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memoirsofabooklover's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Graphic: Body shaming, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Toxic relationship, and Dysphoria
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Classism
Minor: Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Sexual content, Vomit, Dementia, and Lesbophobia
namzuru's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
since i saw the movie first i will compare it to it. Bridget in the book and movie are very similar despite the stories they go through mostly being different. i found that things that happened in the book were rearranged differently for the movie. also the plot line of julio and her mom being criminals was a very unexpected touch of the book. Since i know its based on pride and prejudice, i kinda like that her mom was set up to be like kitty from p&p. and oh my god did i hate her mom. Everytime she would be brought up it was just her gaslighting bridget and i couldnt handle it. I actually found all the characters (who were meant to be annoying) were so much more annoying in the book than the movie.
since this book is supposed to be bridget's diary, i think the author did such a good job. there are so many entries throughout it that felt so personal and so relatable. In the beginning i found it a little annoying she found 130 pounds to be fat, but then i realized this is such a detailed and accurate representation of what goes through so many woman’s thoughts. we are reading her diary, it’s meant for her eyes only so she’s being vulnerable in it. and a lot of the hatred is towards herself, and that’s honestly relatable. It could be triggering for people to read it cause i think it was written really well. I also realized shes so me. making all these promises to improve herself and then rarely actually doing it. and even more so when she falls out of her new habit immediately.
i found april 25 and june 10 to be really sad entries. The april one being about how she finally felt thin enough and went to a party where everyone told her she looked kinda dull and not herself. it was really sad to read as she thought she was the best version of herself but her friends saw how she looked sick being so thin, they did not put it very nicely tho. as for the june one, It was really sad to see how one of her "friends" kept purposely trying to say she looked old by comparing her to one of their other friends. it was really heartbreaking to read. looking back at the entry again, i see its the same girl who throws the christmas party in december and its really sad she still friends with her.
also i think its fun they mention colin firth and hugh grant in the book and then they go on to play mark and daniel respectively.
Graphic: Body shaming, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Toxic relationship, and Alcohol
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Sexism, and Gaslighting
Minor: Infidelity, Islamophobia, and Grief
haley_mil_reads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Moderate: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Eating disorder, and Emotional abuse
drbex's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, and Toxic relationship
strangeeigenfunction's review against another edition
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
I don't hate Bridget, but I don't really like her, either. In a certain light, this sort of reads as an averted tragicomedy, with Darcy ex machina wrapping up several of the looming tragic ends... or distracting from other ones. Despite enjoying relatively well-off circumstances, there's a lot wrong in Bridget's life that isn't really examined (by her or other characters) in a constructive way. One of those issues is that despite being at what is almost certainly a perfectly healthy weight, she's fixated on losing weight and erratically dieting, disordered eating masquerading as vanilla diet culture. I would also characterize her approach to alcohol as not so healthy, and at times she leans on cigarettes as a coping mechanism, but, while she does recognize these as issues, her attitude regarding quitting leans heavily on willpower in a way that seems naive in the 2020s. And the array of relationships of varying levels of toxicity surrounding her tend to entwine with the drinking and/or the dieting.
It is rather funny, but I'd consider it a bleak humor shaped by normalized dysfunctions.
(by the by, I'm a little peeved at the numbers summary at the end. While I don't care that much whether anyone went through and touted up the in-entry numbers exactly, and I paid less attention to the alcohol counts while reading (units is not that meaningful to me in the US I think), the averages implied by the totals... beg some questions:
5277=14 cigarettes average per day is possible. I'm not sure I think it's accurate (my impression is that about half the recorded days are 18-20+, with a few around 60), but it's not implausible.
3836=10.5 units alcohol average each day. Now, as I said, I paid less attention to the numbers here, but 10, while it happened, feels like it was somewhat atypically high for Bridget, and there were some days she did not drink, so this seems slightly implausible.
11,090,265= ...30,384 calories/day, or fifteen times the RDA. This is essentially impossible, especially as I don't think Bridget ever exceeded 10,000 calories in a day. I might buy something in the 2500 average range (~912,500 total) or even a round 1 million as the yearly total, although I'd guess that probably requires 3000 calories on unrecorded days. But not 30000 a day)
Graphic: Body shaming, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Toxic relationship, and Alcohol
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Pregnancy and Classism
jesspages's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Moderate: Body shaming, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Misogyny, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Dysphoria
shelbybelby's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
Graphic: Body shaming, Cursing, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Rape
aliasbooklover's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
Graphic: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, and Alcohol
usasasa's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Body shaming, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Misogyny, Sexism, and Alcohol
Moderate: Homophobia and Racism
Minor: Emotional abuse