book data
2250 ratings, 2.74 average rating, 347 reviews
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published
August 1st 2006
(first published 2004)
by Warner Books
binding
Mass Market Paperback, 304 pages
isbn
0446617687
(isbn13: 9780446617680)
description
The "Sex and the City" columnist for the New York Observer documents the social scene of modern-day Manhattan. The reader gets an int...more
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avg 2.74
Read in May, 2008
Ouch, ouch, my soul.
Please don't misunderstand. I like vanilla cupcakes top heavy with fluffy pink frosting as much as the next guy. That's why the show is a longstanding guilty pleasure of mine. The difference between the show and the book is that while acquisitive, status-obsessed party monsters with less depth than a paper cut comprise the bulk of the characters on the show as in the book, the show manages to flesh them out into comically fallible, three-dimensional human beings who, even...more
Please don't misunderstand. I like vanilla cupcakes top heavy with fluffy pink frosting as much as the next guy. That's why the show is a longstanding guilty pleasure of mine. The difference between the show and the book is that while acquisitive, status-obsessed party monsters with less depth than a paper cut comprise the bulk of the characters on the show as in the book, the show manages to flesh them out into comically fallible, three-dimensional human beings who, even...more
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recommends it for:
No one in their right mind.
This book was highly disappointing. I watch and love the show (and I'm looking forward to the movie) so I thought the book would be a sure bet. Turns out, the writers for the show are so much more smart, clever, and interesting that Bushnell could ever be. The Sex and the City book was just full of ridiculous characters in their thirties trying to be young again by going out every night to the "hottest" bar, doing ridiculous amounts of drugs like that's the only way to be cool, and it ...more
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Read in January, 1998
I think I read this right after the show first started on HBO. The book is nowhere near as entertaining as the show...it doesn't have the 4-girlfriends-on-the-town approach that the show takes; instead, it just focuses on some caricature of a stupid New York-type that I hate: the ones who live here like it's LA with bad weather and make it all about the clothes, the money, social positioning, the zip codes, etc. The show obviously touches on all those points, but in a "can you believe some ...more
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I don't understand the point of this book. On one hand, I liked the ending more than I liked the series finale of the show; on the other, all of the characters in the book were caricatures of the worst qualities in people, unsympathetic and kinda psychotic. The first half of the book (a series of vignettes) was a bit more fun than the second (Carrie and her ensuing mental break-down with Big). Carrie, of the show and of the book, sucks.
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Read in January, 2004
There are very few books I quit reading, even if I don't like them, because I am compelled with book guilt most of the time.
I did not make it through this. All I can say is the writers for the HBO series REALLY had some vision, because the show was about 4000 times better than the book : )
I did not make it through this. All I can say is the writers for the HBO series REALLY had some vision, because the show was about 4000 times better than the book : )
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Read in January, 1999
recommends it for:
no one
This was ridiculous. It was incredibly self-indulgent and trite. It's incredible that someone read this collection of articles and said, "Hey! Let's turn this into a wildly funny, intelligent, and timely series that will win Emmys and Jill's Heart!" Avoid the book, rent the series.
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This book is nothing like the show (which I adore!). I couldn't make it past 50 pages of this book: I was so bored. Candace Bushnell is so impressed with herself and that's pretty much what her books are about. There was no plot or substance to hold my interest.
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Read in January, 2003
Ich hatte anfangs gedacht, dass das Buch quasi genauso wie die TV-Folgen sind. Dem ist aber nicht so, was ich zuerst etwas schade fand.
Auch die Charaktere entsprechen nicht den vier Hauptdarstellerinnen, im Grunde genommen gibt es hier gar keine 4 Hauptdarsteller. Es gibt zwar eine Journalistin Carrie, eine Samantha Jones und auch Miranda. Es gibt sogar den schwulen Stanford. Aber es gibt auch eine Menge anderer Leute, dafür nicht die Mädels-Clique in dem Sinne wie in der Serie beschrieben....more
Auch die Charaktere entsprechen nicht den vier Hauptdarstellerinnen, im Grunde genommen gibt es hier gar keine 4 Hauptdarsteller. Es gibt zwar eine Journalistin Carrie, eine Samantha Jones und auch Miranda. Es gibt sogar den schwulen Stanford. Aber es gibt auch eine Menge anderer Leute, dafür nicht die Mädels-Clique in dem Sinne wie in der Serie beschrieben....more
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Read in January, 2008
recommends it for:
everyone
I was really looking forward to read this book, since I'm a big fan of Sex and the City. At first I thought the book was a bit confusing. I had assumed that the characters; Carrie, Miranda, Samantha and Charlotte as a group of friends would be in focus, like in the TV-series. In the beginning I was therefore a bit disappointed. As I continued to read, my view changed. I really started to enjoy reading this book.
