BRIDGET JONES'S DIARY | Book Review

Title: Bridget Jones's Diary (Bridget Jones #1)
Author: Helen Fielding
Originally Published: 1996
Published by: Picador
Page Count: 336 pages

I think we all know the story of Bridget Jones by now, but if not, the novel is essentially the thoughts of Bridget, a 30-something singleton, desperate to quit smoking, lose weight and gain a boyfriend. It's all very simple.

The format of the book, obviously, is a diary. The novel is divided into months and each month has a collection of entries throughout that month. The entries can be at times monotonous and contrived. Bridget is so desperate for one man, Daniel (her boss), to take notice of her that many consecutive entries are simply: why hasn't he emailed me back? why doesn't he notice me? why won't he flirt with me? where is he? - One side of me was screaming inside: Get Over It! Why are you so desperate? You don't need a man! But to be fair, Bridget is a pretty good depiction of a lot of people. I have, and I'm sure most people have, spent minutes, hours, days, weeks (maybe - hopefully not), pining over someone to get back to them, to take notice of them. It may be pathetic but sometimes, that's life.

With that aspect of life does come some startling realisation that they're not worth it and your friends have been right this entire time. Which brings me to the characters. Bridget, aside from being desperately single, is incredibly funny. She talks about 'fuckwittage' and things being 'v.g.', she is actually quite interesting to study at times, as I'm sure she is real in many shades of each of us. She messes up, climbs up fireman's poles instead of sliding down them, she's infectious. Her friends are brilliant, albeit stereotyped and one-dimensional at times. Her gay best friend, Tom, epitomises the gay lifestyle that has so been characterised on television. In a way it's insulting but in a way it's also truthful and provides comic relief and sound advice. Bridget's other friends are hilarious, having terrible boyfriends or husbands, and succumbing to the new fad in self-identity and spirituality. They're people you know and people you can laugh and relate with. 
Bridget's mum was a personal favourite, probably showing the main reason Bridget is v. desperate. Her mum's overbearingness is tragic yet relatable (AGAIN!) - I'm sure this is an autobiography and not fiction. The lead male characters of Daniel and Mark are pretty boring. Daniel's a chauvinist, which is good because the novel made me hate him. Mark Darcy is a bit boring and isn't as likeable as one would think. 

I've rambled far too much. Often like Bridget. Her diary extracts do become very narrative-like, with whole conversations put in with speech marks and everything. It's definitely not a realistic diary, but to be fair, I don't think it'd be half as interesting if some conversations weren't transcribed. 

In the end I did enjoy this, it was at times stupid and monotonous but the initial opening became very funny and [trying to find a word that isn't 'relatable']... relevant (?). I don't know. I enjoyed it mostly, but the ending was predictable and boring. I may read the sequel if I need some easy reading. 3.5 stars.

ALLEGIANT | Book Review

Title: Allegiant (Divergent #3)
Author: Veronica Roth
Genre: YA / Dystopian
Published by: HarperCollins Children's
Originally Published: 2013
Page Count: 526 pages

What if your whole world was a lie?
What if a single revelation—like a single choice—changed everything?
What if love and loyalty made you do things you never expected?

(Source: Goodreads)

First of all, I don't want to spoil anything really and didn't want to publish the real blurb here incase anyone stumbles upon this review and finds out plot points to the first and second book, so I'll keep it simple.

The writing of this book was one that we've come to expect and enjoy with Roth. Her writing is effortless and just keeps you turning the page as she has definitely found her writing style. The characters in the book become slightly more developed, especially in regards to Four. We finally get Four's perspective in the book, allowing entry into his thought processes, and into how he sees the conflict going on around him. He does at times come across as petty, which I feel was Roth's intentions but it fell a little flat at times. Tris has continued to grow throughout the novels. The first novel really saw her develop, the second saw her make mistakes, and this final novel sees Tris learn from her mistakes and essentially become a really strong person, let alone a strong protagonist. We are introduced to new characters from whom, come answers. The whole of the series has been based on the faction system that has dominated society, separating you into either Amity, Abnegation, Candor, Dauntless or Erudite, depending on how your mind works and how you view society. Tris, finding out she's 'Divergent' in book one, and that she doesn't fit into either of these still has much relevance in the third book as it did in the first. I feel like what Roth did is what many writers fail to do, especially with dystopian, and that is explain how everything came about and what everything meant. 

It does become pretty complex at times and you become pretty unsure on who are actually 'the good guys' as there are many different groups in turmoil with each other. It does seem like one conflict after another. Yet this conflict provides some brilliant metaphors for today. I feel that Roth perfectly conveyed how corrupt society can become by trying to change someone, trying to fit them into a box of what you see as normal. It's something that's been done many times yet Roth did make it very interesting. 

With the dual perspectives the novel found some flaws. Tris and Four are together for a massive portion of the novel, and the chapters continue to switch between the two of them. With Roth having her identifiable writing style, it was sometimes hard to determine whose chapter you were in until it referenced the other protagonist. It became unnecessarily confusing and often tedious. It's when the pair aren't together that this really works and you get to see both sides of their stories and of the action that novel provides (although, comparatively little in regards to the first two books). 

I must note how slow the middle became, I feel the only reason I was continuing was because I was on a high from seeing the film that had just come out. 

The ending was brilliant, all answers had been provided, all loose ends tied up. And although it was a predictable ending it's one I enjoyed and thought was very powerful. A little slow at times, yet still a good ending to a great series.

4 stars.

