Bridget Jones: the Edge of Reason

Fielding, Helen

ISBN 10: 0375416048 ISBN 13: 9780375416040

Publisher: Random House, 2000

Synopsis

Read by Tracie Bennett
Three Cassettes, 5 hours

Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason is another laugh-out-loud look at the life of 90's Everywoman Bridget Jones.  Picking up where the blockbuster bestselling Bridget Jones's Diary left off, The Edge of Reason finds Bridget ensconced in an up and down relationship with Mark Darcy, whom she finally decided to give a chance at the end of the first book.  Bridget's best Singleton pals Jude and Shaz are on hand to dispense advise about men and relationships culled from the pages of GETTING THE LOVE YOU WANT and KEEPING THE LOVE YOU FIND, with unfortunate results.  And Bridget's Smug Married friend Magda still mixes phone calls with friends with instructions shouted at her kids:  "Bridget, hi!  I was just ringing to say in the potty!  Do it in the potty!"  Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason has all the charm and hearty laughs that made Diary such a smash.

About this title

Review:

7:15 am Hurrah! The wilderness years are over. For four weeks and five days now have been in functional relationship with adult male thereby proving am not love pariah as previously feared.

So begins The Edge of Reason, Bridget Jones' hilarious foray into the not-so-sexy realities of relationships, the laughable legions of self-help theories and a television career that would have her model "tiny shorts next to a blow-up of Fergie in gym wear". Picking up where Bridget Jones' Diary left off, everyone's favourite singleton has finally landed her love, Mark Darcy. However, she's finding--among other things--that her dreamboat is less than ideal. Aside from never doing the washing up or foraging through the isles at Tesco, Mark, it seems, has taken an interest in the viperous "jellyfish" Rebecca, who has "thighs like a baby giraffe" and a penchant for boyfriend snatching.

If that isn't enough, Richard "I'm thinking bunny girl! I'm thinking Gladiator! I'm thinking canvassing MP!" Finch, Bridget's smarmy, cocaine-encrusted boss and Executive Producer of Sit Up, wants her to be the show's clown, in effect making her the arse of television. What's more, a builder who has an obsession for large, slimy fish seems to have forgotten about the hole he knocked out in her flat, putting her entire life on display for the neighbours. Not to mention a mother who wants her to go to see Ms. Saigon with a Kikuya tribesman hijacked from Kenya.

Never fear, Bridge's singleton posse--Shazzer, Jude and Tom--are always a phone call away and armed with bottles of Chardonnay, packs of Silk Cut, pizza and a cornucopia of self-help literature. Whether they're decoding acronyms in singles ads (GSOH and WLTM? "Giant sore on head. Willy, limp, thin mollusc."), developing the ground-breaking "Pashima theory" or dolling out unsolicited advice, the FOBs (friends of Bridget) make up most of the comedy.

Although The Edge of Reason is filled with signature B.J. manoeuvres, such as drunken Christmas card writing and wearing an unruly rubber girdle, it's a departure from the original. Throughout most of its 422 pages the plot clips at a steady rate, then, much like Bridget's train of thought, the ending skitters, careens and breaks off into two incoherent tracks--one more absurd than the other. The outcome is a metamorphosed Bridget, one more reminiscent of a British Alley McBeal than the personification of England's everywoman. --Rebekah Warren

Review:

'Bridget Jones is no mere fictional character, she's the Spirit of the Age.' (Evening Standard)

'Funnier and more accomplished than the original diary, and in fact takes recognition humour into a new dimension ... A glorious read, and there is a laugh on every page.' (The Sunday Times)

'If you loved Bridget Jones’s Diary, you’ll love this; there is no diminution of the freshness or fun, or of Fielding’s underlying intelligence. Success has not spoiled her – she has simply gained in confidence and aplomb ... Fielding has a seam here she can mine endlessly until she herself gets bored, which I dare say will be long before her readers do’ Mail on Sunday.' (The Mail on Sunday)

'Bridget Jones's phenomenal success is not just because of her creator's brilliant wit, comic timing and social observation, but because she captures what – alas – it is like to be female ... I laughed out loud many time while reading The Edge of Reason. Fielding is excellent at a mixture of perception and comedy, capturing thoughts everyone has but hasn't actually expressed.' (The Daily Mail)

About this edition

• Publisher: Random House
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0375416048
• ISBN 13: 9780375416040
• Binding: Audio Cassette