It was always going to be a risk bringing out another book in the Sex and the City series but Candace Bushnell doesn’t disappoint with The Carrie Diaries.
The prequel follows a teenage Ms Bradshaw as she learns about life, friendships and love. Her journey through childhood to adulthood is one of self-discovery that is both intriguing and heart warming and transports you back to your days as a high school student.
Aside from the misery of heartbreak the message in the book is a very positive one with Carrie’s fight to become accepted as a writer, the strong friendships she forms and how she deals with pain.
However young Carrie is far from the Ms Bradshaw we know and love and disappointingly not the young style icon that most would have imagined her to be. This makes it far too easy to forget that the Carrie Diaries has any connection with the rest of the SATC series.
This is also true of the characters in the book, in particular Carrie’s sisters Dorrit and Missy who despite their close relationship in the book have never once been mentioned in the TV series or films leaving us to believe that Carrie was an only child.
Unfortunately Carrie’s wardrobe is another aspect of her life that is lacking in the prequel. All that is mentioned is Carrie’s love of vintage clothes and more specifically her mother’s handbag and her grandma’s real fur stole.
The Carrie Diaries is a good read once you get into it and provides a great sense of escapism, but for those looking for the real Carrie behind the closet full of designer clothes and lavish lifestyle you might be searching for a long time.
Rating- ****
The Carrie Diaries is available in hardback from all good booksellers.
