The Devil Wears Prada

Rating:
Summary: Like Candy - Tasty, but not Filling
Review: Like several other reviewers, I don't really understand what all the fuss is about. "The Devil Wears Prada" is not all that amazing. The villians are one-demensionally evil, even ridiculously so. You can see most of the plot twists coming from a mile away. The deciding moment in protagonist Andrea's life, near the end of the book, couldn't be more stilted. Lauren Weisberger has a point to get across about unrealistic standards of beauty, and she smashes you over the head with it. Again. And again.

Having said all this, the book is also fun. I read it on a long plane ride, when my brain was too mushy and my butt too uncomfortable to have much patience. It was a perfect time-killer. Heck, at times I felt like I enjoyed it a lot. I'm a mid-20-something woman who works at a job she hates, dealing with a jerk of a boss. If you've ever been in that position, or even close to it, there are elements of this book that you will enjoy. And, Weisberger does have a knack for clever sarcasm. It was hard for me not to like Andrea when we were allowed inside her head, even though she did whine a lot.

In sum - a fun, quick read and worth a shot. Though it probably won't be winning a Nobel Prize any time soon.

Rating:
Summary: It's fluffy and fun! And considering the author's youth...
Review: Reading over these reviews, I sense a certain amount of sour grapes in the criticism and complaints. Readers are whining about how badly written the book is and mixing up the heroine, Andrea Sachs, with the author, Lauren Weisberger - saying Weisberger will never become the "New Yorker" writer that ANDREA says she hopes to be. Well, Weisberger was barely out of her teens when she wrote this, and she deserves credit for a perfectly decent maiden effort. I'm sure she is capable of refining her writing, having already managed to publish - very successfully - at her tender age. She seems resourceful. And she still has 30 years or so to make a career at "The New Yorker" if she actually wants that. (And I agree with those who blame her editor for such glaring errors as "heroine-chic.") I also sense some sour grapes because readers envy Ms. Weisberger her opportunity to work with Wintour and enjoy the glam perks that came with the torture. All the most negative reviews seemed to come from dull midwestern towns, I noticed. Indeed, the book certainly had its flaws, but I don't expect an intricate plot and sharply drawn minor characters from books with "Prada" in the title. It was enjoyable, light, and full of interesting descriptions of life in a major fashion magazine and the characters who toil there. It's as pleasant and fluffy as a novel-length Vogue feature, and what's wrong with that?

Rating:
Summary: Utterly Boring, with designer name-dropping.
Review: I had high hopes for this novel. Picking it up and reading the back of the book, I thought it would be a gossipy, exciting, Sex-and-the-City-esque look into working in the world of fashion and life in New York City. Instead, it turned out to be terribly written, with utterly unbelievable characters and an increasingly dull plotline.

First off, Andrea, the main character, is not someone that I found likeable at all. She seemed completely contrived. Considering her goody-two-shoes narration I had trouble believing that she smoked or even went out partying in college as she said she did. I especially had trouble believing that she even got the job to work at the glamorous fashion magazine, Runway. Andrea's emotional dilemma vascillated between two things, "I don't fit in here and I hate my boss." "I have to sacrifice everything even though I'm a whiny, annoying little OOH SO HUGE SIZE SIX!!! girl and do everything for my boss because I want to work at the New Yorker. Because I'm such a great writer, you know." If I were to take the evidence of Weisberger's prose as "Andrea's writing," I'd say, "Working at the New Yorker? MAYBE IN AN ALTERNATE UNIVERSE!!"

I don't think anyone who read this book could actually believe that someone would put up with such a terrible job and a terrible boss, that they complained about incessantly, which apparently drove them to the breaking point. Obviously, Andrea liked wearing designer clothes. Or did she? Or was the job just changing her? Frankly, who cares? I couldn't care. I couldn't believe or like the main character at all. She was boring and moronic, and even contemplated staying with her job in another country while her supposed "best friend" was in a coma. Yikes. Unlike Carrie Bradshaw from Sex and the City, who I loved even as she had an affair with her married ex-boyfriend, I simply hated Andrea for even existing on the printed page.

The other characters were not much better. Andrea's boss, Miranda Priestly, certainly asked for absurd things. Any other person with a spine would have told the woman to go screw herself after at least the first few outrageous demands, no matter how bright the light at the end of the tunnel. Strong women, they do not put up with that kind of thing. Strong women find other ways to make it to the top. Personally, I couldn't really believe Miranda was that evil because Andrea simply kept putting up with her. Even when Andrea finally told Miranda off and quit at the end of the book, I really didn't believe that Andrea was taking much of a stand. She had been walked all over the entire length of the novel. And Weisberger insisted that she always had to say, "Ahn-dre-ah!!" which got really, really annoying.

Lily, Emily, Alex, and Christian - all boring supporting roles in the novel. Her relationship with Alex, her boyfriend, was as moronic as you can get, and consisted of her abusing and neglecting him for the better part of a year. Emily was unbelievable as she couldn't decided whether or not to be snarky or nice. Lily was the pathetic drunk friend, and Andrea was stupid enough to not say anything about the drinking until she got herself knocked into a coma, which, miraculously, she came out of as soon and Andrea came to see her - like that ever happens in real life. Christian was the hot, tempting, stylish boy, and only further demonstrated what a shallow, lifeless character Andrea was, because she was actually interested in him.

