Before Carrie Bradshaw moves to New York and becomes a writer – and one of our generation’s iconic characters- she was a small town girl in the late 1970s who fell in love with the wrong men and didn’t have any sex in the city…
Before Carrie Bradshaw moves to New York and becomes a writer – and one of our generation’s iconic characters- she was a small town girl in the late 1970s who fell in love with the wrong men and didn’t have any sex in the city or the suburbs, for that matter.
We see the teen grow into her philosophy of life and develop her strong self-worth and identity and of course, her love of writing. Carrie’s close friends are far from the kindred spirits of her adult friends Samantha, Charlotte and Miranda, they are immature, boyfriend-stealing, sulking, attention-seeking typical teenage girls!
Author Candace Bushnell has a genuine affection for the characters and seems to have imbued lots of herself in Carrie.
Yes, Carrie’s clothes are mentioned, but they are free of designer labels; just quirky ensembles age-appropriate for a teen in a small town. It’s when she decorates her late mother’s handbag with her name Carrie in nail polish to disguise her little sister’s sabotage of the treasured bag that we see an inkling of the future fashionista to come.
In a witty play on SATC’s love interest "Mr Big", the teen Carrie’s heart-throb is Sebastian Kidd – geddit? Carrie’s bestie even thinks Sebastian’s surname is Little the first time he is mentioned.
High school dramas seem to attract not only their peers as readers, but women twice the age of the characters; just look at Beverley Hills 90210, The OC and Gossip Girl for a viewership well over their twenty first birthdays. There’s something compelling about re-living the student years – which many hated in real life- painlessly through someone else. One definitely sees familiar characters and scenarios played out amongst Carrie’s circle.
Some of the commentary on high school cliques reminded me of the Tina Fey-scripted Lindsay Lohan film, Mean Girls, and had me wondering of Bushnell and Fey et al are trying to heal memories of their own high school years by poking literary fingers at the cool girls.
And to all of you who are wondering if Carrie loses her virginity in the book, well, you’ll just have to read it to find out; you may get a surprise!
Overall, a very enjoyable light read for fans of SATC. 6.5/10.
By Megan Robinson, 10 May 2010.
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