Review: The Carrie Diaries

As many of you know, I am not a fan of Sex and the City. As a 26 year old from a small city in the North of England, I find it difficult to relate to a 40 something single woman, playing the field in New York. (In case you didn’t know, Chester isn’t very much like New York.)

So when I heard about “The Carrie Diaries“, it made me thing that maybe I’d be able to enjoy and possibly relate to Miss Bradshaw. OK, so its based in the 80’s, but I was a huge fan of the various “Sweet Valley” series back in the day and I quite enjoyed the flashback episode of Gossip Girlback to Serenas mums teenage years (although the amount of actors from Veronica Marsconfused me a little. Did Kristen Bell get them all minor roles? Whatev. I still love Dick, even more so when he is a Billy Idol wannabe). I wanted to like this book.

But, no. I just couldn’t get into it at all. This was my second time of reading it, and I find it just as hard relating to 17 year old Carrie in Connecticut, as I do to late 30’s Carrie in New York.

Perhaps you have to be a die hard SatC fan to enjoy this book. Personally, I think thats a real shame though. There was potential in the book to attract a new, younger audience into the franchise – and isn’t that every persons aim who is selling something? New customers?

It could have been so much more, it could even have become a series of books – why try and cram a whole year into one book? To copy Sweet Valley High would have been a bit much (how many times did the twins get in life threatening danger? Still love it though) but something more along the lines of the Georgia Nicholson series (if you’ve not read that series, do. Its so funny, even though it’s, again, a YA series)

The Carrie Diaries felt rushed through with cramming the year into one book, and certain parts of the book felt as if they had been added in at the last minute to sort of fore shadow the TV series.

If this book had been thought about a bit more, then it could have been brilliant. Sadly, this is a book that is going to stay on my bookshelf most of the time, not one to read and re-read