Product Description

Bridget Jones wants to have it all - and once she's given up smoking and got down to 8st 7 she will. Based on Helen Fielding's diary in the Independent newspaper, this is a novel about a year in the life of a single girl on an optimistic but doomed quest for self-improvement and Inner Poise. First published in 1996.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #51788 in Books
• Published on: 1997-06-20
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 320 pages

From Amazon.co.uk
In the course of the year recorded in Bridget Jones's Diary, Bridget confides her hopes, her dreams, and her monstrously fluctuating poundage, not to mention her consumption of 5277 cigarettes and "Fat units 3457 (approx.) (hideous in every way)." In 365 days, she gains 74 pounds. On the other hand, she loses 72! There is also the unspoken New Year's resolution--the quest for the right man. Alas, here Bridget goes severely off course when she has an affair with her charming cad of a boss. But who would be without their e-mail flirtation focused on a short black skirt? The boss even contends that it is so short as to be nonexistent.

At the beginning of Helen Fielding's exceptionally funny second novel, the thirtyish publishing puffette is suffering from postholiday stress syndrome but determined to find Inner Peace and poise. Bridget will, for instance, "get up straight away when wake up in mornings." Now if only she can survive the party her mother has tricked her into--a suburban fest full of "Smug Marrieds" professing concern for her and her fellow "Singletons"--she'll have made a good start. As far as she's concerned, "We wouldn't rush up to them and roar, 'How's your marriage going? Still having sex?'"

This is only the first of many disgraces Bridget will suffer in her year of performance anxiety (at work and at play, though less often in bed) and living through other people's "emotional fuckwittage." Her twin-set-wearing suburban mother, for instance, suddenly becomes a chat-show hostess and unrepentant adulteress, while our heroine herself spends half the time overdosing on Chardonnay and feeling like "a tragic freak." Bridget Jones's Diary began as a column in the London Independent and struck a chord with readers of all sexes and sizes. In strokes simultaneously broad and subtle, Helen Fielding reveals the lighter side of despair, self-doubt, and obsession, and also satirizes everything from self-help books (they don't sound half as sensible to Bridget when she's sober) to feng shui, Cosmopolitan-style. She is the Nancy Mitford of the 1990s, and it's impossible not to root for her endearing heroine. On the other hand, one can only hope that Bridget will continue to screw up and tell us all about it for years and books to come. --Kerry Fried

Amazon.co.uk Review
In the course of the year recorded in Bridget Jones's Diary, Bridget confides her hopes, her dreams, and her monstrously fluctuating poundage, not to mention her consumption of 5277 cigarettes and "Fat units 3457 (approx.) (hideous in every way)." In 365 days, she gains 74 pounds. On the other hand, she loses 72! There is also the unspoken New Year's resolution--the quest for the right man. Alas, here Bridget goes severely off course when she has an affair with her charming cad of a boss. But who would be without their e-mail flirtation focused on a short black skirt? The boss even contends that it is so short as to be nonexistent.

At the beginning of Helen Fielding's exceptionally funny second novel, the thirtyish publishing puffette is suffering from postholiday stress syndrome but determined to find Inner Peace and poise. Bridget will, for instance, "get up straight away when wake up in mornings." Now if only she can survive the party her mother has tricked her into--a suburban fest full of "Smug Marrieds" professing concern for her and her fellow "Singletons"--she'll have made a good start. As far as she's concerned, "We wouldn't rush up to them and roar, 'How's your marriage going? Still having sex?'"

This is only the first of many disgraces Bridget will suffer in her year of performance anxiety (at work and at play, though less often in bed) and living through other people's "emotional fuckwittage." Her twin-set-wearing suburban mother, for instance, suddenly becomes a chat-show hostess and unrepentant adulteress, while our heroine herself spends half the time overdosing on Chardonnay and feeling like "a tragic freak." Bridget Jones's Diary began as a column in the London Independent and struck a chord with readers of all sexes and sizes. In strokes simultaneously broad and subtle, Helen Fielding reveals the lighter side of despair, self-doubt, and obsession, and also satirizes everything from self-help books (they don't sound half as sensible to Bridget when she's sober) to feng shui, Cosmopolitan-style. She is the Nancy Mitford of the 1990s, and it's impossible not to root for her endearing heroine. On the other hand, one can only hope that Bridget will continue to screw up and tell us all about it for years and books to come. --Kerry Fried

From the Publisher
Hilarious view of life as a single thirty-something
Bridget Jones is on an optimistic but doomed quest for self-improvement. Cheered by feminist ranting with friends Jude, Shazzer and 'fag-hag' Tom, humiliated at Smug Marrieds' dinner parties, crazed by parental attempts to fix her up with a rich divorcee in a diamond-patterned sweater, Bridget is convinced that if she could just get down to 8st 7lbs, stop smoking and develop Inner Poise, all would be resolved. In this brilliantly funny picaresque tale, Fielding shows us a year in the life of a girl determined to 'have it all' - the second she's finished this cigarette and phoned Shazzer. "A brilliant comic creation. Even men will laugh" Salman Rushdie; "Gloriously unedifying" Libby Purves; "I cannot recommend a book more joyfully...Hilariously funny, miraculously observed, endlessly touching" Jilly Cooper, Books of the Year, Daily Telegraph; "Wild comedy...observed with merciless, flamboyant wit. A gloriously funny book" Penny Perrick, Sunday Times

Customer Reviews

A Must-Read
This book was fantastic! Really easy-reading and skilfully written to have me laughing out loud throughout. I could not put it down and cannot wait to read the sequel. A perfect read for teenagers and adults alike.

"cigarettes 0 (v.g.), calories 4975 (oh dear)"
This delightful book, written in diary form, follows a hectic and very funny year in the life of Ms Bridget Jones, 30-something English Singleton. Bridget obsesses constantly about her weight and unmarried state, and as the year begins, she also obsesses about her playboy boss, Daniel Cleaver. They flirt madly and have an on-again, off-again relationship, but he is a commitment-phobe (and a bounder!).

All through the year, Bridget's flighty mother, Pam, tries to pair her up with successful barrister, Mark Darcy, but Bridget will have none of it. As the year comes to a close, however, Pam's legal woes bring Mark to the rescue, and the diary ends on a happy note.

Every page is filled with situations and emotions that all women who have dated, dreamed, been disappointed, and found solace in ice cream will find utterly hilarious. Bridget's descriptions of daily exasperation, desperation, and moments of sheer bliss make her very likeable and real. The short diary entries make this book perfect for reading when you just have a few minutes, although you'll find it hard to put down, and may find yourself laughing out loud (a lot).

Kona

Bridget Jones's Diary
This book was wonderfully hilarious! A must read! Bridget Jones is a comical charachter with many things on her mind such as to quit drinking, smoking, lose weight and get a boyfriend. This is something you don't want to miss!