Submitted by Gertie
This is the first book I've ever read by the acclaimed author Candace Bushnell that I felt would be appropriate for my teenaged daughter to read. I've read a half dozen books by Bushnell already, and love her easy, breezy (and sometimes sleazy) writing style! This book, on the other hand, is a revelation with its simpler, more innocent voice, which makes the read a scintillating mix of sex and sentimentalism. I haven't seen the TV series based on this book yet, but I look forward now to doing so!
The main characters include the famed Carrie Bradshaw, who is also the main character in the acclaimed TV series "Sex and the City." Here she is a young high school student, caught between her romance-minded girlfriends, Maggie and Lali, who are somewhat more sexually advanced and aggressive than she is, and her desire for more adventure than her hometown has to offer! A new boy in school, Sebastian Kydd, brings the choice to a head, as Carrie and seemingly every other female in her class have a crush on him, and for a while, Carrie holds his attention. But some of the other girls are willing to do more than she is to snag this prize, and Carrie wrestles with betrayals and backstabbing as her best friend and the most popular girl in the class vie to win Sebastion's roaming heart.
Carrie has other options besides being Sebastion's girlfriend, though, including a boring suitor at Brown University with literary connections, and her burgeoning interest in becoming a writer. She eventually leaves all the high school drama behind after winning a prestigious writing opportunity in New York City, but not before burning a few bridges and setting a few rivals on fire with her scathing attacks in the student newspaper. In the end, only the reader can decide whether Carrie has made the right decision, but of course, most of us are already aware of her success in the Big Apple, making these petty high school jealousies seem slightly irrelevant.
"The Carrie Diaries" is a delightful read which took me back to my own high school days in a way few other "teen" books have. Perhaps it's because Bushnell is closer to my generation than some of the other authors penning YA fiction; perhaps because high school is where I made the decision to become a writer, just as Carrie does. Whatever the reason, the book was a great pleasure for me to read, and makes another great addition to my Bushnell library!
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