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Not bad Apr 17, 2003 (203 of 233 found this helpful)
There is an enormous amount of buzz about this book because the author used to work at Vouge. Most of the PR implies that this is a roman a clef about those days. So far the reviews that I've seen in a least two major fashion magazines haven't been kind but that can be chalked up to fashionistas being annoyed with someone who mocked their world.
Does the book live up to the hype? Yes and no.
It's an amusing book. The descriptions of downtown life in NYC, the side characters and the horrible antics of mean Miranda Priestly are fun but the heroine, Andrea is such a stuck up little snob that it's difficult to care about her. Margaret Mitchell was able to take a character who was an absolute monster and make millions love her. Lauren Weisberger doesn't have that kind of ability.
What's really annoying is that the book has a choppy feel. Andrea lurches from one disaster to another with no transition in between. The plot has a formula that is an old as Greek mythology. The scenes with the best friend character, Lilly and the boyfriend, Alex won't surprise anyone. The climax is straight out of an old Edgar Wallace plotwheel. The ending was a sappy, predictable let down.
The bottom line is this: if you love fashion and gossip The Devil Wears Prada will make you smile. If you want a terrific book, this won't be the one you're looking for.
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Lucifer in a Nutshell Mar 11, 2005 (38 of 40 found this helpful)
Summary of "The Devil Wears Prada"
- badly dressed, tacky young woman introduces herself as the "average" five
foot eleven inch, 120 pound woman who miraculously lands an undeserved
job as a personal assistant at a fashion magazine, immediately making every
other woman reading her story roll their eyes
- said young woman complains endlessly about her miserable life of wearing
designer clothes, attending gala society parties, the inhumane rule of not
being able to smoke or make personal telephone calls during business hours,
and her boss's crass insistence that she do her job without copping an
attitude
- said young woman somehow manages to retain her job despite looking down
on all of her colleagues and willfully sabotaging company spending records
- young woman fails to look human because she reacts unrealistically to her
own problems, and those of her cardboard cutout plot-point friends
- young woman somehow attracts a world famous, handsome author despite
her failure to appear attractive to her merely locally famous elementary
school teacher boyfriend.
- young woman finally tells off boss
- young woman somehow lands job at another magazine as a writer, despite
having never demonstrated any talent to her audience
- everything comes up roses for young woman
- and then, nobody cared
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Trendy read and just as fleeting! Jun 3, 2003 (240 of 291 found this helpful)
Fashionistas around the globe have been salivating for the publication of THE DEVIL WEARS PRADAsince its first announcement. For those in love with all things Vogue et.al., who wouldn't want to read a deliciously biting roman a clef about a woman who is probably Anna Wintour and then some? Alas, that's the problem with the book, it only caters to those in the fashion know, which results in a shallow exercise of style over substance.
While author Lauren Weisberger has a grasp of sustaining a narrative, but the predictable scenarios she concocts are hardly the stuff of good fiction or, sadly, biting satire. Bitchy asides and brand names are stretched thin, for sure.
Even worse, her alter ego, Andrea, is too bland a creation for the reader to really care about. Her ambition is not telegraphed with any real force since all I kept thinking was why stick it out in a thankless job that is beyond demeaning? Is being a writer at the New Yorker that important? I'm sure it is for the character, but Ms. Weisberger's colorless prose fails to register such details with depth.
As for the infamous character of Miranda Priestly, I know plenty of folks like this woman. Hell, I even worked for one. The only real joy generated by this novel was smiling over what a complete and total virago she remains throughout the book. I also loved how Weisberger captured the absolute absurdity of such fields like fashion and other show business enterprises that rely so heavily on image. The worlds she creates are definitely based on some sort of fact, but it is unfortunate the she didn't take such an interest in her overall plot or characters.
Perhaps my dissatisfication in the novel stems from something greater. As "chick lit" continues to fill our minds and best seller charts, does the world need one more "Mary Tyler Moore-clone taking on the world on her terms kind of heroine?"
British sensation Helen Fielding offered some reality and humanity to the hip and happening world of Bridget Jones. However, Andrea Sachs is no Bridget Jones and the short-lasting effects of this novel makes you wonder why can't us Yankees create such a vivid piece of fiction!
