The Carrie Diaries

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.

Rabid fans of Sex and the City will love seeing Carrie Bradshaw evolve from a regular girl into a sharp, insightful writer. They'll learn about her family background -- how she found her writing voice, and the indelible impression her early friendships and relationships left on her. We'll see what brings Carrie to her beloved New York City, where the next Carrie Diaries book will take place.




I haven't read the Sex And The City books.
I didn't watch the Sex And The City TV series because I was too young back then. I caught some episodes but I don't remember much of them.
But I did watch the SATC movies and I liked them. A lot.


So when Carrie appeared in a YA version of herself, I had a good mind to read it. It did take a while, but I did read it. The Carrie Diaries does not show the Manolo-Blahnik-totting, Prada-wearing fashionista/writer trotting down New York City. This is Carrie Bradshaw, before the glamour, before New York, fledgling writer, navigating the waters of high school in the 80s. This is Marlboro-smoking, beer-drinking Carrie in her last year at high school. 


The book doesn't have one life-changing event around which everything revolves, it has lots of episodes in this girl's life that changes her dynamics with the people around her, changes the way she sees the world, gradually. Truth be told, I was rolling my eyes when the book began with Carrie and her friend starting senior year and worrying about not having boyfriends and I was like same old, same old story. The first couple of chapters didn't do much for me. I only read along because, well, I wanted to read a Carrie Bradshaw book *shrugs*


But I'm glad I did. Because things got deeper and so much of the book is introspective. I didn't like many of the characters. There wasn't much to like, plus they seemed rather one-dimensional. The Mouse and Walt were the only characters who held my interest among the secondary characters, but there wasn't really much about them either. All that kept me going with this book was Carrie. Carrie, charmed by a boy she doesn't know what to make of. Carrie, worrying about her future and secretly grieving but carrying around her rejection letter from her dream writing school. Carrie, harbouring big dreams, dreams of a bigger life. Carrie, Carrie, Carrie. 


Yes, there were times when I wanted to shake her for being boy-blind, scream at her for not realising how traitorous her friend could get (when I guessed so much earlier!) but..oh, well, it happens to the best of us.


There are some inconsistencies between the book and the tv series/movies. For instance, in the show it's her father who had left them, but in here it's the mother who has died. But if you get past that and stop trying to relate the two together, it's quite enjoyable.


I liked the juxtaposition of the trifle and the profound and the equal seriousness with which almost both are handled at times. I think therein lies the very realism of the book. Although, somewhere along the line, I also think Carrie got very, very lucky with something that set her up for the rest of her life.


Oh, the ending? That's one helluva ending. The last line's a killer. If you're familiar with atleast the characters of Sex And The City, you'd know why. And it sets up the tone perfectly for the sequel, which I'm definitely reading.


Smart one liners, wry humour, the 80s generation, a coming-of-age story that deals with everything from grief to sexuality, ambition and betrayal - you'd want to read this Candace Bushnell offering :)

See, even Tom Felton thinks so ;)

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Candace Bushnell

Have you read/watched Sex And The City?