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I put off writing this review because I knew it was just going to end up being an angry rant and I didn't want to offend anyone that loved this book, but the time has come. I now warn those who loved the book to, please, either look away now or read ahead with caution. No offense is meant at all to people who enjoyed this book.
I will start by saying that I had seen the movie before reading the book. I've seen the movie quite a few times (the second one only once or twice). It's the kind of movie that I enjoy enough that if I happen to spot it on TV, I will sit and watch it quite happily. It's never been a movie that I've gone out of my way to watch or one that I would sit there and suddenly think 'I know, I'll stick that on' but I do enjoy it when I watch it as a nice, cutesy, light movie. So I decided to give the book a try and see if I'd enjoy it even more. Well, that didn't happen. Every single character is more likable in the movie than in the book. Every single one of them. I've never been that fond of Renee Zellweger in the role but even she was more likable than book Bridget, and the effortless combined charm of Hugh Grant and Colin Firth make both male suitors much more attractive and make it easier for us to understand why Bridget would actually go for either of them because just in writing, both men are incredibly unappealing.
Mark Darcy has his good moments and I will admit to their being a few moments where I thought 'aaww he's quite sweet' but it never went beyond that and for most of the book (basically the whole book) he was such a wet fish and unfortunately an incredibly dull character. He didn't do anything. He stood up for Bridget, maybe, twice in the whole book and besides that he just stood by silently and did what everyone else told him he should do. He was barely even in the book for the most part which just made him getting together with Bridget seem so random and rushed at the end.
Daniel Cleaver is just the worst. I mean, I know he's supposed to be because he's supposed to be the worst human being ever so that we root for boring old Mark Darcy but still. It was almost over the top with just how horrible he was the whole time. I understand that, yes, sometimes women do unfortunately fall for horrible guys and can't help it but while I was reading it I just could not for the life of me ever work out why Bridget liked him so much and let him treat her like such crap.
Onto Bridget herself, oh god. Where do I even start? Actually let's start with the whole weight thing because this really pissed me off. First of all, there were several times when she would be about 9 stone and would complain about being 'basically obese'. Erm, I'm sorry, what?! 9 stone is not obese, it's not even close. If a girl who is overweight (and weighs more than 9 stone) reads this book and sees Bridget moaning about being 9 stone and complaining about how 'gross' and 'fat' she is, how would that then make them feel? But it doesn't stop there because when Bridget finally does lose some weight and drop a stone, her friends (who are all horrible) tell her she looks tired and unhealthy. Secondly, I don't mind someone complaining about not being able to lose weight when it's obvious that they're making a genuine effort to or when there's a genuine reason as to why they're unable to or struggling to but when someone moans about being "overweight" and says they want to lose weight but then immediately eats loads of chocolate or goes out binge drinking it is the most frustrating thing to read or listen to ever. Why should I feel any sympathy for someone who just complains all the time but doesn't actually do anything to help themselves? She also complains about wanting to cut down on her drinking and give up smoking, and does she do either of those? No, of course she doesn't, she just continues moaning about it. Bridget is the stereotypical idea of what single women are like, and it's incredibly offensive.
Bridget and her friends are also one of the worst group of friends ever. One of their friends is with some guy that they all hate, and for good reason because he's horrible to their friend and treats her poorly, so what do they do? Nothing. According to Bridget herself, after one of the first break ups their friend had with the guy, Sharon and Bridget told her how much they hated him and that she shouldn't be with him and then the friend got back together with him and told him everything they said. First of all, this shows how horrible all her friends are, even the one being screwed over by the guy then screws her friends over to him, and secondly Bridget and Sharon now use that as their excuse to just blatantly lie to their friends face and support her decision to get back with him whenever she gets dumped by him. These are not true friends. This is far from the only example. Every one of Bridget's friends are horrible, selfish, and self-centred people.