Ultimately, THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA is Diet coke for the brain. To be honest, I am tiring of our current fascination with excess, entitlement and shallowness. This hotly hyped novel implodes before its predictable "up yours" finale. Like the fashion magazines it lampoons -- it's all about really pretty pictures with ultimately very little to say.
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oh dear sweet lord Jun 20, 2006 (16 of 16 found this helpful)
i'm looking forward to the movie. and as i do with any movie spun off of a successful, well-known book, i decided to read the original material first, so i buy the book....
fortunately i bought the 7 dollar copy so i don't feel like i wasted too much on it. what a waste! the sad thing is, none of the characters are likable at all.
it has its moments(Mostly revolving around the titled devil, miranda priestly). but the dialogue is stilted and lame(much of what characters say are describing/explaining something that know regualr person would feel the need to say in real life, and which could easily be explained with naration), the plot is predictable, and andy, the main character, is too self-centered and pathetic to even deserve the title of 'heroine'.
i would like to know if whoever published this book did it as a practical joke. you know, get a good laugh out of it.
also, look for the part in the novel where weisenberger says in one paragraph that andy's apartment doens't have a kitchen, but in the VERY NEXT PARAGRAPH mentions her boyfriend going to the kitchen of her apartment.... sad
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Amateurish, but the writer shows promise Jun 16, 2006 (23 of 25 found this helpful)
Were it not for the Manolo Blahniks and Prada and Chanel designs that liberally decorate this book, it would never have been glanced at by a serious editor. The reason for its great success is not great skill or remarkable storytelling, but the fact that it caters to the self-indulgent and self-centered world that is New York publishing. So many times I saw Carrie Bradshaw from Sex and the City in the lead character's role!
The author tells a good story. She has a real gift for words, and after about a dozen years seasoning, if she's not ruined by early and undeserved success, she might actually be a very good writer. It might also be a good move for her to shift to Hollywood, since her writing style is amazingly visual; I could easily see why her book was made into a movie so quickly.
Be that as it may -- the book is self-indulgent and sometimes bitter and even nasty. The main character is not particularly likeable, perhaps because her primary love interest is really herself (which, if you think about it, is the hallmark of many chick lits). The characters I did like lost out in the end -- Alex the boyfriend and the alcoholic roommate Lily who was utterly lost in the world. There was no attention paid to rising tension -- tension rose to a certain level and plateaued by the third chapter. It was like a picaresque novel without the travel and excitement, and after a while you got weary of the miraculous monty-haul part with driven cars and high-fashion clothes and meeting celebrities. If more attention had been paid to the overwhelmingness of this for the main character, perhaps the book would have been better. Instead, after an initial bump of shock, Ahn-dre-ah pretty much accepted it as her due.
There was no real conflict in the character, at least not a convincing one. There was no real goal (enduring the boss for a year, as a passive action, does not count); I mean, she wanted to be a writer -- where in the first 4/5 of the book did she sit down to write anything? Even with a boss from hell, there's a little time here and there -- or she could have sacrificed her mornings -- or something. Shown some gumption! A good character must want, and want desperately; I never saw that anywhere. These characters all pretty much drifted. And there was no real structure. It was a very odd novel in these respects. The characters were also very flat, very nearly caricatures. Sometimes actions didn't make sense; the taking-away of the credit card by the parents when the plot needed some tension, and then the miraculous returning of it because she needed it for furniture, makes me think that perhaps a little editing needed to be done there. It could have happened in real life, but in a story it's irritating -- why take it away only to give it back in a deus ex machina?
But, and I have to be honest, I really, really took umbrage at one particular aspect of the book that is clearly part of the author and not of the characters alone: her obvious disdain for the South and all things Southern. You see, I'm from the South, speak with that-ther hick accent, was raised by rednecks and hillbillies, and yes, even go barefoot from time to time. My broad foot would not fit in a Manolo Blahnik. I think those models in magazines need a sandwich or two. And it honestly pissed me off to hear different characters repeatedly make fun of the hick accents and complain about how the Southern drawl made them sick and how Andrea's sister had picked up her own fake drawl and how those Southern hicks chaw on tobacco and the sound of their voices would drill a hole in your eardrum -- you know, Southerners read too? It might be a good idea to try being culturally sensitive for a few minutes. We hate Noo Yawk accents too, but we don't sit and write nasty things about them. Usually.
Bottom line: interesting story that could have been told much better by a seasoned writer, or by this writer working in c