Friday, April 30, 2010

The Carrie Diaries by Candace Bushnell

4 Star

We first meet Carrie as she begins navigating her senior year of highschoo. She feels like she’s just biding time, waiting for her life to begin and is surrounded by her circle of friends. She knows what she wants and when Sebastian Kydd enters the picture, she falls for his charm, wonders about her future, while a friend’s betrayal forces her to question everything. 








Lydia - 5 Star

I really enjoyed The Carrie Diaries.  It was interesting to find out Carrie’s history and I was brought right back to high school with this easy read. I don’t normally pick up Young Adult books, but made an exception for this one, being an avid Sex and the City fan. I don’t know if this novel would be appreciated by a younger audience because the story is set in the 80’s and they might not get the lack of cell phones, let alone the busy signal of the home phone line but it would definitely be enjoyed by fans of the show.

There was just enough detail here about Carrie’s history, but I didn’t feel bombarded with foreshadowing of how she was going to turn out which was nice.  Some things were obvious and integral to her story like her desire to be a writer, while others were hinted at such as her unique fashion style and others still took me by surprise, specifically her behaviour with Sebastian – but I won’t give anything away!  I loved reading her teenage theories on boys, dating and friendship and enjoyed even more that she wasn’t part of the popular clique.

There were bits towards the end I thought were rushed through – where did prom go?  The first half of the book is very detailed through to December and then January to June files by in the last part of the book with little happening during that time. It could be that I just didn’t want this book to end, speaking of which, I loved the ending - it put a huge smile on my face and I’d definitely read another if Bushnell writes another prequel.

I’m sure I’m not the biggest Sex and the City fan so I might have overlooked some of the intricacies and details, but I enjoyed it just the same.  I wasn’t searching The Carrie Diaries for every single detail to analyze how it related to Carrie’s subsequent life, but thought the overall path she took carried well to her Sex and the City life.  I’d love to read another and this made me even more eager for the next movie!


Kathryn - 3 Star

To be honest I’m still not sure I really liked this book (I guess that’s not entirely fair as by the end I was eager to find out what happened to Carrie at the end of high school!)- but The Carrie Diaries wasn’t quite what I was expecting.

I found the voice a bit irritating to begin with- didn’t really feel much warmth from it or for it and that made it difficult for me to get into the storyline.  Once I was a bit further in I found myself more interested in some of her friends more than her- like her friend Walt, who was dating one of her good friends, who was figuring himself out.  And maybe it’s because I still have some great friends from high school but I found all hers really unhelpful (except The Mouse) and couldn’t grasp why she was friends with them at all.  Given that she ends up with huge support from her friends in New York I was expecting some of the same type of relationships with a younger Carrie too. 

Now saying all that I’m thinking that this probably is supposed to give us clues as to why the Carrie from Sex and the city is so full-heartedly involved in her New York life. During the series we hear virtually nothing about her past- guess it wasn’t much to hold on to.  I did like that the boyfriend in The Carrie Diaries is pretty useless- explains a lot about her lack of trust in men for the future but all in all I wasn’t super excited reading this prequel.  It’s probably worthwhile reading though if you’re a fan and I’m sure there’s room for us to learn more as the ending really left it open for another- and I’d probably read it!

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