Summer and the City by Candace Bushnell
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
I admit, I wanted to give this book three stars, but then I thought better of it…
Okay, so, I think I finally understand these books. They’re satire at its finest. The reason that Carrie Bradshaw is so abhorrent is that the author is trying to poke fun at teenage girls. I think. Or at least I hope…
After being so disappointed in the first of the series, I don’t know why I picked up the second one. If only because I am warped and can’t leave a series unfinished, even if a rotten one. But because Carrie Bradshaw is such an iconic figure, I want to know more about her roots. I want to know how she went from being a desperate teenager with only care for herself to such a beloved woman. But the thing is… I still can’t figure it out. Bushnell is writing characters, especially female ones, who for the most part are… awful…
Take Carrie’s friend Maggie, for example. She travels to New York to visit Carrie, is sleeping with two guys back home (one because he’s good at it, the other because then she can be seen in public with him), seduces one of Carrie’s friends, and proceeds to invite him back to Carrie’s apartment (well, Samantha Jones’s apartment) only to sneak off into another room and loudly copulate with him while Carrie is in the other room. My hope is that Bushnell intended to say to young girls, “If you are friends with people like this… kindly stop BEING friends with them.” Don’t get me wrong, I understand hook-ups, but… I couldn’t stand reading about Maggie for a moment longer and was thrilled when she was off the map.
Next, let’s tackle Carrie herself. Wildly insecure, Carrie complains most of the novel about how no one cares about how her life in New York is going, when really, she doesn’t try for a second to ask about anyone else’s life. She immediately falls into an affair with a man far too old for her, becomes the desperate self she was when faced with Sebastian in the first novel, and proceeds to keep seeing him even when the obvious evidence is that he is no good. Why, Carrie? Why torture yourself to this extent? I am losing sight here of how Carrie became an icon.
My hope is that Bushnell wanted to write these “early years” novels to show how far Carrie came in her life. How she went from self-centered small town girl to big city maven. My biggest fear is that Bushnell thinks that in Carrie’s selfishness people will find indearment, when (in my case anyway), I sincerely hope she’s just kidding.
While I know that Carrie soon joins in her group of Samantha, Miranda and Charlotte, my wish for the next novel (because I’m sure it will have to keep going…), get better friends. Please.