THE FIVE PEOPLE YOU MEET IN HEAVEN | Book Review

Title: The Five People You Meet In Heave
Author: Mitch Albom
Genre: Fiction / "Inspirational"
Published by: Time Warner Paperbacks
Originally Published: 2005
Page Count: 208 pages

The novel's protagonist is an elderly amusement park maintenance worker named Eddie who, while operating a ride called the 'Free Fall', dies while trying to save a young girl who gets in the way of a falling cart that hurtles to earth. Eddie goes to heaven, where he meets five people who were unexpectedly instrumental in some way in his life. While each guide takes him through heaven, Eddie learns a little bit more about what his time on earth meant, what he was supposed to have learned, and what his true purpose on earth was. Throughout there are dramatic flashbacks where we see scenes from his troubled childhood, his years in the army in the Philippines jungle, and with his first and only love, his wife Marguerite

(Source: Goodreads)

There's something about this book that just immediately appeals to me. It's such an interesting concept that one would probably love to actually happen. Wouldn't it be great that once you die you meet 5 people connected to you in some way, who explain your life and with that you learn about yourself and about how the world works? I think it's fascinating.

Unfortunately, I felt the premise was far greater than anything achieved in the final print.  The characters were just uninteresting. I didn't really care for anything that happened to them. Yes, we know Eddie, the protagonist, is bound to die; the opening pages are marked with a countdown to his demise. But do we actually care what happens to him, do we care about the people in his life? If I'm being honest, I wanted it to be more sentimental. I was expecting some heart-wrenching story about Eddie, I was expecting some philosophical (do I say crap?) statements that are completely ridiculous but also have me weeping and feeling ashamed with myself for doing so. But we don't get this. Instead we get a series of events of a quite boring man being told that his life had some sort of purpose. 

I don't know if it's the cynic in me but I just couldn't connect with the emotions that the book was trying to unearth. The person who lent me the book said they cried their way through it; the closest I came to feeling any emotions was towards the ending, which kind of had the shred of sentimentality and philosophicalness that I so desired. Maybe my issue with this is that I want to be philosophical but my mind just refuses to be.

Overall, it wasn't a waste of my time. I enjoyed aspects such as the messages that the book seemed to possess but I just didn't get what I expected and for that I was sort of let down. 2 stars.

ONE DAY | Book Review

Title: One Day
Author: David Nicholls
Genre: Fiction / Contemporary
Published by: Hodder 

Originally Published: 2009
Page Count: 435

Emma and Dexter meet for the first time on the night of their graduation. Tomorrow they must go their separate ways. So where will they be on this one day next year? And the year after that? And every year that follows? 
Twenty years, two people, ONE DAY.

(Source: Goodreads)

My relationship with this book is a rather fond one. It will from now on remind me of long soaks, train rides, and my time in the Lake District last summer. I've been reading it for so long in theory; having had to put it down after I initially started it as it belonged to the cottage I was staying in. 

Although the storyline is one of cliché, I still enjoyed it immensely. The character of Emma is incredibly likeable and reminded me of myself a great deal. It's scary at how much, I just hope I don't have the shitty jobs she seems to end up in, although, I feel that is an inevitable part of my upcoming future. She was fresh and witty, with strong emotions and a definable personality. She has an identity crisis, almost, at the end of the book, which shows how life changes you. Dexter was infuriating at times and sometimes a boring cliché, it was a little predictable the paths he would take. Dexter probably typifies the male lead in this genre of romance or chick lit, but because I've not read much of this genre he's predictable but not something I have encountered often. I can see why avid romance readers are a bit bored of the Dexters in romantic fiction. 

The writing was colloquial and perfect. It wasn't overly pretentious or stupidly simple, it had the right balance that related well to its protagonists. The main issue I had with the book, inevitably, was its premise. It is 'one day' of this couple's life, the same day, year after year. And like normal people, not every day is interesting, it becomes tedious and sometimes infuriating that we did not get to witness the immediate impact of the events. The chapters that stood out came at the beginning and the end of the novel. The book is split into five parts and the last part was brilliant, if not a bit too sentimental. 

Overall, a fun read for someone uneducated in the genre. 4.5 stars. 

FAHRENHEIT 451 | Book Review

Title: Fahrenheit 451
Author: Ray Bradbury
Genre: Dystopian / Sci-fi
Published by: Harper Collins
Originally Published: 1953
Page Count: 211


Guy Montag is a fireman. His job is to burn books, which are forbidden, being the source of all discord and unhappiness. Even so, Montag is unhappy; there is discord in his marriage. Are books hidden in his house? The Mechanical Hound of the Fire Department, armed with a lethal hypodermic, escorted by helicopters, is ready to track down these dissidents who defy society to preserve and read books.

(Source: Goodreads)

I've wanted to read this book for a long time. Mesmerised by its beautiful cover and interesting premise it's been a book I've wanted to own since I heard about it. 

The characters in this book are fascinating, while I would argue there is too much detachment from the characters, they still upheld my interest. Montag is a fascinating protagonist, he questions things, his constant paranoia, and his relationships with other characters were interesting. His wife, Mildred, epitomised the typical person that this dystopian world was trying to create, someone who didn't ask questions, someone who absorbed themselves in the world around them. While, the station's chief was also brilliantly written, there was an element of unhingedness that kept me reading. 

The writing was beautiful, it'd be kind of insulting to call it prose due to its poetic nature. It felt rather bizarre to read such a beautiful book in which the characters were actively trying to destroy such a medium of expression. Sometimes I felt the novel didn't quite attain the balance of speech and thought/description, it seemed rather long-winded in its attempts to describe a situation, but juxtaposed to this it also had scenes that were abrupt, which I believe were completely the author's intent, though it still threw me a little bit. 

Overall, it was an enjoyable experience reading this. It didn't live completely up to expectations, but what does? A modern classic that has given me the drive to finally attempt George Orwell's 1984. ★★★★☆