude quoted 1 more romance self-help book I would have choked her. But then again that's just me. All in all, I loved both books and would love a sequel to the movie. Great Reading for Over Thirty 'Singleton's'!
Rating: 
Summary: does not speak for me or any other 30ish single woman I know
Review: I have to say I found this book rather disappointing (the movie was a little better). I picked it up because it was about a single woman in her 30s like myself, but after I got about halfway into the book I started to feel very alienated. I just couldn't relate to Bridget at all. Some of us over-30 single women do actually lead healthy lives, even if society seems to like to think otherwise. I guess this book disturbed me because no one seemed to notice - least of all the author - that Bridget might be an alcoholic and compulsive overeater. Of course, I don't blame her for wanting a man in her life. That's a perfectly normal, healthy thing. But I did not find the way Bridget seemed to deal with it by drinking, eating lots of junk food (her diary records the number of calories and "alcohol units" she consumed each day in nauseatingly tedious detail), and reading trashy self-help books amusing. Instead, it depressed me. The thing that bothered me most about Bridget was that she appeared to have very little sense of herself. Everybody's opinion of her seemed to count much more than her own; whether they were her corny, busybody Smug Married friends, her idiotic interfering mother, her cliche-ishly "player" self-satisfied boss she was foolish enough to sleep with, or his bitchy yuppie girlfriend. Normally I'm not a violent person, but I thought these characters were so insufferable that I found myself wanting to stuff them all inside a cannon and shoot them to the moon. I guess I'm biased for this reason, but I kept waiting for Bridget to "see the light," realize her own self-worth, and come to the same conclusion about these cretins; maybe at a 12-step meeting or something like that. But it didn't happen, even when she found a boyfriend. One thing I did like about this book was the British slang and humor. I loved the terms like "emotional f*ckwittage." Those were the parts that did make me laugh. No doubt I come across as this uptight prude to a lot of people who luuuuv and "identify with" Bridget. Well, I'm sorry, but I've never found shallow, dysfunctional, stereotypical people interesting.
Rating:
Summary: Why do I love this book so much? Because it tells the truth!
Review: I will admit that when this book first came out, I thought it was about a model. Then a friend told me she loved it, I read it and laughed so hard!! I saw the movie in the theater, loved it, and of course I now own the DVD. Fielding writes with no holds barred, not afraid to put exactly what she is feeling in ink, and as it turns out, she is pretty much right on just about everything. All women obsess over their weight, why that guy hasn't called, if they look fat, and why is everyone else happy but me?! Bravo, Helen for writing one of the best and funniest books I have ever read. It is now one of my top 5 favorite books of all time.
Rating: 
Summary: I can't see what all the fuss is about
Review: I'm annoyed that I spent $1 to reserve this at the library. I had to force myself to finish it. If this is the sort of character that young women today relate to, I fear for our gender. To say that Bridget is shallow, sophmoric and simplistic would be an understatement. This book was supposed to be hilareous but I only managed a weak chuckle once near the end of the book. I gave it two stars because it is slightly better than the worst books I have ever read.
| 
