Bridget Jones's Diary: Elizabeth Bennet? Not So Much

On the Fourth of July, I finished re-reading Bridget Jones's Diary. Odd choice of reading material perhaps, but oh-so delightful. There's nothing quite like reading about the trials and tribulations of a hapless British thirtysomething to keep you laughing throughout the day.

I must begin by emphasizing that Bridget Jones is not some role model that all women aspire to emulate. A friend declared that she hated this book because she couldn't relate to Bridget and found her terribly irritating. Author Helen Fielding set out to make a modern-day Pride & Prejudice, and plot elements of this book will strongly remind you of that novel, but Bridget is nothing like Elizabeth Bennet. She is not particularly witty, is perpetually in search of a boyfriend, and counts calories and alcohol units for no apparent reason since she can't seem to abide by any semblance of a diet. But my enjoyment of this book (and its even more over-the-top sequel) lies in the hysterical mess that is Bridget Jones's life.

The novel was born out of a weekly column that Fielding wrote for the Independent and retains that economical newspaper style. Each diary entry is humorous and to the point, with Bridget veering wildly from joy to despair and back again within the course of several hours or sometimes even minutes. Her observations on being a Singleton, the pains of attending dinner parties with Smug Married couples, and her feminist rants with her single friends at happy hour where she tries to convince herself that men are scum are pretty on point. This novel's popularity lies in these random observations about modern life and even if Bridget's troubles are exaggerated and bizarre, you will find plenty of things in Bridget's life that seem oddly familiar.

Bridget's love life is probably the most bizarre aspect of the series, as she goes from Daniel Cleaver (the ne'er-do-well Mr. Wickham character) to the incomprehensibly perfect Mark Darcy (the Mr. Darcy character - obviously). I honestly found Bridget's daily musings to be of more interest that the overarching plot of which man she'll end up with, but the bonus of reading the novel after watching the movie is that you can picture Hugh Grant and Colin Firth as her two suitors. I love the movies but they are very different from the novels and a comparison of the novels' storylines to that of the movies clearly illustrates the difference between writing for film and writing a novel. The movies place far more emphasis on the men in her life (and who can blame them when you have actors like Grant and Firth?) but the novels depend exclusively on Bridget and her daily ramblings.

Summer is a time for frivolous reading and amusement and you can do no better than Bridget Jones's Diary. It is an endlessly funny ode to living in the twentieth century and perhaps you can derive some comfort from the fact that if someone as ridiculous as Bridget Jones can manage to have it all, there might be hope for the rest of us.

Update: If you don't have access to the books or need a push before you can consider reading them, this marvellous online archive contains all the original Bridget Jones columns as well as the movie screenplays. Go forth!