Bridget Jones's Guide to Life [Paperback]

Helen Fielding (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 11, 2001

Exclusively for Comic Relief, Bridget Jones offers readers lots of handy hints in household management in this special edition "Bridget Jones's Guide to Life". Especially for Red Nose Day, the limited edition will be available from the 12th of March.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

No one will be fooled by this little piece of ephemera. This is not anything like a new Bridget Jones book. It's a revisiting of old jokes, old characters, old stories. That said, there's something curiously addictive about Helen Fielding's creation, and this bonbon should satisfy a Jones jones until the (inevitable) next full-length novel comes along. The Guide to Life is a brief (64 pages) how-to manual from the notoriously inept singleton. To wit: In her chapter on homemaking (titled "The Fragrant Home"), Bridget gives her reader advice on the atmospheric charm of a cozy fire. "The key words here are 'in the grate.'" As to food, she largely confines herself to finding a piece of old cheese in the fridge and cutting off the moldy bits. She does, however, get in one really useful suggestion when she explains how to play the parlor game Shag, Marry or Push off a Cliff. The rules? "Each of the players suggests three names.... The person on the player's right must then decide, if they absolutely had to shag one of them, marry another, and push another off a cliff, which it would be. It is usually best to pick three which are similar in some way." Examples: Russell Crowe, Mr. Darcy, Hugh Grant. Or, Muammar al-Qaddafi, Ayatollah Khomeini, Idi Amin. The author then adds a caveat of typically Jonesian sensitivity: "It doesn't matter if any of them are dead as it is only a game." For those who cry foul at Helen Fielding's cashing in on her phenomenal franchise, it should be noted that some of the proceeds from the book will go to Comic Relief. That's the very organization, incidentally, that the author sends up in her non-Jones novel Cause Celeb--a smart, highly entertaining book that also makes a decent stopgap for Bridgetphiliacs. --Claire Dederer

Product Details

• Paperback: 64 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics) (April 11, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0142000213
• ISBN-13: 978-0142000212
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #456,192 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

40 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Ummm.....kinda disappointed, April 23, 2001

By 

Shaz "oi-you!" (Naples, FL USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Bridget Jones's Guide to Life (Paperback)

I love Bridget Jones, and I do feel a sense of loyalty to her. However, this "Guide" was dumb- it was basically a re-hash of the highlights in the 2 "Bridget" novels. If you've never read the books, this "guide" might give you just the taste of Bridget you need to get motivated to read the books. If, however, you are a devoted Bridget fan, this book will be useless to you. Bridget gives us the finer points on ordering a pizza, along with photos, just in case the written instructions were confusing. She gives us advice on cooking a lavish dinner for guests (Hello??? Didn't we already chew this in the first novel- ala Bridget's birthday bash?!?). And, Bridget gets to play pseudo-psychiatrist with Jude, Shazzer, her Mum and her Dad- each "session" spans merely 2 paragraphs a piece and ends with Bridget and her "client" getting sloshed on Chardonnay. Yeah, okay- isn't that what she and her mates do about 5 out of 7 nights of the week? In all fairness, I wasn't exactly sure what I expected when I got this "guide", but I know I expected more than a rehash of the 2 best-selling novels. It seems to me that Fielding wants to cash in while the "Bridget Jones" movie is out, thereby striking while the iron is hot. That's fine- just please, Helen, don't recycle old Bridget material. We're hoping for something new! I did, however, give this 2 stars because I chuckled in exactly 3 places, and because I love Bridget and the joy she's brought me and my friends. But, this book isn't worth going ga-ga over.

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Bugger, December 10, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Bridget Jones's Guide to Life (Paperback)

DO NOT BE FOOLED. Those of Bridget fans waiting for the next installment. . . this isn't it, nor is it a springboard for what is to come. It won't tide you over to the next book. It is silly. A waste of paper and effort (v.b). Honestly. Love Bridget. Love Helen. D.N. love this book.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars very disappointing, June 5, 2001

By 

R. Edelman (New York) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Bridget Jones's Guide to Life (Paperback)

This was not v.g. Very disappointing... even though some of the proceeds go to charity, this was still not worth it. Fielding could have been much more creative & innovative with this guide. Instead, the book is sloppy and rushed (too many typos), and simply not funny. She turns Bridget into much more of a silly caricature than she is in the first two Bridget Jones'.