Catnip

I feel groggy and listless today, most likely due to the fact that I finished the book “Bridget Jones Diary” yesterday. For many years, I’ve tried to refrain from reading it. For one thing, I’ve read too many fan novels; for another, I’ve seen the movie. Still, for some unexplained reason, I borrowed it from Archive.org. Once in a while, I get this urge to read books about romance. It’s kind of like cats drawn to catnip, or some other absurd obsession. I usually think these books are ridiculous, “P & P” included, and I must be equally ridiculous to read them.

I wish Mark is as interesting a character as Daniel. Wait, am I confusing the book with the movie I watched long ago? Hugh Grant is obviously an unmatched actor and his portrayal of Daniel is unforgettable. Is this falling into the cliche that a guy is more interesting when he’s not good husband material? Mark sounds like a caring and loyal partner, but he is most likely dull. That’s the conclusion I reached after reading the book, but it really shouldn’t be this way. Loyal or disloyal, it has nothing to do with a person being interesting or not. A person can be a dependable good friend and also an interesting friend. Let me search for an example–which character from which book written by a female author. It has to be a female author for obvious reasons. Male authors of course wrote brilliant male characters, and they are interesting from a male perspective. From a female perspective and from the viewpoint of female-male relationship, this character has to be reevaluated. For example, Brutus is a very interesting character in Julius Caesar–he likes his friend, he admires him, he is civilized and just and respected, but he wants to kill him. Cassius is a smart, independent thinker, a persuader, a soldier, a person not without courage to do something wrong to save the democracy. The are both characters with depth, both fun to watch. Well, we can’t evaluate Brutus and Cassius from a female perspective since there’s no information available for analysis. So this is not a good example. I have to think of something else. There’s a great example in “Romance Of Three Kingdoms”, but a lot of people may not have read it and it is too cumbersome to tell the story.

I feel sorry for Julio as much as I feel sorry for Mary and Lydia from “P&P”. It almost seems like Julio has to be blackened in order to make Bridget’s mother look ridiculous and make Mark nice, generous, and caring. It is particularly problematic to make Bridget’s mother so unappealing as if she is a representative of women walking out. Many women who’ve made such decisions are reasonable human beings and their finances are not ruined by such a decision.

It is such an enjoyable book, as enjoyable as the movie. The description of women’s ridiculous daily routine and women’s obsession with weight is wonderful.