The Carrie Diaries
by Candace Bushnell
HarperCollins HK$91
The Carrie Diaries were published to coincide with last year's Sex and the City sequel. Bad move. Bad movie: Sex and the City 2 was widely judged the worst film since, well, Sex and the City 1's valentine to pointless consumption. The television series did this too, only with wit, retaining the spirit of Candace Bushnell's original stories. As does The Carrie Diaries which revisits Bradshaw in high school. As we open, she has just been rejected from a writers' seminar. Perhaps they didn't like the part where her stories suddenly go: 'Meanwhile in the hottest restaurant on the East Side, Samantha was enjoying seconds - the waiter.' Carrie is already in love: with a hunky slime called Sebastian Kydd. Much obsessive mooning gets in the way of her real relationships: with her friends, Magwitch and Walt, and her frenemies, Lali and Donna Le Donna. High school suits Bushnell who writes sharply about cliques and sexual competitiveness. This inspires a neat in-joke. Magwitch boasts she's had more guys than Carrie. 'Don't worry. Someday I'll catch up.' It's very silly, but done with such verve that you'll forget all about Sex and the City 2. Or nearly.