Book Review: Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason

Book: Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (Bridget Jones book #2) by Helen Fielding

Cover Design by Evan Gaffney
Cover Photography by Iars Klove

Edition: Paperback

Description:

Lurching from the cappuccino bars of Notting Hill to the blissed-out shores of Thailand, Bridget Jones searches for The Truth in spite of pathetically unevolved men, insane dating theories, and Smug Married advice ("'I'm just calling to say in the potty! In the potty! Well, do it in Daddy's hand, then!'"). She experiences a zeitgeist-esque Spiritual Epiphany somewhere between the pages of "How to Find the Love You Want Without Seeking It" ("can self-help books really self help?"), protective custody, and a lightly chilled Chardonnay.




Rating: 2 stars

Review:

Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason was an okay read, it could have been so much better because most of the time, it felt like the author tried to squeeze in every idea she could think of for this story. It also felt like the writing was trying too hard to make this funny and interesting when it fell flat.

The story follows 30-something Bridget Jones as she continues her relationship with Mark Darcy. However, things start to become strained and awkward between them leading to a break up. I would say the break up was due to a combination of misunderstandings and third party manipulation. Bridget tends to live her life according to advice from her best friends Sharon 'Shazzer' and Jude and a large abundance of self-help books. After the break up, her advice seeking seemed to increase with her trying to figure out what went wrong with Mark and how to improve her life.

As for her life, it's an ongoing series of mishaps, misery and naivety yet somehow things just seem to work out for her. For instance, she went on vacation with Shazzer to Thailand and somehow found herself in a lot of trouble all due to being so easily trusting. It was a harrowing situation that had her in jail trying to prove her innocence. Too bad she didn't learn this lesson about being so trusting after she gave several thousands of dollars (or pounds) to a contractor who was supposed to work on her apartment leaving her with a hole in her wall and he was avoiding her calls.

The writing and the story were not the best and this was a very disappointing read. There was so much going on and it felt like the author didn't seem to know what to do with the characters or the story. Most of the characters in this book are so self-absorbed and try so hard to be insightful that they end up making themselves so miserable. Bridget and Mark's break up was so drawn out and it could have easily been fixed early on if they had simply talked things out.

I think it's weird that the movie adaptations for the first and second Bridget Jones books are where you can find the best version of the stories. The movies do a great job of cutting out all the unnecessary things in the books and gives the viewer a more clear and concise yet still interesting story.