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.
The Short Story ? - The Carrie Diaries and I have come to a complicated relationship. I like the book, it was different from other books I have read but I just thought it was too serious for YA fiction. Although this is Carrie's story from her teen years I can't help but think that it would have made a better Adult Chick lit.
The Long Story ? - Let me break it down. I think that just because this is a book about Carrie's teenage years, it doesn't necessarily mean that it should be YA fiction. For a teen to read this book, they would have to be very mature, you would have to already know the about how life isn't fair and that sometimes we don't get our happily ever afters.
The difference between YA and Adult fiction is really quite simple. In YA the chance of a happy ending is pretty much certain, protagonists have their downs but in the end it's still a happily ever after. In Adult fiction, it's more realistic, authors tell fiction as the world is today. It can be cruel and ugly and not always a happy ending. In Adult fiction, it's reality. In YA? Its more of a dream that you want to believe in.
The Carrie Diaries I feel was way too realistic, too mature for the YA crowd to read. If you're an adult reading YA, sure go for it. If you're a teen reading YA, proceed with caution only if you can handle mature reading. In a way, I feel like the reason YA is so enjoyable is because it's like an escape from reality. Of course, I wouldn't know since I'm still a teen but that's how I feel...
However, in a way The Carrie Diaries was refreshing. It was like a slap in the face to wake me up from all the happy endings that I have read ( great, now I feel like a sadist) but it was very very real. Great book to read between the transition from teen to adult.
Apart from my thoughts of the book, the writing was really good. It was simple and mature just like Carrie. The plot was pretty slow moving, 389 pages which only took you through very little action but it's just life, slow and fast depending on circumstances. The characterisation was very good, setting a book in the 1980's seems like something that's really hard to me but to create a character from the 1980's that's like really skilled. Candace Bushnell seems really young so I would think she wasn't a teen in the 1980's.
A highlight for me was the very last page, that's right, I liked the book but I loved the last page which acted like the link between The Carrie Diaries and The Sex and the City. Overall, it was a good book. refreshing and mature. I think I would have enjoyed it more if I was a bit older. Rating 3/5
Badass Bookie xx
What a catchy cover. I like it.
ReplyDeleteSo it's connected with Sex and the city. Just like you I dont follow the tv series a lot