Gossip Girl

by Cecily von Ziegesar

Reviewed by Coral

The Gossip Girl website chronicles all of the scandalous behaviour – real or fictional - of the elite teenagers of New York’s Upper East side. Like Serena van der Woodsen’s expulsion from boarding school. Was it drugs? Boys? Her friends aren’t happy to see her back in New York. Best friend Blair was happy to finally find herself in the spotlight without Serena. And Nate hoped that Serena’s departure meant he would never have to tell Blair that he slept with her best friend.

Having watched the TV show on and off during its 6 season, I was curious about the book series that was behind it (even if I am not exactly in the target audience for either of them).

I didn’t really like any of the book versions of the characters on their own. They seemed devoid of some of the depth of the TV show characters. Serena may have been drifting through life without any clear ideas of her future in both, but she seemed weaker than she was in the TV show. While TV Serena could be impulsive, she had strength to her. Other characters were reduced to one character trait, like Nate being a druggie and Jenny having large breasts.

I enjoyed seeing the differences between the two. I can understand why they moved all of the boys into the same school. I thought it was interesting that they took Chuck, who was a minor character in the books, and had him replace all of Nate’s druggie friends to become a central character in the show. I liked TV Eric, so I didn’t mind that they changed him from being Serena’s older to her younger brother. Not knowing where the book plots go with any of the characters, it was interesting to see how many other siblings and parents were written out of the show.

Grade: B