The Devil Wears Prada

by Lauren Weisberger
The Devil Wears Prada  
published May 30th 2006 by Anchor
first published 2004
binding Mass Market Paperback
isbn 0307275558   (isbn13: 9780307275554)
pages 448
description It's a killer title: The Devil Wears Prada. And it's killer material: author Lauren Weisberger did a stint as assistant to Anna Wintour, the al...more
date added
12-07-06



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Libbie
Libbie rated it: 2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars
05/27/08

bookshelves: fiction
Read in May, 2008
recommended to Libbie by: My mom. Big surprise.
recommends it for: people who are easily amused and don't care about good writing.
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
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Samantha
Samantha rated it: 1 of 5 stars1 of 5 stars1 of 5 stars1 of 5 stars1 of 5 stars
01/28/08

Read in August, 2006

God have mercy, I finally finished this horrific book! Honestly, it wasn't so bad, just tedious and repetitive. I picked it because (a) the movie was coming out and (b) I recognized the title as a popular book, albeit a couple years ago. The premise to the book is that a young woman takes a Junior Assistant position at a high-fashion magazine and the She-Devil who runs the show. The movie had the same premise, but that's practically where the similarities end.


Andrea Sachs takes ...more

God have mercy, I finally finished this horrific book! Honestly, it wasn't so bad, just tedious and repetitive. I picked it because (a) the movie was coming out and (b) I recognized the title as a popular book, albeit a couple years ago. The premise to the book is that a young woman takes a Junior Assistant position at a high-fashion magazine and the She-Devil who runs the show. The movie had the same premise, but that's practically where the similarities end.


Andrea Sachs takes the job, even though her dream job is an Editor position for the New Yorker Magazine, with the promise of getting said dream job much easier after devoting a year of her life to Miranda Priestly (the She-Devil). One year is all it'll take to bypass several years of grovelling, or so she is led to believe. But the year is spent instead in the most belittling, degrading and de-humanizing environment that, frankly, pissed me off more than the main character.


If you've seen the movie, dont' think you know the book. Meryl Streep is overly demanding, despicable, and down-right evil to snarky, quirky Anne Hathaway. Eventually Anne's character loses her fashion victim status and transforms into one of her dreaded Clackers. She reaches a point where she understands Meryl's character -- even <em>sympathizes</em> but makes a break when enough's enough.


Andrea, instead, distances herself from the fashionistas, makes futile spiteful jabs at Miranda and Co. at every chance, and still loses herself. She doesn't become the trendy girl (not until she's far from the scene) but does lose her identity by placing the needs of a neurotic insomniac before herself, her friends, and her family. The book delves into her relationships on a completely differnt level (actually the movie doesn't even touch them). Let's do a short list of comparisions, shall we?


<table>
<tr>
<td><h3>The book</h>
<ol>
<li>Andrea has a steady boyfriend Ales, and lives with her best friend from childhood, Lily</li>
<li>Takes the job because it's the only magazine in New York that offered an interview</li>
<li>Puts her personal life on hold to be the beck-and-call girl for a Bitch</li>
<li>Meets a hot writer who is totally jonesing for her and offers her several opportunities to, <em>ahem</em> improve her social standing</li>
<li>She kinda ignores her failing love life and her best friend's alcohol addiction until it's too late to reverse either</li>
<li>Goes to Paris with Miranda because the Sr. Assistant gets Mono</li>
<li>When is Paris she gets the call that her best friend's drinking caused a terrible accident and she must come home</li>
<li>Finally has her fill and tells Miranda off, then gets fired</li>
<li>Kinda blah ending in which she gets freelance work and gets to waltz back into the <em>Runway</em> office for a potential writing assignment</li>
</ol>
</td>
<td><h3>The movie</h3>
<ol>
<li>Andrea lives with her boyfriend, and has a small group of friends, one of which happens to be a black girl we could assume is Lily</li>
<li>Takes the job because it was available</li>
<li>Puts her personal life on hold to be the beck-and-call girl for a Bitch</li>
<li>Meets a hot writer who keeps popping up in her life when she desperately needs help and a little pick me up, flirt-wise</li>
<li>Her boyfriend eventually gets fed up and sorta calls for a 'break'</li>
<li>Goes to Paris with Miranda because the Sr. Assistant gets hit by a car and is then fired (by Andrea) because her mind is too adled when sick at an event to immediately recall a guest's name</li>
<li>Discovers a plot to overthrow Miranda (after she recently viewed a vunerable side) and does her best to warn her, only to learn Miranda knew all along and didn't need her help. This is when she decides she's had enough and litterally walks off the job </li>
<li>Happy ending ensues with her getting a crap job and, unknowingly is seen by Miranda, who approves of her own fashion sense</li>
</ol>
</td>
</tr>
</table>

