I first read this book in my first year of high school for a book report (we could choose ANY book we want, and I was obsessed with the film version of this novel at the time). Since it's been...well, years...it's about time I finally give this book a review to add it to my collection!

This book was super popular and a sequel has come out (which is currently sitting on my to-read shelves waiting for me to dig into it) in recent years. For those who don't know about the first book in this series, we are following Andrea (or Andy) who gets a job at a famous, fashion magazine (similar to Vogue) which is run by the insane workaholic Miranda Priestly. Andrea believes this is the step she needs to get into her journalism career! A job at a high end fashion magazine! But, as we all know, nothing is ever that simple.

The movie is not the same as the book, but I like the think the quality of both are insanely good! Despite being different in plot, tone and character personalities, both works were fantastic! If you haven't read the book, I highly suggest it. It's unique and dramatic!

Andrea's journey involves her changing (and sometimes growing) along the way, as she encounters all of the antics of being in the fashion world: uptight assistants, overbearing bosses, deadlines, insomnia, and work/life balance.

This book is in it's own niche market - it became really popular, but it's not for everyone. The humor is a type of special, especially since you are following Andrea's life fall apart. For me, it's a five star book! It's interesting to watch the plot spiral out of control as your begging the author to give Andrea some type of happiness in the end. But honestly? It's kind of how life is - not perfect. Andrea is NOT perfect and she's definitely not the most likable character, but I grew to like her knowing all of the horror she was going through.

Five out of five stars!!

I had low expectations for this book but I actually ended up really enjoying it! A perverse part of me really loved seeing Andrea made to jump through the hoops by both Miranda and Emily and the fashion world in general. It was actually quite hilarious and probably not what I was meant to take away from this story but it’s what stuck with me. My favourite part was the ending though, I thought it was really well done and brought it all full circle quite nicely!

as a queer social worker living in the bay area i kind of wanted to read a book that was very far removed from my life to kind of get my mind off my problems. this was definitely very far removed from my life, and it did provide some much-needed perspective. like, "thank effing god i do not work at a job where people imply that i am fat, where i am allowed to have at least a shred of dignity and tell people that they are being ridiculous WHEN THEY ARE."
also, there are racist stereotypes EVERYWHERE. your indian roommates stink? your boyfriend's black students are all little thugs? cool. rad. thank you for taking EVERY OPPORTUNITY to tell us about that. it's not shitty AT ALL.
as a mental health worker, the amount of emotional abuse and eating disordered thinking and bodily dysmorphia was pretty hard to read. why the fuck are rich people allowed to get away with this shit?
and YES I KNOW that it's not supposed to be taken that seriously, and YES I KNOW that everyone else hate-read this book like over ten years ago, but it made me a little insane. i got about halfway through and then realized i was extremely stressed about petty details and extremely upset when tiny bad things happened. i realized that this book was warping my brain and i swear i felt better the second i heard it hit the bottom of the library return chute.

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 pleasure.

Andy, a freshly graduated aspiring writer, ends up landing an unlikely job as junior assistent to Miranda Priestly, fashion editor and bitch extraordinaire. I say unlikely, because Andy doesn’t care about fashion; she hopes one year as Miranda’s assistant will open the doors to her future as a writer for The New Yorker, a magazine the polar opposite of Miranda’s Runway magazine.

While taking on the most ridiculous tasks (from drycleaning to coffeeruns to more coffeeruns because the other coffee had slightly cooled off), Andy tries to keep herself afloat in the superficial pool that is the fashion industry according to Miranda, trying not to let everything take its toll on her personal life – though inevitably, Andy’s carreer does wreak havoc in certain relationships.

Although Andy might have done herself a favour if she’d put up an ‘Whatever, it’s temporary, I’ll just suck it up’ attitude instead of allowing herself to rage on the inside, Miranda really is a foul woman and I sympathised with Andy.

I couldn’t quite muster up any sympathy for her boyfriend Alex or her best friend Lily, as I found both of them to be the selfish ones, as opposed to Andy.

This book is satirical to the max, definitely what I longed for when I started the first page (re: fashion stereotypes), though I somehow feel cheated.

Here I was, a naive unfashionable person, and having finished this book I somehow seem to know a whole lot more about Prada and Manolo’s than I really care for.