What I really liked about the book was that even though the characters and th...more
What I really liked about the book was that even though the characters and th...more
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Read in July, 2008
I've seen quite a few of the Sex and the City episodes and enjoyed them a lot, so I thought it would be cool to see where it all started from. I have to be honest - I think the television show is so much better - more fleshed out characters, better dialogue, more likeable characters and just a lot more depth period.
It's hard for me to get too interested in a book that is so very on the surface, where you never really get to know much about the characters or even the setting they are inhabit...more
It's hard for me to get too interested in a book that is so very on the surface, where you never really get to know much about the characters or even the setting they are inhabit...more
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Read in July, 2008
This is certainly different from the series - and it's not just the mounds of cocaine and pounds of marijuana consumed by the main characters.
The selling point of the series has always been the friendships between the four characters. In this book, on the other hand, it's every girl for herself. The women are never supportive, and are usually backstabbing. Carrie is even more of a mess than she ever was in the TV show. Everyone seems utterly miserable.
Also? Allegedly this is uproariously...more
The selling point of the series has always been the friendships between the four characters. In this book, on the other hand, it's every girl for herself. The women are never supportive, and are usually backstabbing. Carrie is even more of a mess than she ever was in the TV show. Everyone seems utterly miserable.
Also? Allegedly this is uproariously...more
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Read in August, 2008
I decided to try some fluff. I really didn't like this book. I've come to like the TV series because although it can be a bit raunchy or risque, it has the redeeming qualities of humor, introspection, and the value of friendship. This book was all over the place. I guess I thought it would be a series of columns, but it didn't seem that way to me. It also didn't seem to have any introspection at all. I realize it isn't a novel so I didn't expect it to be a book with linear form. The problem is t...more
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One of the rare cases in which I prefer the show to the book. The only character that was better in the book was Stanford. Who cares what one woman thinks about the mating rituals specific to New York City?
****Update****
It's been a few months after I've read this book and I've had time to stew about it and really think of how angry it made me. So, I have reduced my rating from two stars to one. Take that Bushnell and your crappy storyline that wasn't evident until the last 3rd of ...more
****Update****
It's been a few months after I've read this book and I've had time to stew about it and really think of how angry it made me. So, I have reduced my rating from two stars to one. Take that Bushnell and your crappy storyline that wasn't evident until the last 3rd of ...more
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Read in August, 2005
While I usually subscribe to the belief that the movie (HBO series in this case) will never live up to the book, here that is absolutely not the case. The close-knit female friendships that power the television series aren’t nearly as present in Candace Bushnell’s book. The novel’s Carrie is a pathetic character that is hard to get behind, or understand for that matter, and the world in which she lives is un-relatable unless you’re a 30-something Manhattan socialite.
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Read in December, 2003
recommended to Katie by:
TVrecommends it for: Noone who likes their brain cells
Whoever gave Candace Bushnell a book deal needs to be forced to take Freshman Writing all over again. Candace Bushnell should be in a remedial course. The concepts of plot continuity, character consistency and growth, and writing generally well are lost here. I got stupider when I read this book. Seriously. The TV show is nothing at all like the book; in fact, it is infinitely smarter, and the characters are infinitely more sympathetic. And that's saying quite a lot.
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Read in August, 2007
BEST. TELEVISION SHOW. EVER. I have seen every episode literally half a dozen times at least.
I was really excited to read this book, due to my love of the show. But it was so completely different from the show, the characters were so flat, the writing so poor that I rue the fact that I paid even the Target low price of like 3 bucks for this piece of shit. It's amazing that such a shitty book inspired such a fabulous television series.
I was really excited to read this book, due to my love of the show. But it was so completely different from the show, the characters were so flat, the writing so poor that I rue the fact that I paid even the Target low price of like 3 bucks for this piece of shit. It's amazing that such a shitty book inspired such a fabulous television series.
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Read in September, 2003
For all the hype, this book was blah. Thank goodness that Darren Star managed to create an interesting television series out of this drivel, but don't expect to read about Carrie, Charlotte, Miranda and Samantha as you know them. They're bit characters in a narrative of vignettes, and they were all changed radically for the show. Also, not a very interesting read unless you're part of that world or a massive escapist.
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I should have thought twice when I plucked this book off of the sociology shelf. I was really hoping for something similar to the television show but was greatly disappointed. This reads more like a stiff recount of the mating rituals of upper crust, cardboard-like beautiful and privileged people in New York City. It was not at all witty and this book made me feel like a lot of the characters - completely bored.
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Ew, ew, and more EWWWW! If you are a fan of the show do not read this book. I'm not sure exactly how they can even say the show was based on this book other than the fact that they have the same title and some of the same character names (however the characters themselves are completely different people). Was not impressed... Candace Bushnell is just not doing it for me these days.
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recommends it for:
noone, live in ignorance
I LOVE Sex and the City, the series, as do most women my age. I decided to read the book, sad about the long, long wait until the movie comes out and having memorized every episode from all five seasons. It was a huge disappointment. The characters seem slutty and boring, not fun and interesting. And their lives seem pathetic and shallow, not full of discovery and life experiences.
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