I do not remember much from last week. It was totally out of control and I didn’t get much writing done — I feel a related post coming later this week! Ha.
But in the midst of all of the chaos, I did find some relief from the madness by reading The Carrie Diaries by Candace Bushnell. I was a big fan of the The Sex and The City series, so I already knew a lot of about the 30-something Carrie, and so when I found out the author was writing a prequel, I already knew I knew I would buy the book. And obviously a lot of other people bought the book too since it landed #1 on the New York Times bestseller list in its debut week.
The strongest factor in the novel is Carrie’s voice. I loved her voice. In this novel, high school senior Carrie is an aspiring writer, and I loved her observations and realizations about love, relationships, and dreams. I also appreciate the good balance of details for the 80′s setting — not too overwhelming but enough to let you know the time period.
The second strongest factor in this novel is the relationships. The main conflict with Carrie and Sebastian Kydd — the love interest (and uh, jerk) — as well as her circle of friends and family. Particularly loved The Mouse (aka Roberta) and Walt. Throughout the novel, we see the interactions between them and how Carrie comes to terms with these relationships while also learning about herself.
As a bonus, I also got a little writing advice through Carrie’s interaction with a published author (pg. 326):
“A ‘character’, therefore is a ‘real person’ who exists in another plane, a parallel universe based on the author’s perception of reality.
When it comes to people — don’t write about who you know, but what you know of human nature.”
I found myself really caring about these characters and wanting to follow Carrie through the journey of her senior year. I didn’t quite know what to expect — maybe the same kind of vibe from the TV series — but this book is definitely authentic YA.
And I must say that I’m really enjoying the books I’ve been reading from the Balzer + Bray imprint. I just picked up another one, Whisper by Pheobe Kitanidis this weekend.
Sounds like a great read. Eventually I’ll get to my list of great books I want to read.
This sounds like a really great read. I’ve only seen a few episodes of Sex & the City, but it’s a fun show – and it sounds like a fun prequel!
Glad Carrie Diaries didn’t disappoint! I was never SATC-obsessed, and I wasn’t a fan of the SATC book that started it all, but I’ve seen/enjoyed enough episodes to be curious about The Carrie Diaries, and it’s nice that it holds up on its own.
Thanks for following First Novels Club!