Book Club Book Review: Sex and the City

Book: Sex and the City by Candace Bushnell

Book Club: Women's Literature

Description:

Enter a world where the sometimes shocking and often hilarious mating habits of the privileged are exposed by a true insider. In essays drawn from her witty and sometimes brutally candid column in the New York Observer, Candace Bushnell introduces us to the young and beautiful who travel in packs from parties to bars to clubs. Meet "Carrie," the quintessential young writer looking for love in all the wrong places..."Mr. Big," the business tycoon who drifts from one relationship to another..."Samantha Jones," the fortyish, successful, "testosterone woman" who uses sex like a man...not to mention "Psycho Moms," "Bicycle Boys," "International Crazy Girls," and the rest of the New Yorkers who have inspired one of the most watched TV series of our time.



Rating: 3 stars

Review:

When I read Sex and the City the first time it was with a different edition and I had been in college. I had posted a mini review back when I first started this blog but this time I get a chance to write more about it.

I had long since donated my earlier copy of the book and found this later edition at the thrift store. This edition included two new chapters that were written after the book was originally published. After reading this for the second time, I have to say that my opinion changed a little. Back then I gave it a 1 star rating but now I'm giving it 3 stars. It's still a vapid and shallow book but what I didn't grasp back then was that it's rather well-written. Despite finding it hard to even find anything likeable about these characters I was able to be drawn into their shallow existence. I found a lot of drama and humor (be it intentional or not).

Something I always wondered about Sex and the City was, is it fiction or nonfiction? The first few parts of the book reads like nonfiction. However, once the book started to focus on Carrie and the other "characters" that reads like straight fiction because even the writing changes from journalist/gossip insider talking about or interviewing those around her (for the earlier parts) to being a narrator focusing on the lives of these characters.

I'm always surprised that this is even categorized as a romance book. If anything it should get the label anti-romance because reading this you would think love and romance were dead. These characters are so bitter and miserable that any form of love, romance or sexual encounters that have becomes tainted and mutated the minute they meet someone.

My conclusion after reading this is that the TV series is still the better of the two mediums. The creators of the Sex and the City TV series managed to take a superficial and shallow book and create an amazing series. They brought out the good parts and made the characters engaging by providing real depth to them. They gave you a reason to care about these characters.

The book take a 90s edgy look at life in New York City and what passed for romance there. Meanwhile, the TV series gave you four friends who clearly love the city, their friendship, their careers all while looking for love.