Book #20 of 2010: 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 didn't really like this one. If it wasn't Carrie Bradshaw, I would've put it down and moved onto a different book after like the 4th chapter. I haven't read any of the Sex & the City books, so I don't know how different the HBO Carrie is compared to the books, but the girl in this book so didn't feel like her.

I got the feeling Candace Bushnell tried too hard for Carrie to look like she's any other girl. Since we know what she turns out to be from the TV shows, it just wasn't convincing at all. One of the things that really bugged me was, how does one go from cooking Julia Child meals to keeping sweaters in their stove? Even the mentions of the fashion bits in the book felt forced.

I just found teenage Carrie more annoying than her adult self (she's always been my least favorite character on the show), and her friends were just as annoying.

The surprise in the end was rather nice, and I think I'll enjoy her New York days more than this one. I was too excited, I guess, because it's even translated to Turkish already:

Carrie Günlükleri bizim kuşağın en ikonik karakterlerinden birinin ergenlik öyküsünü anlatıyor. Sex and the City'den önce Carrie Bradsaw, daha fazlasını istediğini bilen küçük bir kasaba kızıydı. Hayata atılmaya hazır hissediyordu kendini. Ancak kolejdeki son senesiydi ve halletmesi gereken işler vardı.O güne kadar Carrie ve arkadaşları hiç ayrılmamıştı. Fakat Sebastian Kydd'ın gelişi her şeyi bozdu. Arkadaşlarından birinin ihaneti, Carrie'ye o güne kadar yaşadığı pek çok şeyi ve hayatı sorgulattı. Unutulmaz karakterleriyle Carrie Günlükleri sıradan bir genç kızın nasıl olup da kendi hakkında düşünmeye başladığını ve sonunda sivri ve her şeyi gören bir yazara dönüştüğünü anlatıyor. Okuyucular Carrie'nin

ailesiyle tanışacak, bir yazar olarak anlatıcı sesini bulmasına

şahitlik edecek. Dahası ergenlik döneminde yaşadığı arkadaşlık ve ilişkilerin onda bıraktığı izleri takip edebilecekler.

Cüretkar ve güçlü maceralar eşliğinde Carrie'yi yeni bir hayata başlayacağı, o çok sevdiği New York'a sürükleyenin ne olduğunu göreceğiz.