While I am a huge fan of the HBO series Sex and the City, I have never particularly enjoyed Candace Bushnell’s writing. However, when The Carrie Diaries came out this past summer, I was curious. The book is about Carrie Bradshaw in high school, before she found her voice as a writer and moved to New York City, and I have to say, it was surprisingly good. I enjoyed the trip down memory lane, looking back on my own high school days and adventures.
Carrie Bradshaw is a senior in high school with the sole aim of snagging a boyfriend for her final year. It is 198- (we’re never given an exact date) and Carrie and her misfit motley crew of friends are just trying to survive high school with its assorted cliques, and heartbreaks. It’s high school, with the usual hook ups and break ups and senior year is all about figuring out who you are and what you want out of life.
When I first started the book, I kept flashing back to the TV series Square Pegs. Maybe because I so deeply associate Sarah Jessica Parker with the character of Carrie Bradshaw, and SJP’s infamous teenage role was as the quirky misfit Patty Greene in Square Pegs. Or maybe it was that Bushnell named the head cheerleader and most popular girl in school Donna LaDonna, a name too closely related to the “LaDonna “ character in Square Pegs, but thankfully it wasn’t long before I was immersed in Carrie’s teenage story as she struggles to find her feminist voice and resist sexual peer pressure. Bushnell has thankfully been faithful to the character I have come to love on the small and big screen, as she portrays Carrie’s early years as a small-town girl wanting more.
One criticism I have of the book (and which revels the depth of my fandom of the franchise) is the continuity errors between book and TV series. In the fifth season of the show, Carrie reveals her dad left her and her mom when she was just five. Yet Bushnell writes a teenage Carrie, the oldest of three girls, being raised by her father, after the death of her mother. Also, one of my favourite episodes stars David Duchovny as Carrie’s high school boyfriend Jeremy. The show does this great homage to the girls’ high school personas. However, the Carrie Bradshaw of The Carrie Diaries and the Carrie Bradshaw of this episode really need to compare notes, because there ain’t no mention of Jeremy anywhere in The Carrie Diaries. And yes, I’ve just revealed how much of a SATC nerd I am. But for the diehard fans, the book would have been more fulfilling I think, if it had stayed true to those details of the past that were peppered throughout the series. That being said, I still found the book to be a fairly enjoyable read.
Till next time, happy New Year! May it be filled with wonderful books to read.
L :)
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