Then we get onto the topic of Bridget and her parents. Well, from the start it's clearly evident that Bridget has a favourite and her favourite is her Dad because her Mum is basically the typical cartoon, cheesy sit-com, bitch of a mother who always puts her daughter down or forces her to do things she doesn't want to do like talk to people. This favouritism is fine to start with because you have already been shown Bridget's point of view and you kind of understand it because the Dad is shown as the sweet, caring type of Dad. The favouritism becomes more annoying however when Bridget's Mum decides to leave her Dad. The Mum gives her reasons which are actually very sound, solid, good reasons for having had enough and wanting a divorce (the Dad retired years ago and now does absolutely nothing but he expects her to continue her role as happy housewife and do everything for him and she wants to go out and get a job of her own as she's never had one) but suddenly, "feminist" and "pro-singleton", Bridget doesn't accept those reasons and still sides with the Dad who completely fails to see how he could be in any way at fault for how the Mum feels.
[Edit] I initially gave this two stars, as I guess I was feeling generous (I had just come back from holiday, maybe that influenced it) but after leaving it for a while and then thinking about it again, I'm going to have to stick to my guns and give it one star. I did not enjoy this book at all. I spent most of it just feeling so angry at everyone and everything in it. It had some stupid plotlines thrown in out of nowhere (yes, I'm looking at the Mum and her money laundering boyfriend) which just frustrated me more. Some of the book was (I guess sadly in some cases) very realistic. As much as I hated the characters, they did all feel very real and I know that I have definitely known people like some of them in my life. Some parts of the book were also very relatable, as a singleton that has been single for a long time I can definitely say that I've had a lot of the same comments and conversations that Bridget has in the book with various people. How realistic and, sometimes, relatable the book can be/is, is what made me initially give it 2 stars instead of 1 but even with those moments, I still had a bad time reading this book. The main parts I did somewhat enjoy were whenever Bridget was actually having one of her moments of not caring and enjoying being single and throwing it back in people's faces when they tried to talk down to her for it, as that is the way I wish more single women were portrayed in the media as opposed to the sad, desperate women who can't cope or function without a man that they are usually shown to be (i.e. like Bridget through most of the book). So this book wasn't completely without redeeming moments but for the most part I just found this book incredibly hard to swallow. I was looking for a nice, relaxing, funny, holiday read and I didn't get any of those from this book. Obviously other people do enjoy this book and it's sequels so it was clearly just the wrong book for me. The hotel I was staying at had a double sided bookshelf where people could take or leave a book so I left this one there, hopefully it will find it's way into the hands of someone who will enjoy it a lot more than I did.
I will start by saying that I had seen the movie before reading the book. I've seen the movie quite a few times (the second one only once or twice). It's the kind of movie that I enjoy enough that if I happen to spot it on TV, I will sit and watch it quite happily. It's never been a movie that I've gone out of my way to watch or one that I would sit there and suddenly think 'I know, I'll stick that on' but I do enjoy it when I watch it as a nice, cutesy, light movie. So I decided to give the book a try and see if I'd enjoy it even more. Well, that didn't happen. Every single character is more likable in the movie than in the book. Every single one of them. I've never been that fond of Renee Zellweger in the role but even she was more likable than book Bridget, and the effortless combined charm of Hugh Grant and Colin Firth make both male suitors much more attractive and make it easier for us to understand why Bridget would actually go for either of them because just in writing, both men are incredibly unappealing.
Mark Darcy has his good moments and I will admit to their being a few moments where I thought 'aaww he's quite sweet' but it never went beyond that and for most of the book (basically the whole book) he was such a wet fish and unfortunately an incredibly dull character. He didn't do anything. He stood up for Bridget, maybe, twice in the whole book and besides that he just stood by silently and did what everyone else told him he should do. He was barely even in the book for the most part which just made him getting together with Bridget seem so random and rushed at the end.
Daniel Cleaver is just the worst. I mean, I know he's supposed to be because he's supposed to be the worst human being ever so that we root for boring old Mark Darcy but still. It was almost over the top with just how horrible he was the whole time. I understand that, yes, sometimes women do unfortunately fall for horrible guys and can't help it but while I was reading it I just could not for the life of me ever work out why Bridget liked him so much and let him treat her like such crap.
