Saturday, February 20, 2010

The Devil Wears Prada


The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger
Mass market paperback, 432 pages
Anchor Books, 2003
ISBN-13: 9780307275554
recommended
From the Publisher:
A delightfully dishy novel about the all-time most impossible boss in the history of impossible bosses.

Andrea Sachs, a small-town girl fresh out of college, lands the job “a million girls would die for.” Hired as the assistant to Miranda Priestly, the high-profile, fabulously successful editor of Runway magazine, Andrea finds herself in an office that shouts Prada! Armani! Versace! at every turn, a world populated by impossibly thin, heart-wrenchingly stylish women and beautiful men clad in fine-ribbed turtlenecks and tight leather pants that show off their lifelong dedication to the gym. With breathtaking ease, Miranda can turn each and every one of these hip sophisticates into a scared, whimpering child.

THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA gives a rich and hilarious new meaning to complaints about “The Boss from Hell.” Narrated in Andrea’s smart, refreshingly disarming voice, it traces a deep, dark, devilish view of life at the top only hinted at in gossip columns and over Cosmopolitans at the trendiest cocktail parties.... Andrea is sorely tested each and every day—and often late into the night with orders barked over the phone. She puts up with it all by keeping her eyes on the prize: a recommendation from Miranda that will get Andrea a top job at any magazine of her choosing. As things escalate from the merely unacceptable to the downrightoutrageous, however, Andrea begins to realize that the job a million girls would die for may just kill her. And even if she survives, she has to decide whether or not the job is worth the price of her soul.
My Thoughts:

The Devil Wears Prada was my airplane book and it fit that role perfectly. You'd be correct if you said that the writing isn't the best and the flow of the story is choppy, but none of that mattered for an airplane book. It was entertaining - easy to read, easy to set aside. If I had misplaced it on my trip, I wouldn't feel a need to replace it. It was mindless entertainment, a diversion. I can't believe I'm saying this, but the movie adaptation was perhaps better than the book or at least perfectly adequate. It certainly got the point of the novel across quickly and you could watch Anne Hathaway and Meryl Streep. recommended

Quotes:

The light hadn't even officially turned green at the intersection of 17th and Broadway before an army of overconfident yellow cabs roared past the tiny deathtrap I was attempting to navigate around the city streets. Clutch, gas, shift (neutral to first? Or first to second?), release clutch, I repeated over and over in my head, the mantra offering little comfort and even less direction amid the screeching midday traffic. opening

And as if the very essence of life itself didn't suck enough at that particular moment, the caller ID confirmed my worst fear: it was Her. Miranda Priestly. My boss.
"Ahn-dre-ah! Ahn-dre-ah! Can you hear me, Ahn-dre-ah?" she trilled the moment I snapped my Motorola open—no small feat considering both of my (bare) feet and hands were already contending with various obligations. pg. 2-3

"And-re-ah," she called from her starkly furnished, deliberately cold office. "Where are the car and the puppy?"
I leaped out of my seat and ran as fast as was possible on plush carpeting while wearing five-inch heels and stood before her desk. "I left the car with the garage attendant and Madelaine with your doorman, Miranda," I said, proud to have completed both tasks without killing the car, the dog, or myself.
"And why would you do something like that?" she snarled, looking up from her copy of Women's Wear Daily for the first time since I'd walked in. "I specifically requested that you bring both of them to the office, since the girls will be here momentarily and we need to leave."
"Oh, well, actually, I thought you said that you wanted them to—"
"Enough. The details of your incompetence interest me very little. Go get the car and the puppy and bring them here. I'm expecting we'll be all ready to leave in fifteen minutes. Understood?" pg. 8

5 comments:

Anna said...

I read this one on a long drive. Not a great piece of literature by any stretch of the imagination, but it was fun.

--Anna
Diary of an Eccentric

Lori L said...

It was a fun book, Anna. It really was a perfect airplane book for me.

Jeanne said...

I wondered how the book compared to the movie, which I enjoyed. Sounds like I know all I need to about this one from just watching!

Heidenkind said...

Which was mindless-er, the book or the movie?

Lori L said...

Jeanne, the movie wasn't a parallel adaptation from the book - there were a differences, especially in the end. However, since basically they are both about a bad boss, the movie worked for me just as well as the book.

I would call them both equally mindless, heidenkind. Since I saw the movie before I read the book, I thought I'd like the book more, which is usually the case, but not this time.