The dialogue was completely unbelievable and contrived, a la Dawson's Creek. If you don't believe me, try acting out some of the scenes with a friend. You will cringe in your skin. People don't talk like that. The happy, hopeful storybook ironic ending was just annoying. While I'm not in anyway proclaiming to be a fantastic writer, I just have to say that I absolutely abhorred Weisberger's writing. This stuff might fly in a high school creative writing class, but I can't believe she actually got published. I think that the terrible writing is at the absolute center of why this book is so horrid. It could have been an interesting book. But with such a terrible writer, such contrived and boring characters, and such a dull, lackluster plotline completely lacking in rising action/climax... the book crashed before it even saw the runway.

The fashion name-dropping even got annoying after a while. I think Weisberger should have written a story about the ready-to-wear fashions of Spring 2001 or whatever instead of horrifying millions with this monstrosity of a novel.

In short - leave your credit cards and library cards in your Chanel wallet, don't take one step on your Manolos or Jimmy Choos to go out and buy this book. You will regret having spent hours of your life reading it.

I can't believe I read the whole thing!

Rating:
Summary: Don't waste your time
Review: It is terrible. She does not know how to write.

Rating:
Summary: What's all the fuss about?
Review: After hearing about this book for ages, I decided to give it a try. Really, what is everyone all gung ho about? The character is unlikeable, although she obviously thinks that she's got the brains of a rocket scientist the way she looks down on everything and everyone around her at her job. Her relationship with her boyfriend is just plain old boring. The boss is a walking stereotype. I would have given this one star, but because I couldn't even make it through the entire book before I got bored and sick of the nauseating characters, I figured that wouldn't be honest because I don't know if the entire thing is bad - but most certainly the first half that I read wasn't worth all the press.

Rating:
Summary: A job millions of girls would die for !
Review: The cute heroin, Andrea Sachs, always wanted to be a journalist for her favourite newspaper The New Yorker, but as she makes a first application at the Elias Clark building after the college she discovers a new world. There are the legs longer, thinner and graciler than somewhere else and anorexic seems to be a must have. But this isn't the worst, Andrea who isn't into fashion gets the job a million girls would die for. But Andrea dicovers really fast that Miranda Priestly, the woman in fashion and editor in chief of Runway, the most popular magazine in fashion, is a dragon. So Andrea has to be prepared for her improper phonecalls 24 hours, because Miranda has to get everything she wants and she has to help her everywhere she can. And everywhere means realy everywhere, so that also means that Andrea has to find Miranda's chauffeur while she's sitting New York and Miranda is standing 5 minutes in Mailand waiting for her limousine.
So after 6 months Andrea gets everytime sweatings when the phone rings, her boyfriend is dissapointed, because they don't have any time for eachother anymore, her best friend is going to be a alcoholic and her family is still convinced that she has got the best job at all. In 1 year for Runway she gets lots of new experiences, contacts and her closet is now brimful with the newest designer clothes. She should get a job at The New Yorker for being Miranda's personal bondsman for one year. But till that time her whole life is upside down.
The heroin is one of the cutest ever and a little duffer, too, what makes her character even more loveable.
This book is truly unputdownable and a must have read for every fashionvictim .


Rating:
Summary: A predictable 'Chick Lit' story for 8th Graders.
Review: As we all could guess, the esteem a book holds to a given individual has at least something to do with how the circumstances of a story relate to the circumstances of your life.

So let me say: I am a Gen-Xer, a man, and having spent some 23 years in schooling of one kind or another, look for the deeper meaning of the stuff I read. Thus my title for the review... ah yes now it makes sense.

I suppose if you've never been to NYC (as many 8th graders have not) the descriptions of downtown are cool. And I suppose the way materialistic megalomaniacs treat their subbordinates may intrigue a junior high-schooler, yet unaccustomed to the ways of the world. I suppose Vogue holds some appeal for women of all ages, thank God; yes we all admire beautifull women. They are fun to look at, but, often, not to analyse, which this book seemingly attempts to do. Trouble with such subject matter: not much there to delve into.

I knew there was trouble, when, during the first few pages, the main character started listing the prices of the various garments she was wearing. Ridiculous amounts of money of course per item. Who would care how much a Gucci handbag costs? Those of us who don't know don't care. And those of us who do know don't need reminding. Thus, the author is writing for the sake of seeing words on the page: there is no deeper meaning to what whe describes. Expensive clothes, mean bosses, snobby women. These are depicted without analysis, but worse yet, with no tidbits for the reader to form any sort of analysis for himself.

I know what you are thinking: this guy is not smart enough to figure out the deeper meaing of the story, and so he gripes...
Well, be my guest and use a few hours of your time reading that book, so you too agree with this essay.

Now, let's go through the books we've read and think about one with perhaps more substance... and style. A story about young people, young men and young women, who face the moral ambiguities of the day, juggling their 'careers' so to speak, dealing with love and relationships, and where the ending is not as happy as or as concise as one might like. I tell you what comes to mind: Corelli's Mandolin, which interestingly takes up less room on the bookshelf. Now that my young Chick-lits, is something worth reading!

But, as usual, not if you've seen the movie already, which will, if you have seen it, spoil for you one of the finest books around, and will leaving you cursing Hollywood, and henceforth watching IFC.


Rating:
Summary: Lots of Fun
Review: This book might fall under the "chick Lit" category, but I really liked it because of the story itself. Anyone whose ever had a difficult boss to deal with will enjoy her trials and tribulations with her job. It will probably make your own job seem not as bad. This was one of those books where you are excited to reach the end, but then sad at the same time that it's over. I really hope the author continues to write novels - I will be there to buy them right away (even in hardcover!)