Weisberger, with her no-mercy descriptions of her various shallow characters, wants me to be repulsed by the fashion industry and its rather ridiculous standards, but in the meantime she is effectively trying to seduce me into admiring, and perhaps even desiring this pair of Jimmy Choo’s. I remember completely drooling over eleborate descriptions of Andy’s make-up case, sponsored by Runway. What? Why? That wasn’t supposed to happen. This was supposed to be... satire, mocking the fear of eating three calories more, stuff like that.

...I feel dirty. Quite possibly, a little cheap too.

Lauren Weisberger: Choo’s your alliance.

3/5.
January 26th 2008.

4.0 Stars
I loved the movie adaptation and so I randomly decided to read the book. I went it with low expectations (I rarely read “chicken lit” but ended up pleasantly surprised. I had a really good time reading this and I would certainly reread.

The movie by the same name is NOT this book. The movie is okay, but after reading this, I like the movie much better. I think Hollywood did two things right that I sorely missed in this book. One was, to me, a big deal. They made Andrea likable. In the movie her character was one that you could feel for and could develop sympathy for. I couldn't find that in this book. The second thing Hollywood did better was that they knew how to end the movie so that it made sense. So this is one of those books where the movie is better....by far.

Not a single character in this book was interesting. They were all self centered and constantly played the "me me me" card. I don't mind if a host of characters play that card, but I missed the balance here. There was no tension in that arena. I honestly didn't know if I could finish this one. I was going to go with 2 stars, but I think I just talked myself into 1.

Reading this from the French countryside in a quiet village with 100 people, no shops and surrounded by pastures and forest, it felt like reading about another planet with completely different species. But that would all be fine, if this story wasn't as boring and repetitive. Or if the main character wasn't so incredibly annoying. Apart from a lot of complaining about all the stupid things she has to do at work there was just not that much happening.

Just skip the book and watch the movie.

2.5/5

Okay, so, this took me ages to finish. Sometimes college just gets in the way but oh well.

I… am neutral about this. Neither did I dislike it but I guess I wasn’t a huge fan of it either.

Is it really necessary for me to explain the plot?

This is about Andrea Sachs, a want-to-be writer who is desperately looking for a job who might help her rise up towards the writing industry and give her a great advantage at her career. And she gets a job at one of the most prestigious fashion companies ever. Just one year and then she’ll have the chance to work at whatever place she wants.

That is if her boss lets her…. Because she’s a total bitch!!!

Andrea will now have to complete almost impossible tasks just so that an impossible to be pleased woman can give her some validation.

She’ll struggle not only with her job but with her own relationships, such as the one with her boyfriend, the one with her best friend and, the one with her family.

Just as I said, I wasn’t a huge fan. I haven’t watched the movie but now I want to just to figure out if it’s really this… idk… meh?

The main character was alright, I actually found Andrea to be quite decent. But I feel like some of the extra characters had more of a personality than Miranda. I mean, yes, she was a complete bitch but I feel like there wasn’t enough interaction between them just to absolutely wish for her death. I felt like I needed to see more about Miranda.

The plot was just.. idk, half of the pages were mentions of more and more fashion brands and how Andrea’s job is impossible, blah blah blah.

Idk, not a fan.

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SPOILER FREE

O que eu lembro da minha primeira vez com o livro O diabo veste Prada é a sensação de ter sido enganada pelo filme. Porque Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway e Emily Blunt estão tão maravilhosas e o filme é tão bom que eu não podia acreditar que o livro pudesse ser menos que excelente. Mas, regras como o livro é melhor que o filme precisam de exceções para se confirmar.

Aproveitando o tema de livro baseado em fatos reais do Desafio Literário Popoca de abril, resolvi dar uma segunda chance ao volume que fez tanto sucesso ao supostamente contar como é trabalhar com a editora chefe da revista mais famosa de moda do mundo, Vogue, Anna Wintour, de quem a autora Lauren Weisberger realmente foi assistente.

Infelizmente alguns casos não têm salvação, e O diabo veste Prada é um deles. Enquanto o filme é tão sensacional e com uma história muito interessante de auto descoberta e superação, o livro é uma versão bastante piorada e pálida da assistente Andrea Sachs. Não sei quem fez os ajustes no enredo para o roteiro, mas as pequenas alterações foram suficientes para transformar água em vinho.

