THE EDGE OF REASON by Helen Fielding

Title: The Edge of Reason (Bridget Jones #2)

Author: Helen Fielding 

Genre: Chick Lit / Humour
Originally Published: 1999

Page Count:424 pages
Published by: Pan Books

Date Read: 10th July - 14th July 2014

This sequel carries on right where the previous one left us. Another year; another diary. Again it follows Bridget's life, her career, her love life, her mishaps, and for the most part it is funny, but I couldn't help feel the whole novel was redundant. 

The novel is kind of an exact replica of the first one. The events that happen to Bridget in life don't seem to be very 'life-changing' even though a lot of them certainly would be. I don't understand. She begins the novel happy because *slight spoiler from book one* she has a boyfriend. Wow. Well done, Bridget. But as soon as life loses its equilibrium of romance, Bridget is of course desperately trying to live life as a singleton, which naturally, for her, is the worst thing in the world. The only character I really love is Shazza, she's hilarious and tells Bridget when she's being pathetic. 

The novel does have its really funny moments. There's a part in which she gets to interview Colin Firth (a bit ironic, haha), and I just found it hilarious and relatable. I would probably act the same way if I had to interview, say, any of these men:

WOW! Isn't that a work of art? 

Now I may be looking at this too critically but one thing that really frustrated me about these two books in the series is Fielding’s characterisation of her gay characters. If we look at the gay people in the novel, they are either: sexually deficient and therefore shag anything that moves and whore themselves out there, incredibly pretentious and stuck up, or some form of older sexual piranha whose prey is the younger generation. I realise that Fielding exaggerates stereotypes throughout the novel for comic relief, but I just hope these stereotyped characteristics stay in the nineties, and with her 2013 sequel, Mad About The Boy, we find some level of maturity and character growth when it comes to Bridget’s perception and the author’s writing.

I find it rather of low wit to rely on exaggerated stereotypes for cheap laughs and it did kind of annoy me that it was that in which the author relies to make comedy. Of course Bridget's tribulations were sometimes hilarious themselves, which really made the novel great in the end. 

I seem fairly negative about this book, but how can I stay negative when there's that beautiful picture up there. Just stare at it. It's nice.
Anyway, I ended up rating this a 3 stars. It's decent, but I don't think I'll carry on with Bridget. I hope she finds some happiness and isn't a depressed single again, clinging to some form of respectability by having a boyfriend. Note to anyone reading this, as Jude says, being single is good. Amen. But damn, those men up there.

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.

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.