Mad About the Boy – Helen Fielding
I was a Bridget Jones fan before the movies, so I had to read this new one.
Here is the blurb …
Bridget Jones is back!
Great comic writers are as rare as hen’s teeth. And Helen is one of a very select band who have created a character of whom the very thought makes you smile. Bridget Jones’ Diary, charting the life of a 30-something singleton in London in the 1990s was a huge international bestseller, published in 40 countries and selling over 15 million copies worldwide. Its sequel, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, published soon after was also a major international bestseller. Both were made into films starring Renée Zellweger, Hugh Grant and Colin Firth.
Set in the present, the new novel will explore a different phase in Bridget’s life with an entirely new scenario. As Helen Fielding has said: “If people laugh as much reading it as I am while writing it then we’ll all be very happy.”
The original Bridget Jones created a new genre – romantic comedy in fiction. That is quite a task to repeat and I have to say that, although there are some laugh out loud moments, it was a bit disappointing. A bumbling, incompetent heroine in her 30s doesn’t seem sad whereas a bumbling, incompetent heroine in her 50s is very sad. One of Ms Fielding’s great strengths is capturing a particular lifestyle at a particular point in time – singles in the 90s – and her take on the school mums was hilarious! I can definitely see a few Nicolette’s on my school run.
This is a light, funny and easy to read novel.
More reviews …
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/oct/12/bridget-jones-mad-boy-review