Rating: 
Summary: Cynical as hell...be sure you know what you're buying
Review: Despite the several warnings in reviews here about confusing the book with the HBO series, it's easy to confuse the two. After all, the typeface and star of the series is featured on the book's cover. Be aware, though, that the book is nothing like the series. The tone, like Bushnell's other fiction, is bitter and empty. The female characters have shallow lives--they are desperate to get or keep their looks, status, or money by any means possible. The friendships which are fundamental to the series are not part of this world. The male characters are no more interesting or realistic. Bushnell can write, but her characters are unrecognizable to me (thank God!) and her cynical point of view makes you feel sorry for her rather than feeling a connection.
Rating: 
Summary: Nothing like the HBO series
Review: Without being a major fan, I 've always found the TV series entertaining.
Well, this book isn't. It does give you a glimpse to that kind of society, and then there's endless babbling about everything one can imagine, accompanied by some sexual innuedo and a depressing atmosphere of vanity and temporarity.
Really, the characters from the series either are not present, or they 're totally different, and there is nothing compelling to read about in it, anyway.
So, just don't bother.
Rating: 
Summary: Enjoy It And Do Not Compare It With The HBO Serial
Review: When you read this book there are many things to consider.1. The book is written in the style of a scientific work of a doctor student. Every chapter has an own topic, which has been introduced every week as a column in the "New York Observer". There is no coherent plot with the exception of the relationship between Carrie and Mr.Big. In this way the book is often very hard to digest, but once you have put up with this and swallowed the idea you can enjoy its wit and humour the more. 2. Since there is no coherent plot in this book it is quite different from the HBO serial. This serial deals with the life and sex relationships of four women, Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte and Miranda. In the book only Carrie has a distinguished part, the other women are three out of hundreds. At the beginning it is quite fastidious to have to read so many names of women and men, but at the end you get the idea why Candace Bushnell is doing this: all people consist of names and sex, nothing more. 3. Is this book a moral book? In my opinion it is. The relationship between Carrie and Mr.Big has to end because it is a sexual relationship without love. At the end Mr.Big uses all his power to destroy Carrie and he succeeds, which in my opinion is also a sign that there has never been any emotional understanding betweeen both protagonists. When you have finished the book I advise you to read the first chapter again. It has the genious quality of both introducing the book and summing it up. Afterwards you understand what Candace Bushnell wants to tell us.
Rating:
Summary: the city
Review: I don't understand it. The TV series is brilliant and i'm sure in effect that Bushnell can write but clearly her ideas come across better when acted out. It's a shame really, it could be a great book only everthing is all over the place and just doesn't flow. Personally i'd stick to the TV series unless you want to be disappointed
Rating: 
Summary: Great for Fans of the Show
Review: As a Sex and the City-phile, this book is a must-have. Not exactly like the show but anyone who likes the show should enjoy this. Another good book is the Zoomer TV Guide...they list a bunch of places from the show so you can party where the girls party. I think there is also a Sex and the City tour.
Rating:
Summary: Don't Waste Your Time
Review: Even though several others have slammed this book in the reader feedback section, I want to add my note of caution. There are too many characters, and all of them are lacking in depth. It's more like the first few episodes of the show, but it goes downhill very quickly. The book is lacking in charm. I kept turning the pages in the hopes that something would develop, but in the end it was a convulted mess that only made me laugh twice.
Rating:
Summary: How they got the show out of this, I don't know
Review: I am a diehard fan of the show, so I decided to read this. This book was really disappointing. Basically this book just includes a lot of quotes and situations from the very first episode. That is about it.
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely plotless. Boring and unworthy of your time.
Review: PLEASE do not think this is the TV show. I have all the DVD sets for the TV show; but this book is just horrible and very far from even close to how character/personality-rich the HBO series is. Like many others, I bought this book because I love the show, but this book is a huge disappointment. It is very choppy with absolute no coherence, which makes great 25 minute TV episodes, but not a book. It is so choppy I thought it is a joke. The only similarity between this book and the TV show is they both have a character called Carrie Bradshaw, but that's it. Really, if you are looking for sassiness in the show, the punch lines and hush hush sex talk that's so vulgar yet urban and captivating in the show, do not buy this book. I repear, do not buy this book. Buy the DVD set. If you bought it already, well, buy the DVD set again in lieu of buying this book. The character does not grow, the narrative is without a perspective, and there are no sub-characters that anybody should find a most distant simpathy or interest in. A very boring read. (In fact, I am not sure if I should call it a read)
Rating: 
Summary: Don't Expect the Series, But Worth a Read
Review: Being a huge fan of the TV series (like most people reading this, I'd imagine), and looking for something somewhat fluffy to read, I ordered this book and quickly finished it. The thing that struck me most was how *empty* the book felt. Whereas the characters on the TV series have some very close friends, the book doesn't really have that dimension. Sure, people go out with their fabulous acquaintances, but there never really seems to be a true connection among them. Lonliness is nearly a constant with the characters in this book. It left me feeling pretty sad, as well. Yes, it was comical, but it also had a fairly serious side. For fans of the series, this book is *not* told solely through the eyes of Carrie. The narrator is someone else, a "friend" of Carrie's and the other characters, who does indeed write a newspaper column. Most of the characters in the TV series are in the book by name only -- for example, Charlotte makes an appearance as a journalist with a completely different personality thank Charlotte in the series. And whereas I think most people genuinely like at least one person from the series, I think I finished this book disliking every single character. What did surprise me is that the first episode of the series is nearly verbatim from the book. What I liked about this book were the vivid scenes and the ability to create a feeling. I think Bushnell did a great job and making her audience feel what the characters feel. While it's not the series, it's certainly worth a read.
Rating:
Summary: Entertaining, but...
Review: I read it the whole way through and it kept me interested I can give it that--largely because it was funny, juicy and I reckon most or all of the characters in the book are from real-life, in Candaces' drug induced New York life, but puh-lease, 'waaa poor me, so rich, so neurotic, so beautiful.' In the end this book is about mean, selfish, pig-headed men and women who rule New York society and I am so glad I think life is more than going to a cool bar, having sex with hundreds of men, taking copius amounts of drugs and stressing over which bag goes with my new Manolo Blahink shoes. Woe is me, woe is ...! Chalk it down to a funny social commentary with no substance.
|