Fazia tempo que eu não encontrava uma protagonista tão chata e detestável quanto Andrea. Ela consegue ser mais superficial e egocêntrica que sua chefe malvada Miranda Priestly. Ela detesta tanto as pessoas do seu trabalho, sem ter uma razão para isso além de não gostar de moda, que ela é capaz de numa página reclamar que sua colega assistente é chata ao falar de um assunto e na página seguinte estar animadamente falando do mesmo assunto com gente famosa. O pior é que no final ela passa a gostar de moda, mas continua achando os outros superficiais, vai entender essa lógica?

E como ela reclama. O livro é narrado em primeira pessoa pela Andrea, e eu não estou exagerando quando digo que ela só reclama o tempo inteiro. Ela reclama da chefe, das colegas, da família (ela tem um ódio especial pelo marido da irmã por causa do seu sotaque, sério), dos amigos, do namorado, da vida... a leitura é simplesmente cansativa de tanta reclamação, a maioria sem o menor sentido, estando lá por uma tentativa de efeito cômico que acaba saindo pela culatra.

Desde então sei que a autora lançou diversos outros livros, mas confesso que ler esse volume me desanima de chegar perto de qualquer um deles. A única coisa boa de O diabo veste Prada é o filme.

Should've skipped the reread.

So you know that boss that just seems impossible to please no matter what you do? Well, they have nothing on Miranda Priestly. Andrea just so happens to get the infamous "a million girls would die for" job as an assistant to "Runway" editor Miranda. As glamorous as that sounds it is nothing but a nightmare!

This is seriously a Laugh Out Loud book of impossible tasks. I love how normal Andrea is compared to everyone else but she is the odd one out. Her narration is exactly the kind of things I would imagine saying to my boss (If she were a dragon lady). This look into the fashion industry is hilarious and a bit cringe worthy. It's fun and fabulous!

3.5 stars



In Defense of Miranda Priestly
The premise of this novel as most know it is OMG, my boss is a total dragon lady!!!, but I think that is both an unfair assumption and oversimplification. Little background is given of the title character other than she grew up in a lower class family, changed her name, and worked her way up the corporate ladder to her current position as editor-in-chief. The audience isn’t given much more than that to round out her character, though Meryl Streep gives her depth in the movie adaptation—which isn’t saying much since Streep could star in the biography of a paper bag and still win an Oscar. #Queen

Instead, we see Anna Wintour Miranda Priestly through the doe eyes of Andrea “Andy” Sachs, who doesn’t realize that perhaps she is the real antagonist of the novel. Through her own confession she has no clue about the company nor her potential boss when she takes on the role of Miranda’s 2nd assistant, nor does she seem to really care. While her coworkers at Runway are said to be vapid and stuck up, they have a much better work ethic than the lazy Andy who complains about every part of her job (except all the perks, of which there are plenty). She is ungrateful for the experience and the contacts she gains while doing Miranda’s errands, instead she focuses on moaning about having to actually earn her dues. I see her as an unreliable narrator since nearly all of her commentary comes from the place of entitlement.


Priestly is cast as the villain because she is difficult and demands efficiency, though one could argue that this book wouldn’t be given nearly the mileage or popularity if the accusations hurled against her were by a male main character instead of speshul snowflake Andy. There is a trope in modern culture that women in leadership positions have to fight double standards for acting the same way as their male counterparts, and this is never touched upon in the novel. Can Miranda be cold and condescending at times? Yes, however it is important to understand how much she has accomplished, her worth to the magazine and the fashion world, and the respect she has garnered in the industry. She wouldn’t have gotten where she was if she didn’t have talent and gumption.


If there’s an unlikeable character here, it’s unappreciative Andy who doesn’t like that she has to live outside the bubble she grew up in. While she keeps being reminded that hers is a job that “a million girls would die for” and that working for Miranda for a year would save her 3-5 years of experience elsewhere, she decides to blow up at her boss in the 11th hour. While the author was probably looking for the audience to cheer at the childish outburst of “Fuck you, Miranda. Fuck you.” (p. 342) and the resulting flouncing from Paris, I found this tantrum to be déclassé and further proof of Andy’s wanton unprofessionalism.