If I had read the book then saw the movie, I think I would have been pissed off at the screenwriters. As it was, I did the opposite, but am still pissed. I thought the book sucked large portions of ass. There was quite a bit that was humorous, I'll grant you and the author that much, but it was <em>so</em> repetitive when describing her tasks (which I guess was the point) that I simply felt beat down. Gotta give that to her: she did know how to make her readers relate to her misery.


Did I like the book? No.


Would I read another by her? Not likely.


Would I recommend the book to others? Not a chance. Go rent the movie and at least laugh at it all.

...less
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Ana T.
Ana T. rated it: 3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars
02/11/08

bookshelves: bookrings, contemporary
I finished The Devil Wear Prada last night. I had some trouble getting into the book, those first descriptions of Andrea's adventures before joining the magazine were really not that interesting to me. After she enters the magazine world I became more interested in her relationship with everyone else. Meaning I'm not that into fashion so some people might actually appreciate the fashion angle in this book more than me.

Andrea Sachs, a small-town girl fresh out of college, lands the job "...more
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K
K rated it: 3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars
02/07/08

bookshelves: 2008, owned
Read in January, 2008
Lauren Weisberger
The Devil Wears Prada
2006, Anchor
432 pages
Book bought in: Moab, Utah – USA

In this review, the book has not been compared to the movie; I wanted to review the book in itself.

As a horribly unfashionable person myself (at least, that’s what I believe, as Prada does nothing for me and I can’t for the life of me walk in heels, oh, and I like my hips), picking up The Devil Wears Prada with all of its fashion stereotypes meant indulging in a guilty pleasu...more
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Michelle
Michelle rated it: 2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars
10/29/07

Read in October, 2007
A woman came up to me while I was reading this book and said, "Oh, how is that book? I've been meaning to read it." I answered, "Um, well, it's kind of fun." She raised her eyebrows at me. "I see." I added, "I wouldn't pay full price for it. I got it on sale for, like, a dollar." She nodded as she began to walk away, "Okay, I know what you're saying."

I can explain more if you still feel like reading this book. Honestly, I won't stop y...more
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Khaya
02/15/08

So I finally saw this movie, and I thought I'd share the experience with my goodreads friends, who I'm sure are dying to hear from me!

Basically, I will add my opinion to that of countless other goodreads reviewers -- this story worked much better as a movie than as a book. When I read the book, it felt like "The Nanny Diaries" but with a more superficial premise/setting. The movie, however, conveyed some things that the book either couldn't, or didn't, get across (at least, from ...more
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Jennifer
Jennifer rated it: 1 of 5 stars1 of 5 stars1 of 5 stars1 of 5 stars1 of 5 stars
09/21/07

bookshelves: chicklit, nytimes
recommends it for: No one
This is one of the only books I have ever read in my entire life where the film actually improved my perception. It took me about three years to read this, and the only reason I ever finished it was because everyone else seemed to think it was so great, I thought I must be missing something.

