Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy

A GoodReads Reader's Choice

De: Helen Fielding

Narrado por: Samantha Bond

A GoodReads Reader's Choice

Bridget Jones—one of the most beloved characters in modern literature (v.g.)—is back! In Helen Fielding's wildly funny, hotly anticipated new novel, Bridget faces a few rather pressing questions:

What do you do when your girlfriend’s sixtieth birthday party is the same day as your boyfriend’s thirtieth?

Is it better to die of Botox or die of loneliness because you’re so wrinkly?

Is it wrong to lie about your age when online dating?

Is it morally wrong to have a blow-dry when one of your children has head lice?

Is it normal to be too vain to put on your reading glasses when checking your toy boy 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?

Is technology now the fifth element? Or is that wood?

If you put lip plumper on your hands do you get plump hands?

Is sleeping with someone after two dates and six weeks of texting the same as getting married after two meetings and six months of letter writing in Jane Austen’s day?

Pondering these and other modern dilemmas, Bridget Jones stumbles through the challenges of loss, single motherhood, tweeting, texting, technology, and rediscovering her sexuality in—Warning! Bad, outdated phrase approaching!—middle age.

In a triumphant return after fourteen years of silence, Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy is timely, tender, touching, page-turning, witty, wise, outrageous, and bloody hilarious.


TODAY Book Club Selection

Love the mature Bridget! .

She is still flaky and kind hearted. Often I laughed out loud, but sometimes it was heartbreaking and I dissolved in tears.

Seriously after 14 years....

Is there anything you would change about this book?

I would not have killed off Bridget's husband. He was what made the story click. The author wanted to shake things up by doing something dramatic. She could have had that effect without killing off Mark Darcy. They could have made the journey together and had interesting challenges without eliminating his character.

Would you ever listen to anything by Helen Fielding again?

I can not say right now. It depends on what the book is about. If it is interesting and has a good story then maybe yes but I wouldn't buy it just because she wrote it.

Have you listened to any of Samantha Bond’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I have not listened to Samantha Bond previously but she did a great job.

Could you see Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

If this were to be made into a movie then once again we would have to drag out Renee Zellweger and dust her off to play the aging Bridget Jones. What's difficult is that the age that Bridget portrays in the book is significantly older than Renee Zellweger's actual age. Therefore she may not jump at the chance to portray an older woman. But is she did I think it could make a good screenplay with some changes and adjustments to the storyline.

Any additional comments?

I don't want to come off as a person bashing Fielding because she has written a solid book. Are there things that could have been different, yes most definitely. Did I feel like I had to play catch-up with the storyline and figure out ok how did we get from Point A to Point C and what happened to point B. That was difficult to do but it is a good book, not great but good.

Narrater voice

Loved the story! I’m a huge fan of Bridgette Jones. However, the narrator made Bridgette’s voice sound way too elderly for Bridgette’s age. I found that very annoying and a not needed exaggeration of a mature female. Which is by the way my age and my voice does not sound elderly!

I loved it.

I must be as shallow as some reviewers think Bridget is because I loved this book. I found myself laughing, crying and laughing again all in a minute's time. Bridget is still silly and making some questionable decisions but that is what makes her Bridget. I couldn't stop listening.

Not Terrible, but Could've been better

If you loved the previous Bridget Jones books, proceed with caution. This book is not terrible, and may even have some salient points about motherhood, growing as an individual, and life after loss, but the plot is mediocre. It's also not the same Bridget that you've loved in the past, here we see her 20 years later having matured, had kids, and suffered loss. Having just finished the prior books, this was a bit jarring and I haven't gotten over the death of a major character from the earlier books. It was hard to engage with the new love interest and I think it would've have been a better book if Fielding hadn't killed off a certain character. That said, it was at least enjoyable which is why I gave it a 3/5. If you really liked the prior books, take some time and consider whether you aren't better off leaving it at the happy ending in Edge of Reason.