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The Devil Wears Prada : A Novel

The Devil Wears Prada : A Novel

List Price: $13.95
Your Price: $11.16
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 3 stars
Summary: "A delightfully dishy novel"
Review: That's what the blurb on the jacket says, and that's what this is. Funny at times, certainly exaggerated, and always very glamourous, it was an enjoyable little novel. Yes, it places a terrific emphasis on fashion. That's because the action takes place at a fashion magazine! (The jacket mentions Prada, Armani and Versace, in italics, no less.) Yes, it's superficial and gossipy. Novels that proudly describe themselves as "delightfully dishy" generally aren't known for nuance or subtext. Weisberger is a much better, more talented writer than Candace Bushnell, to whom she's been compared on this board. This book is nowhere near as good as NANNY DIARIES. But it is what it is -- a little tome that's easy to polish off and makes you feel better about your plain little off-the-shelf life.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Great escape
Review: This isn't great literature but is is entertaining. A nice change of pace from heavy and meaningful. I true "chic-lit" novel from the opening line to the end of the book. Every once in a while it is nice to lose yourself in a book that is pure fantasy and entertainment.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: I couldn't put it down!
Review: I understand that this was not the most well written or suprising book, but I truly enjoyed it. I would recommend it to anyone looking to read a fun, easy book.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: repetitive
Review: entertaining most of the time, but the same scenario every time...got a little old..The author writes well, but this story should have ended after 200 pages.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: FUN BUT EXTREMELY EXAGERRATED
Review: I just got out of college and worked one year for a company which I thought treated its employees in the most servile way possible. Fortunately, I moved on for better things in life but the experience is unforgettable. 'The Devil Wears Prada' is a fun read but things were a bit too farfetched and the writing extremely redundant. For such a lengthy book, some chapters could have been dedicated to make the book a little insightful than repeating the atrocities of the boss over and over again.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Misses the mark
Review: I really looked forward to reading this book and was very disappointed when I finished it. First off, I strongly suspect this is Ms. Weisberger's first efforts at writing a novel (meaning she has no "trunk" novels) and unfortunately it shows. There's repetition that should have been winnowed out (characters give too many "withering" looks; everyone "shrugs" into coats and jackets.) Then there's moments in the book that completely baffled me. (How could Lilly be putting on Andrea's make up one minute and then be passed out on the bed the next? I looked for a transistion but couldn't find it.) Additionally, the efforts to make Andrea seem "likeable" are awkward.(Sending clothes to that pre-teen girl, buying lattes for homeless people) I feel like they were inserted during a re-write.
Her humor and metaphors are clunky (she first compares a character to a platiiff on Judge Judy, than she switches to a defendant, and the comparison falls flat due to over-explanation.) Nor did I have a clear fix on any of the people in Andrea's life. They seemed like cut-out characters. The most disappointing character was Miranda. I read this book hoping for a little dish on Anna Wintour and what I got was the this mean, one-note character who was predictable and boring. There was no insight offered as to why she was such a pain. But the main flaw in this book is the complete lack of plot. There's a little stir of forced excitement at the end, but other than than, the reading of this prose is as plodding and tedious as Andrea's year at Runway magazine. Even though this book's obviously made a pot of money, it shouldn't have been published in this condition. It's a disservice to the readers and the author (an obvious newbie who should have been properly edited.)

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Scarily Funny
Review: Just the title of this book made me buy it. This is the story of aspiring writer Andrea who wants to work for The New Yorker but gets her start as a lowly assistant at a Vogue type magazine for a psycho (aka "Devil") boss. The tasks that the poor heronie is made to endure are way over the top but the author conveys them with some dark humor. Very much in the vein of the Nanny Diaries (without of course the sickening child neglect). This was a fun, quick read if you can handle reading about the demeaning treatment of another human being. It's really scary, but there are actually jobs out there like the one in the book.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Pretty entertaining
Review: The Devil Wears Prada is not classic literature. It's not even Bridget Jones' Diary. But it is a fun-filled, entertaining way to spend a day or two. That's about the maximum time it would take to read this book. This is the story of Andrea Sachs, a new college grad who dreams of working for a high-brow magazine and ends up working for the boss from hell,Miranda Priestly, the demonic editor of a glossy fashion magazine. What follows is an amusing and often laugh-out-loud-funny account of Andrea's attempt to survive in the world of high fashion.This is really a guilty pleasure. It probaby won't be remembered in a decade but most books aren't anyway. It was a fun, enjoyable read

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Don't waste your time!
Review: With everyone falling on the "chick-lit" bandwagon, some real clinkers are going to get published and heavily promoted--and even become best sellers. Well, this is one of them. This book fails on so many levels that I don't even know where to begin; it's essentially a dumbed-down cross between Thackeray's Vanity Fair and Goethe's Faust, with a little coming-of-age story thrown in for good measure.

The novel is based on the author's real-life experience working for Anna Wintour at Vogue magazine. Andrea takes the position for one reason; she wants to get a toe-hold in publishing so that she can become a writer. At the onset, this strains credulity. Andrea has no experience in publishing, and she admits to having zero interest in fashion. It's difficult to believe that she would make it past the first round of job interviews, let alone become the personal assistant to the best -known fashion editor in the world.

As in Vanity Fair, none of the characters in The Devil Wears Prada is particularly likable. Andrea is a cypher, and her boyfriend might as well be a Ken doll. We gain precious few insights into the novel's slightly more intriguing characters, Lily and Christian. The novel's only truly interesting character is Miranda Priestly, the "devil" of the title. I wondered more about Priestly than any other character. Ultimately, we are left frustrated by the utter lack of insight into Miranda Priestly.

If the book were a satire, the dearth of likable or even interesting characters wouldn't be a problem, because the book's message would be of paramount importance Since this book's message appears to be "Grow up!!!" the lack of likeable characters is much more of a problem, and seems to result not from any satirical point of view, but from authorial ineptness.

The ineptness continues in the book's plot, which unfolds with all the excitement and unpredictability of an episode of Beverly Hills 90210. Andrea's big Epiphany finally occurs! Andrea grows up! She discovers that instead of truckling to Miranda Priestly in order to get a job at The New Yorker, she can actually become a writer by [gasp!] *writing*.

Ironically, at the end of the novel, Weisberger's protagonist is writing fiction that she admits is only a thinly disguised version of her real life experiences. Weisberger's novel mercifully ends therefore as the difference between herself and her fictional protagonist is reduced to almost nothing at all. In Weisberger's novel, we are assured that Andrea is a pomising and talented writer. Would that we could say the same of Lauren Weisberger.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Read a fashion magazine instead.
Review: If you enjoy reading lists of fashion products you might enjoy reading this book, but even that's a long shot. There was so little story between the description of clothes that it was more like looking at the Fall issue of any fashion mag which would have been cheaper and taken less time. I could have forgiven it's lack of plot if it had been the least bit clever -- or if any of its characters had been the least bit clever. A waste of time even using it to get to sleep.


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