The Devil Wears Prada (The Devil Wears Prada, #1)

by Lauren Weisberger

The classic bestseller - over a million copies sold worldwide

High fashion, low cunning - and the boss from hell

When Andrea first sets foot in the plush Manhattan offices of Runway she knows nothing. She's never heard of the world's most fashionable magazine, or its feared and fawned-over editor, Miranda Priestly - her new boss.

A year later, she knows altogether too much:

That it's a sacking offence to wear anything lower than a three-inch heel to work.

That you can charge cars, manicures, anything at all to the Runway account, but you must never, ever, leave your desk, or let Miranda's coffee get cold.

And that at 3 a.m. on a Sunday, when your boyfriend's dumping you because you're always at work, if Miranda phones, you jump.

But this is Andrea's big break - it's going to be worth it in the end.

Isn't it?

• ISBN10: 038550926X
• ISBN13: 9780385509268
• Publish Date: 31 May 2003 (first published 1 January 2003)
• Publish Status: Remaindered
• Out of Print: 3 December 2011
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 360
• Language: English

Reviews

[Ben Pick]

The book started off well. It was a masterclass on showing and not telling. The characters banded together to survive a boss from hell in ways which felt natural and made me feel for their struggles.
However, the story felt like it fell apart for me in the second half, especially compared to the movie version. With each chapter, I liked Andrea and her friends less. By the end, I felt that several characters were irredeemable, despite them receiving rewards for surviving the novel's ordeals.

[mitabird]

3.5 stars

[thepunktheory]

Full Review on: my Blog ThePunkTheory

The most famous thing about this book is probably the movie it was turned into. Thus, the novel got hyped quite a bit a few years ago. As I had heard generally positive things about Weisberger's book and enjoyed the film, I decided to give it a go.
Big mistake. Despite being less than 400 pages long, the book seems to be going on forever. You read the blurb and think "Hey, this surely is an interesting story". But believe me, it is not.
First of all, I was quite annoyed by the main character Andrea. She goes to work at one of the most famous fashion magazines in the world but doesn't give a damn. She knows nothing about fashion and doesn't have the slightest motivation to learn anything. That's highly unprofessional and as Weisberger mentions about 2 billion times throughout the book, it's a job a million girls would kill for. So, if you really don't give the tiniest fuck, let someone have the job who enjoys it.
While Andrea is clearly meant to be the hero in this novel, I can't help but dislike her. She's super ungrateful, has no ambition and has no depth at all. I get that her tasks are tough and her boss demands a lot, BUT she has to survive only one year and can then get any other job she wishes for. Did she really expect getting that with a regular 9 to 5 job? Of course it will be hard work and it won't be easy.
Andrea's constant complaints get boring quite fast. Almost as boring as the descriptions of her errands. I get that she had to get Miranda's coffee every day but writing about that 20 times really was not necessary. Got the point, thank you very much. It might have been better if Weisberger had varied her vocabulary a bit but also the language she uses was highly repetitive and made me want to put the book down numerous times.
As I mentioned, Andrea feels quite one-dimensional but so do all the other characters in this book. Especially Miranda gets to depth at all, and we never get beyond the whole "she is super awful" thing.