Bridget Jones’s Baby
by Helen Fielding
Unlike many of my other book posts on here, which are children’s books or young adult, this one is definitely rated R. There’s language and adult topics, so just be forewarned.
Bridget Jones’s Baby follows the story of Bridget ending up pregnant at an “older,” although undisclosed, age. The main trouble is that she doesn’t know who the father is. If you’ve seen the movie version, the main difference is that Daniel Cleaver is one of the potential fathers in the book.
One of my favorite themes of this book is the line that keeps popping up from both Bridget and her mother, but which is probably felt all around–“This isn’t how it was supposed to be.” I think one of the biggest lessons of motherhood, for me, is that we can’t plan how it’s going to turn out. I try my best sometimes, I really do, but as I learned very early on in the journey, there’s no way to make it be what I planned, for better or worse. And I really love that Bridget learns to embrace that. She accepts the situation and keeps loving her baby and moving forward. I love the hilarity of it all, but the scenes with Bridget and her dad are my favorites.
I’ve read the first two Bridget Jones books, and I was so upset at Mark’s death in the third (which takes place after this 4th one) that I couldn’t bring myself to read it. After some poking around, I’m still a little unclear as to whether this book of Bridget Jones’s Baby was written before or after the movie. During my research, I became side-tracked reading reviews, which I normally don’t let myself do, but the general consensus of this book seemed to be that people felt it was not up to par with the first three, nor with the movie version of it. People brought up good points, and etc. etc. But my personal take here is that these books are just fun. And, I am not trying to downplay them at all by saying that. I love the books AND, rare as it is for me to like movie versions, the movies too. But I read and watch them as an escape and an opportunity to laugh out loud. And that is what this one has been for me. A quick, fun and funny read about the lovable and very human Bridget Jones. So, if you’d like to examine the book and find faulty plot points or whatnot, don’t read it. If you want a good laugh with your old friend Bridget, then I think you’ll really enjoy it.