The Carrie Diaries
Author: Candace Bushnell
From The Author: Before Carrie Bradshaw hit the big time in the City, she was a regular girl growing up in the suburbs of Connecticut. How did she turn into one of the most-read social observers of our generation?
The Carrie Diaries opens up in Carrie’s senior year of high school. She and her best friends — Walt, Lali, Maggie, and the Mouse — are inseparable, amid the sea of Jens, Jocks and Jets. And then Sebastian Kydd comes into the picture. Sebastian is a bad boy-older, intriguing, and unpredictable. Carrie falls into the relationship that she was always supposed to have in high school-until a friend’s betrayal makes her question everything. With her high school days coming to a close, Carrie will realize it’s finally time to go after everything she ever wanted.
Links:Â Goodreads
Book Review
The Carrie Diaries is a quirky, diluted but, accurate depiction of public high school. Gone is the experienced Carrie, from the prime-time show Sex in the City. Here to stay is the girl, living in Castlebury, who’s just trying to leave high school unscathed. I enjoyed the public school setting most in this novel. I’ve never experienced public school for myself. Yet, I know that readers should receive a diverse perspective of schooling. Not every witty female/ male who has cool friends but struggles in life attends private school.This sole reason is why I found the young character of Carrie to be commendable. She was quite… relate-able to my personal life. She’s was a budding writer, a leader and glue among her friends, and devoted to her dreams. Like the cover, Carrie is Castlebury royalty. I can’t express enough on how much I enjoyed the depth in her life. I even envied the fact that she created an alias for her writing, Pinky Weatherton.Then I realized I did too… Bones! haha
On the opposite spectrum, getting over Sebastian Kydd should be easy. His persona was a grade A jack. I’ve never seen a character preform such a 180. One minute, he was taking her to museums while pouring out his soul. The next he was being a douche nozzle in public. I guess that’s how it happens with guys like that. I’ve always heard, “If a man left someone to be with you, he’ll leave you to be with someone.” Nonetheless, Bushnell created gold with Sebastian. His role in CD, Carrie Diaries, added color to Carrie’s high school journey.
The downside of CD in my humble opinion is…… huh, guess I can’t think of anything. No seriously. Not only is CD an epic read, the novel is an excellent coming of age story. Aside from school, Carrie deals with her insecurities, finding out her true friends, being bullied, sexual orientation acceptance, verbal abuse, college, rejection, and family. If I ever have female children, I’m plucking this off my giant shelves for them at around age 12.
Song:
Oh yea! Love is a Battlefield. This musical interpretation hits almost all aspects of Castlebury High. From the entire school pinning for Sebastian, to Carrie’s clique, to her love of New York and another life, these lyrics speak truth.
TV Show:
I’ve never been interested in Sex in the City. Of course, it’s entertaining but it’s always been missing something to me. I’ve found it right here in this prequel. I’ll spare you of what it is so that you’ll find it yourself. Now, there’s is a new budding show based on the Carrie Diaries as well. Young Carrie Bradshaw is Anna Sophia Robb. How fitting right? Don’t get too upset; our Sebastian is predictably Austin Butler. Â He’s perfect for the role; I was just hoping for someone new. Notice the show is staged in New York City and not suburbia Connecticut eek.
Overall Rating:
Overall, I received much more than I expected from the Carrie Diaries. It deserves all the stars it generally receives. How fitting to coin a novel Matt Bomer when the movie Magic Mike premieres this weekend? Here’s five stars to a powerful novel about the joys of teenage-dom. Notice the sarcasm.