Bridget Jones's Diary Study Guide

Bridget Jones's Diary

Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding

Bridget Jones's Diary is a novel, written in the form of a diary, in which protagonist Bridget Jones records the events of her life. As a single woman in her 30s living in London, Bridget's main concerns are her career, her appearance, and her romantic life. She chronicles all her misadventures - as well as the number of cigarettes she smokes and the pounds she gains and loses - with humor as she has an affair with her boss, commiserates with her friends, and searches for Mr. Right.

Bridget Jones's Diary Book Summary

Bridget not only obsesses about her love life, but also details her various daily struggles with her weight, her over-indulgence in alcohol and cigarettes, and her career. Bridget's friends and family are the supporting characters in her diary. These friends are there for her unconditionally throughout the novel; they give her advice about her relationships, and support when problems arise. Her friends are essentially her surrogate family in London.

Bridget's parents live outside of the city, and while they play a lesser role than her friends, they are important figures in Bridget's life. Her mother is an overconfident, doting woman who is constantly trying to marry Bridget off to a rich, handsome man; and her father is considerably more down-to-earth, though he is sometimes driven into uncharacteristically unstable states of mind by his wife. Bridget often visits her parents, as well as her parents' friends, primarily Geoffrey and Una Alconbury; Geoffrey creates a mildly uncomfortable situation for Bridget by insisting she call him "Uncle Geoffrey" despite his propensity for groping her rear end whenever they meet.

In these situations, Bridget is often plagued with that perennial question "How's your love life?" and exposed to the eccentricities of middle class British society, manifested in turkey curry buffets and tarts and vicars parties at which the women wear sexually provocative ("tart") costumes, while the men dress as Anglican priests ("vicars"). The novel is based on Pride and Prejudice .

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