Bogus diaries have female appeal

By Barbara McGuire

Daily Bruin Senior Staff

Bridget Jones is every woman’s new best friend.

A single woman in her 30s, or a “Singleton,” Jones
is a character who maintains traits that all women can relate to.
Her adventures, or misadventures, into the world of dating past her
“prime,” when men her own age begin going for
20-somethings, are recorded in “Bridget Jones’s,
Diary” and continued in “Bridget Jones, The Edge of
Reason.”

Jones, though this may be hard for many readers to believe, is
not a real person. Rather, British author Helen Fielding is her
enlightened “girl power” creator who uses comedy to
hook readers in this two book series.

The books are written in the first person point of view, as
journal entries by Jones herself, giving readers an inside look at
her emotions and state of mind throughout everything she
experiences. Upon opening the first book, readers meet Jones and
begin to understand her mentality through her “New
Year’s Resolutions.”

Many of her resolutions, such as one not to “behave
sluttishly around the house, but to instead imagine others are
watching,” seem unique to Jones. Others, however, like,
“I will not sulk about having no boyfriend, but develop inner
poise and authority and sense of self as woman of substance,
complete without boyfriend, as best way to obtain boyfriend,”
seem somewhat universal.

Readers are taken on an emotional roller coaster as Jones enters
a dysfunctional, sex-based relationship with her superior whose
attraction is entirely based on the fact that she plays hard to
get.

Throughout the novels, Jones gets completely different advice
from each of her best friends: Shazzer, a hardheaded feminist,
Jude, a sucker for her own commitment-phobic boyfriend and Tom, a
homosexual male. Their advice thus leaves her without a clue on
what to do with herself.

One of the more frequently used words in the novel, which Jones
and her friends label practically everyone with is,
“emotional fuckwittage.” In layman’s terms this
means someone who suddenly backs out of a relationship claiming
that “it’s not you, but them” because they
suddenly have a commitment scare. Their constant labeling with this
term and never-ending redefining always provides a laugh.

Every one of Jones’ friends eventually become subjected to
the rejection of one of these “heartbreakers,” as
everyone in the real world does at least once in their life, giving
the book an almost non-fictional tone, despite the fact it is 100
percent fiction.

Jones writes in her “journal” almost daily, listing
at the top of each entry her weight, how many alcohol drinks
she’s consumed that day, cigarettes smoked, calories eaten,
as well as various other tidbits of daily information. Her
self-depreciating comments that go along with this numerical write
up also may put a smile on readers’ faces because of how
close they might hit home to their own self-perceptions.

“The Edge of Reason,” continues where
“Diary” ended, so readers do not experience any anxiety
from this leap to another novel. Jones is seemingly much more
self-disciplined, though one wouldn’t go so far as to say
mature, in this novel. Her low self-esteem and game playing,
however, are somewhat frustrating and readers may just want to
scream at her to look at the “big picture.”

The books, however, are not just self-narrated encounters that
Jones has with one man to the next. Readers also witnesses to her
embarrassing family who is always trying to set her up with men
that are her polar opposite. For example, her mother who suddenly
has a mid-life crisis, leaves Jones’ dad and runs off with
Julio, a Latin con-man. In addition, there are many other funny
dramas she experiences at her workplace, a wedding, and other
random settings.

In short, Jones character seems relatable to just about every
woman. Any woman who has ever felt insecure next to a model-looking
woman, any woman who has ever been in love, any woman who has ever
been used, cheated on and hurt. She gets women to laugh at
themselves, realize there are sometimes, though rarely, psychotic
lapses, and even help them understand their bizarre motives a
little better.

Bridget Jones is the singleton goddess/guru for everyone,
regardless of sex or age. Though her series may seem like something
locked up in that “woman only” section, males could
just as well relate to the experiences in Jones’s life, enjoy
the comedy and learn something about the opposite sex as well. Not
a bad idea.