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Book / Movie ReviewBridget Jones's DiaryA Novelby?Helen Fieldingright10795Book SummaryThis laugh-out-loud chronicle charts a year in the life of Bridget Jones, a single girl on a permanent, doomed quest for self-improvement.An Introduction to Bridget Jones's Diary(as if you really need one):Single, thirty-something career woman Bridget Jones has taken the best-seller lists by storm -- much to her creator's surprise -- and entered the English language and psyche. As Newsweek put it, "Ally McBeal better watch her scrawny little back -- Bridget Jones is coming to America." Too thin and upwardly mobile, Ally nevertheless shares with Bridget an obsessive, slightly paranoid preoccupation with her love life (or lack thereof), which proves the point: Bridget lives in all of us. She is every woman who has ever looked in the mirror and groaned, resolved to Do Something About It (whether via gym membership, slashing caloric intake, or marshaling Inner Resources), and kicked off the new program in a fattening or embarrassingly public manner.As Helen Fielding puts it for this Guide, "Bridget's battling with two different ideas. One is the image of the Cosmo Girl, that she should be living this great, independent life full of friends and glamorous dinner parties. The second is the old fashioned idea of failure: that if you're not married by thirty, you'll die alone and be found three weeks later half-eaten by an Alsatian."So what'll it be: tragic, barren spinsterhood, or relegation to the dull, diaper-and-coordinated-pasta-container-filled realm of the Smug Marrieds?"130 lbs. (how is it possible to put on 4 pounds overnight? Could flesh have somehow solidified becoming denser and heavier (repulsive, horrifying notion)); alcohol units 2 (excellent) cigarettes 21 (poor but will give up totally tomorrow); number of correct lottery numbers 2 (better, but nevertheless useless)..."This laugh-out-loud chronicle charts a year in the life of Bridget Jones, a single girl on a permanent, doomed quest for self-improvement--in which she resolves to: visit the gym three times a week not merely to buy a sandwich, form a functional relationship with a responsible adult, and not fall for any of the following: misogynists, megalomaniacs, adulterers, workaholics, chauvinists or perverts. And learn to program the VCR.Caught between her Singleton friends, who are all convinced they will end up dying alone and found three weeks later half-eaten by an Alsatian, and the Smug Marrieds, whose dinner parties offer ever-new opportunities for humiliation, Bridget struggles to keep her life on an even keel (or at least afloat). Through it all, she will have her readers helpless with laughter and shouting, "BRIDGET JONES IS ME!"Reading Guide QuestionsTake the following quiz to see where you fit on the Bridget-O-Meter. Have you ever:realized cellulite is creation of fiendish, misogynist extraterrestrial force in grips of which female earthlings are helpless (or entertained similar, late-night theory)NEVEROCCASIONALLYFREQUENTLYAnswer HereAnswer HereAnswer Herenot heard doorbell rung by attractive man owing to proximity of industrial-strength hairdryer to ear?NEVEROCCASIONALLYFREQUENTLYAnswer HereAnswer HereAnswer Herehad genuine concern about whereabouts of missing friend tempered by gratification at possessing perfect outfit for funeral?NEVEROCCASIONALLYFREQUENTLYAnswer HereAnswer HereAnswer Herecalculated likelihood of dying alone, in bad underwearNEVEROCCASIONALLYFREQUENTLYAnswer HereAnswer HereAnswer Herefound more than four pairs of black pantyhose -- each unwearable for a different reason -- in drawer at any one time?NEVEROCCASIONALLYFREQUENTLYAnswer HereAnswer HereAnswer Hereserved guests food of a color not existing in nature? (Add five points if color is blue; one point per half-hour period between 8:30 and the hour at which dinner typically materializes; two points if consistently tempted to impress guests with food cannot pronounce.)NEVEROCCASIONALLYFREQUENTLYAnswer HereAnswer HereAnswer Herechecked phone messages more than six times an hour in any four-day period following initial sexual encounter?NEVEROCCASIONALLYFREQUENTLYAnswer HereAnswer HereAnswer Herebeen late to first day on job because of two+ hours spent on optimum hair/make-up/outfit combo? (Add one point if ensemble still turned out to be dead wrong. Add two points if punctuality continues to prove elusive.)NEVEROCCASIONALLYFREQUENTLYAnswer HereAnswer HereAnswer HereEach "never" answer is worth one point; each "occasionally" worth two points; each "frequently" worth three points. If you score over 25, you may be Bridget--unlike Helen Fielding, who says firmly, "No, I'm not Bridget. I don't smoke or drink, and I'm a virgin." Nonetheless, her hilarious account of the miseries and triumphs of one very modern woman makes Fielding a spokesperson for all of us.Discussion QuestionsAt one point Bridget realizes that she's been on a diet for so many years that "the idea that you might actually need calories to survive has been completely wiped out of my consciousness." Yet one of her greatest assets is that she recognizes that this eternal quest for self-improvement is doomed and silly. How does the media influence women's self-images? Type your answer hereWhen Bridget decides she's simply not up to the struggle and is going to stay home in an egg-spotted sweater, it is a victory or a defeat?Type your answer hereBook Question Only - Was the book as satisfying to read as a conventionally structured novel? Type your answer hereBook question Only - How did the diary form affect your impression of?Bridget Jones's Diary?Type your answer hereBook question Only - Does it make you want to keep one, and if so, why?Type your answer hereBook question Only - What do you think Bridget looks like?Type your answer hereBook question Only - Why does Fielding never describe her? Type your answer here"We women are only vulnerable because we are a pioneer generation daring to refuse to compromise in love and relying on our own economic power. In twenty years' time men won't even dare start with fuckwittage because we will just laugh in their faces," bellows Sharon early in the story. What purpose does Sharon's character serve? Type your answer hereDo you think she's got a point? Type your answer hereHow do you think Bridget's daughter's story might differ from her mother's?Type your answer hereAt one point Bridget describes her mother as having been infected with "Having It All Syndrome." Does Bridget herself have a closet case of the same affliction? (She does, after all, have an affair with a her glamorous boss in publishing and a knack for TV production.)Type your answer hereHow important is professional achievement to the Bridgets of the world?Type your answer hereHow has Bridget’s mum shaped her daughter?Type your answer here"We're not lonely. We have extended families in the form of networks of friends," says Tom, joining Sharon in deploring others' "arrogant hand-wringing about single life." Are these "urban families" an acceptable alternative to traditional family units? Type your answer hereAre they helping to move society towards Fielding's objective, an unbiased acceptance of different ways of life?Type your answer hereBridget's world is unrelentingly self-centered. Is this problematic? Type your answer hereIf not, is Bridget rescued by her wit and lack of self-pity, by the fact that she does take responsibility for herself, or by something else entirely?Type your answer hereIs the attraction between Mark Darcy and Bridget credible? Type your answer hereWhy isn't he too "safe" for her? Type your answer hereWhy isn't she too scatterbrained for him? Type your answer hereHow much of Bridget's identity lies in the quest for a decent relationship? Do you think marriage would change her?Type your answer hereA big Jane Austen fan, Helen Fielding cheerfully admits she "pillaged her plot" from?Pride and Prejudice. She's modeling the sequel on?Persuasion?-- how about reading it in preparation? ................
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