Bridget Jones is Back! Mad About the Boy by Helen Fielding

Yes, Bridget is back in the new Helen Fielding book Bridget Jones: Mad about The Boy! But unfortunately, Mark Darcy is not. After her fairy tale ending, (if you recall the heart achingly lovely ending of the last book with the Velveteen Rabbit analogy) and two children later, Bridget is a widow.

I would have guessed she would be divorced by this time, but Helen Fielding has made Mark Darcy a martyr. Apparently, he was killed by a landmine while negotiating the release of aid workers in the Sudan.

So this is how Helen Fielding decided to get Bridget back on the dating scene. Mark has to go so that Bridget can continue to be Bridget. You know, along the lines of Matthew Crawley having his car accident so that Lady Mary can continue to be her prickly self. The story line must go on!

Apparently Bridget is now 51 with two young children and her new boyfriend is just turning 30. She is also struggling with social media and dating in the 21st century. Daniel Cleaver apparently makes a brief appearance in this book, (for old time's sake) and Bridge is just as bumbling as usual only now she is agonizing over twitter and Botox.

The reviews have not exactly been stellar but I have a copy of Mad About the Boy in front of me anyway, which I purchased this morning and will probably have finished by tomorrow. As much as I would have preferred a little peek into the married life of Mr and Mrs Mark Darcy, I will take anything Helen Fielding decides to give me. And I hope fervently that it makes it's way onto the screen in an improved version even without Colin Firth as the ever perfect Mark Darcy. The second film did not do justice to the second book but we can hope can't we? Here are some quips from the book jacket of Mad About the Boy:

• What do you do when your girlfriend's sixtieth birthday party is the same day as your boyfriend's thirtieth?
• Is it normal to be too vain to put on your reading glasses when checking your boy toy for head lice?
• Does the Dalai Lama actually tweet or is it his assistant?
• Is it normal to get fewer followers the more you tweet?
• If you put lid plumper on your hands, do you get plump hands?

And if you would like to read a transcript of Helen Fielding herself interviewing Bridget Jones for the Daily Mail, it is pretty hilarious! Here is the link:

She's back! Older, none the wiser and with some very odd dating advice for the newly single: Helen Fielding interviews Bridget Jones

Cheers!

P.S. I just finished the book. I really liked it. If you liked the second BJ book then you will probably like this one. A similar satisfying ending. By the way, I think Helen Fielding's writing is very autobiographical. She has a boy and a girl just like Bridget and although the father of her children is not dead, he now lives back in the USA (a writer for The Simpsons or some such) so I think the death of her father may have inspired some of the sentimental bits in the book. So this is probably a peek into the life of Helen Fielding. The neighbour Rebecca is likely inspired by Helena Bonham Carter who is thanked at the end of the book. I will bet she will snag the part in the next film!!!