Happy Saturday night!! Right now I’m watching a marathon of Hot In Cleveland on TV Land. Another rockin’ Saturday night at my house!! lol
So, in my last post I mentioned that I’d finished reading The Carrie Diaries and would post a review, so here goes…..
To be honest I wasn’t really expecting much since, if you’ve read my previous posts, I haven’t really liked Candace Bushnell’s previous books. As we’ve all come to know, this is supposed to be about Carrie Bradshaw before Sex and the City. Unfortunately, I didn’t see anything of the Carrie Bradshaw that we’ve all grown to know and love from the series in this book. I think she did a disservice to the character by trying to tie it, as a prequel, to Sex and The City. She would have been better off starting a whole new character and gone from there. Then she could have had a whole new series.
But even so, overall I enjoyed the book. I really didn’t think of it as our Carrie Bradshaw, but a different character so that I could enjoy it as a separate entity. Ms Bushnell still tries to cram everything and the kitchen sink into the storyline to try and cover every cliche teenage angst known to man–and then some. Honestly, she really needs to learn some restraint–as well as how to edit. And if she’s going to tie it to the series, I wish she would have at least went back and watched the TV series before submitting this to her publishers if she really wanted it to be a prequel to the show. It’s much more enjoyable if you don’t tie the two together….honestly!
There were several discrepancies in the book including the fact that in the show Carrie said that she didn’t know her father, that it was just she and her mom. But in the book her mom is dead and she has an overprotective father and 2 younger sisters. Yet, if she had that father in the show, would she have had all of the relationship issues that are the cornerstone of her character??
Also, remember David Duchovny as her high school boyfriend who comes to visit her while staying at the psychiatric facility? Yeah, well he’s nowhere to be found. And, yes, they discuss her 2 previous boyfriends before Sebastien Kydd, her boyfriend in the book.
And besides the discrepancies, compared to the series, I have a question: In what state is there a law that people under the age of 18 can go to a bar or restaurant and order alcohol??? The book starts in September of their senior year–I doubt they ALL, if any, were 18 years of age at that time. I know that I didn’t turn 18 until spring of senior year–and I was older than most of my friends, so……hmmmm
So, this afternoon I went to see Eat, Pray, Love. Is it exactly like the book? No, of course not. Does it matter? No, of course not. Could you imagine anyone other than Julia Roberts playing the part of Elizabeth Gilbert? No, of course not.
The book was fantastic. And, honestly, once I finish reading all of the books I currently have checked out of the library….I really want to re-read it. I actually own this book…purchased a long time ago but just got around to reading a couple/few months ago.
The book was changed to fit everything into a 2 1/4 hour movie. Everything was summed up okay and some things were left out (which was okay). The only thing I didn’t like about the movie was the way they changed scenery (between Italy to India to Bali). It was startling and a little confusing. It would have been nice if, at the beginning of each place, they would have just put “Italy”….or “India”….or “Bali” on the screen in the first few seconds of the sequence. Yes we knew what was coming, but it didn’t need to be so jarring.
But, let’s not nitpick. The movie was beautiful and it made me want to visit each and every place. Richard Jenkins was terrific as always and really did steal the scenes he was in.
And how can you not love Javier Bardem?! I’ve always been a fan of his and he is also terrific in this movie. I love the scene when he is saying good-bye to his son, who is leaving Bali. It was touching and made you love his character even more.
Even if you haven’t read the book go see this movie as you will not be disappointed. The book is a tough read to start out, but once you get past the beginning, you just get immersed in the story and it’s hard to put down. Through Elizabeth Gilbert’s writing you are transported to each place. I really did feel that I was in Italy, India and Bali. It, like the movie, made me want to visit each of these three magical places!!
I did manage to squeeze in The Shred-Day 5. I put my all into the workout and really concentrated on each exercise and found that I was able to do the push-ups without slowing or stopping (although I still did them “girly” style). It’s still a tough workout but I’m getting better at it. I’m still on level one and will probably stay on it for a while–possibly the whole 30 days. Maybe the next 30 days I’ll move to level 2 and then level 3 for another 30 days??? That kind of sounds like a plan!! Well, I’ll just play it by ear….
Hope everyone’s enjoying their weekend so far…….
