Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy

by Helen Fielding
November 2013

Oh, Bridget, how I've missed you. It's good to have you back, you nutty girl. It's been almost 15 years since The Edge of Reason, and in Bridget's life the same amount of time has also passed. Back in 1996, I listened to the audiobook version of Bridget Jones' Diary, and this time around I had to do the same. There's something about listening to Bridget's voice that adds to the fun of her story.

Mad About the Boy starts out a little depressing. Though it's not a spoiler, Mark Darcy is dead, and I didn't like that one bit. It's been five years since his shocking death and Bridget is nearly ready to move on. But Bridget's first focus is on her young children, Billy and Mabel, and her second is on her Twitter followers. Hilarious. Thanks to Twitter, Bridget meets a "toy boy" and enjoys a sexual reawakening.

Our old favorites are back too – Jude, Tom, and of course, Daniel Cleaver. Bridget does her best to be a good mother, and she really is, but she makes her share of mistakes. Ultimately, she adores her children and sees Mark in them at every turn.

Although I don't usually love books-turned-into-movies, I do thoroughly enjoy the Bridget Jones movies. And as I started listening to this one, I couldn't help but think that there'd be no way they can make a movie without Mark Darcy (love, love Colin Firth!). But as the story progressed, I started to see a way that it could work out, and still have some room for Mark. I do hope it comes to pass, but I also wonder if Renee Z would be up for it? She'd have to play a 51-year old, after all.

Poignant and laugh-out-loud funny, Mad About the Boy doesn't disappoint. Bridget is definitely one of my favorite characters in fiction. I think we'd make great friends. I just might listen to all three books again.

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