Onto Bridget herself, oh god. Where do I even start? Actually let's start with the whole weight thing because this really pissed me off. First of all, there were several times when she would be about 9 stone and would complain about being 'basically obese'. Erm, I'm sorry, what?! 9 stone is not obese, it's not even close. If a girl who is overweight (and weighs more than 9 stone) reads this book and sees Bridget moaning about being 9 stone and complaining about how 'gross' and 'fat' she is, how would that then make them feel? But it doesn't stop there because when Bridget finally does lose some weight and drop a stone, her friends (who are all horrible) tell her she looks tired and unhealthy. Secondly, I don't mind someone complaining about not being able to lose weight when it's obvious that they're making a genuine effort to or when there's a genuine reason as to why they're unable to or struggling to but when someone moans about being "overweight" and says they want to lose weight but then immediately eats loads of chocolate or goes out binge drinking it is the most frustrating thing to read or listen to ever. Why should I feel any sympathy for someone who just complains all the time but doesn't actually do anything to help themselves? She also complains about wanting to cut down on her drinking and give up smoking, and does she do either of those? No, of course she doesn't, she just continues moaning about it. Bridget is the stereotypical idea of what single women are like, and it's incredibly offensive.
Bridget and her friends are also one of the worst group of friends ever. One of their friends is with some guy that they all hate, and for good reason because he's horrible to their friend and treats her poorly, so what do they do? Nothing. According to Bridget herself, after one of the first break ups their friend had with the guy, Sharon and Bridget told her how much they hated him and that she shouldn't be with him and then the friend got back together with him and told him everything they said. First of all, this shows how horrible all her friends are, even the one being screwed over by the guy then screws her friends over to him, and secondly Bridget and Sharon now use that as their excuse to just blatantly lie to their friends face and support her decision to get back with him whenever she gets dumped by him. These are not true friends. This is far from the only example. Every one of Bridget's friends are horrible, selfish, and self-centred people.
Then we get onto the topic of Bridget and her parents. Well, from the start it's clearly evident that Bridget has a favourite and her favourite is her Dad because her Mum is basically the typical cartoon, cheesy sit-com, bitch of a mother who always puts her daughter down or forces her to do things she doesn't want to do like talk to people. This favouritism is fine to start with because you have already been shown Bridget's point of view and you kind of understand it because the Dad is shown as the sweet, caring type of Dad. The favouritism becomes more annoying however when Bridget's Mum decides to leave her Dad. The Mum gives her reasons which are actually very sound, solid, good reasons for having had enough and wanting a divorce (the Dad retired years ago and now does absolutely nothing but he expects her to continue her role as happy housewife and do everything for him and she wants to go out and get a job of her own as she's never had one) but suddenly, "feminist" and "pro-singleton", Bridget doesn't accept those reasons and still sides with the Dad who completely fails to see how he could be in any way at fault for how the Mum feels.
[Edit] I initially gave this two stars, as I guess I was feeling generous (I had just come back from holiday, maybe that influenced it) but after leaving it for a while and then thinking about it again, I'm going to have to stick to my guns and give it one star. I did not enjoy this book at all. I spent most of it just feeling so angry at everyone and everything in it. It had some stupid plotlines thrown in out of nowhere (yes, I'm looking at the Mum and her money laundering boyfriend) which just frustrated me more. Some of the book was (I guess sadly in some cases) very realistic. As much as I hated the characters, they did all feel very real and I know that I have definitely known people like some of them in my life. Some parts of the book were also very relatable, as a singleton that has been single for a long time I can definitely say that I've had a lot of the same comments and conversations that Bridget has in the book with various people. How realistic and, sometimes, relatable the book can be/is, is what made me initially give it 2 stars instead of 1 but even with those moments, I still had a bad time reading this book. The main parts I did somewhat enjoy were whenever Bridget was actually having one of her moments of not caring and enjoying being single and throwing it back in people's faces when they tried to talk down to her for it, as that is the way I wish more single women were portrayed in the media as opposed to the sad, desperate women who can't cope or function without a man that they are usually shown to be (i.e. like Bridget through most of the book). So this book wasn't completely without redeeming moments but for the most part I just found this book incredibly hard to swallow. I was looking for a nice, relaxing, funny, holiday read and I didn't get any of those from this book. Obviously other people do enjoy this book and it's sequels so it was clearly just the wrong book for me. The hotel I was staying at had a double sided bookshelf where people could take or leave a book so I left this one there, hopefully it will find it's way into the hands of someone who will enjoy it a lot more than I did.
