Bridget Jones's Diary : A Novel

Customer reviews:

Traci Bennett is the BEST for this book on CD, 2008-11-02
I had listened to this book through the library and then borrowed it again later, but with a different reader. It was not NEARLY as entertaining by the other reader, so you ONLY want the one read by Traci Bennett!

Down with the Chick Lit Revolution (Revulsion?) [I can't give less than one star?], 2008-11-01
In the July/August 2003 Book Magazine, there was an article name "She's Come Undone." After reviewing the article and talking to many women, I decided to see what made her done in the first place. I finally broke down and bought a copy of Bridget Jones's Diary. The article only served as the straw that broke the camel's back. Many evenings I have spent in the company of female friends or dates and found a few things out about them, which were just speculations until finally reading Jones's Diary, and would like to relate them.

Personally speaking, if I am out with anyone, I need to have some order of conversation and with all such luck the person and I will have something in common. Many women who I have spoke to about Bridget Jones's Diary all fall into a few categories. These women are women who do not regularly read, outside of required reading ages ago from school, and they all believe Bridget Jones's Diary to be some great literary masterpiece. I will admit that I was intimidated by the notion of reading, the now defined "Chick Lit," because I am a male. After all the hype I buckled down and read the work.

Bridget Jones's Diary is written in a very unique tone and follows suit to prove Jones a scatterbrain. By all means, Helen Fielding is a very smart woman. She created a product, produced interest, even in the most unsuspected non-readers, and continued the wave of "Chick Lit," making a buck at the same time. However, the lack of words where needed made some of the book incomprehensible, knowing no one who writes in their own journal that way, and the many abbreviations served as a nuisance. The problems that Bridget has in her life are problems everyone has to deal with on one level or another, nothing to really obsess about. So this leads me to believe a few things. That the women who have spoken to me, raving about the book, do in fact think totally on those lines, that scares me and is probably a reason why I don't talk to them anymore. Or, they truly believe Jones's Diary to be a great masterpiece and I can always write that off as being a "non-reader." The final analysis tells me that I need to stop talking to some of these women because they are either crazy or stupid, not the "non-readers" though, ignorance is bliss.

The book was in an interesting voice and had a great originality to it. One could go as far to say that it was a decent read but just not my style. For those who simply read this book on a referral and do not regularly read, I would hope they might continue their interest in literature and reading, possibly finding something with great value.

With all that said I would leave a lasting note. While I was reading this book, there were times I had it while working (I worked on a ferry service as a bar tender). With my hard cover edition of the Diary in hand, having a cloth book cover concealing my choice in reading, I was speaking to a female customer. The trip was from New York to New Jersey and she was a very well spoken, well-dressed, beautiful professional, I was in awe. After serving her the drink she ordered we were talking for a bit. "Well, I have to get going. I want to read more of my book." A light immediately went off in my head, A book lover! I thought that I must continue to talk to her. "Oh you don't say, I'm reading a book too. Bridget Jones's Diary." I replied. Continuing the conversation "Oh really, you must be reading that because someone referred it to you." She said. "No, I am reading it because so many women talk about it. To tell you the truth, I figure if I'm going to play the game with them, I should go in with a loaded weapon. Do you think that I would keep this cover on the book if it were Steven King? What are you reading?" I clarified and showed her the real contents of the book. "Oh, I'm reading consumer reports." A consumer report, that was the great book I thought she was reading. "Oh really, is that for work?" I inquired, trying to hold onto any visions of drinking coffee with this woman all hours of the evening talking about literature and sociology. "No, I'm buying a car. I figure if I'm going to go and play the game, I'm going to do it with a loaded weapon." Then my professional, not so literary, goddess took off to an upper deck to settle down with her rum and coke and consumer reports. I finished Bridget Jones's Diary, not at all satisfied, she is probably very happy with the car she bought and likes her job working for a publisher.
~John J. Petrolino III: September 17, 2008
Author of Galleria: A collection of poetry and the short story "Three Lonesome Travelers"