I am generally bothered by books and films wherein the main character is offered an incredible opportunity, but because they are worried they are sacrificing themselves, they toss it out the window. (I ...more
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Sarah
Sarah rated it: 3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars
04/04/08

This debut novel sat on the New York Times bestseller list for months, and was turned into an Academy Award-nominated film. I did the non-bookworm thing: I saw the movie first. When I finally picked up the book, I was both delighted and irritated. I was delighted that Andrea had a more complicated personal life in the book than in the movie. Her best friend and roommate, Lily, is a promiscuous, alcoholic graduate student and her boyfriend, Alex, is an idealistic elementary school teacher. She lo...more
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Dayna
01/16/08

Read in January, 2008
recommends it for: Fans of gossip novels, and maybe some fashionistas.
More and more often I find myself saying that the movie was, in fact, better than the book. This is one such case. I was not so much disappointed as I was bored ... I couldn't help comparing the book and movie (which I saw first) and, maybe just because it was in that order, the book fell flat. It's maybe better suited for on-screen, not paper. I loved Meryl Streep as Miranda ... she was believable and therefore even more supremely evil, whereas in the book that character is mostly just ridiculo...more
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Jack
07/23/07

Read in June, 2007
Not bad, I suppose—especially interesting when compared to the film adaptation, which I'd seen first.

The movie was no great shakes, really, although the cast did a solid job with what they'd been given. Still, I sought out the book because I felt that, as with most film adaptations, a lot of depth had probably been jettisoned, and rightly so, in the translation to the screen. After all, a novel can tackle a lot more than two hours of screen time can.

Imagine my surprise to find that t...more
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Katie
02/13/08

Read in June, 2004
recommends it for: people working their way up to fine literature from STAR magazine
I picked this up because it was in the guest room at my aunt's beach house and it seemed like good "summer is here, I just finished finals, don't make me think" reading. I think I read it in about 3 hours, and I couldn't remember a single thing that happened to the main character once I was done.

In fact, if they hadn't come out with the movie (which I'm a big fan of, by the way), the book would have probably disappeared from my radar forever.

Nothing really happened in t...more
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Jamie
Jamie added it
01/20/08

Read in January, 2008
Where to start with this one! Seldom have I ever read a book that actually made my blood boil with rage, but this did it! I can, unfortunately, relate to the utter misery that Andy faces while at Runway, while my own clearly does not amount to her cataclysmic year of agony.

Having seen the movie well over 20 times, I found the book to be very little like the movie in most regards. The book is far more depressing, but far more real, and thus far more enjoyable. If you've never read this bo...more
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liz
04/26/07

bookshelves: fun-slash-junk
Read in February, 2007
I thought Andy, the main character in the book, was much more sympathetic than her character in the movie. In the book, Andy is much more about "sticking it to the man" (expensing $10 for $6 taxi rides, picking up Starbucks for all the bums on the block on her way back from the morning run), and her best friend figures much more heavily. (This is something that I've noticed in the Harry Potter movies vs. books, too, that the secondary characters are given much shorter shrift in the mov...more
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Alana
Alana rated it: 1 of 5 stars1 of 5 stars1 of 5 stars1 of 5 stars1 of 5 stars
07/31/07

bookshelves: awful, chicklit
Andrea Sachs, a recent college grad yearning to work for The New Yorker, accepts a job as personal assistant to the editor in chief of the ever successful fashion magazine Runway. (For those of you who missed it, the author worked as personal assistant to chief editor at Vogue). She soon discovers, however, that she is completely at the mercy of her boss-from-hell 24/7.

The story was amusing to begin with, parts of it were laugh-out-loud funny, but as the book drags on, it simply begins to r...more
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Alina
Alina rated it: 2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars
04/07/08

Read in March, 2008
The Devil Wears Prada is one of those books that were meant to be good but somehow didn’t make it. The style is almost lively; the characters are almost believable; the dialogues are almost funny. The story of the country mouse being wiser than the town mouse is none the worse for being one of the “seven original plots”. What, then, is missing?

A quick summary. Andy is a small-town American girl who dreams of writing for the New Yorker. In the meantime, she lands “the job a millio...more
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Abby
Abby rated it: 4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars
07/06/08

Read in July, 2008
Andy Sachs just graduated from Brown and her dream job is to write for The New Yorker. What she lands instead is an assistant position for Miranda Priestly, editor of Runway magazine. The job is total hell - Andy is at Miranda's beck and call 14 hours a day for urgent queries such as "Find me that restaurant review I read yesterday" or "Get copies of the newest Harry Potter book for my two daughters the day before they're released". But Andy is assured that if s...more
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Jun
Jun rated it: 3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars
05/05/08

bookshelves: fiction
Read in March, 2008
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