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The Devil Wears Prada
As the previous review states "It's a waste of time and money". That is so true. It is entertaining in the beginning when you read of the over-the-top behavior of Miranda, but it does become repetitive. Andrea whines and complains constantly of exhaustion and humiliation, but does little to help herself. Surely, it became clear to her early on that this job would not help her land a job at the New Yorker.Andrea does not exactly come off well either as she abandons friends and family for the sake of the job. Especially, during the trip to Paris when she really needs to return to New York, she rationalizes staying. I guess Miranda rubbed off on her didn't she?Unless you have the time to waste, don't bother. The reviews say it all. Get the book at the library, sit down and thumb through a few pages and get an idea of Miranda's ridiculous requests, get up and put the book back on the shelf.
The Devil Wears Prada
I have no idea why people are saying this book is whiny because it's not. If you've ever had a boss that asked you to do the most insane things or was just a complete [pain] you can relate to this book. Yes there were some parts that were kind of lame and seemed a bit overstated but overall this book made me laugh! I finally felt validated and I don't even work in the fashion industry, but I do know what it feels like to feel so crazy at work and have no one else outside of work understand what you have to deal with day in and day out...
The Devil Wears Prada
Please do not confuse the book with the movie.In the movie Andy is smart, beautiful, preoccupied with liberal ideas. She has graduated from decent university (I think Penn state) majoring in journalism, published articles in the university newspaper about the current social issues.Andy in the book can be described in two words - mediocre and lazy.She is a spoiled middle class parents' daughter who used to be the most beautiful and rich at her little Midwestern town's high school. She has graduated from Brown - a prestigious liberal arts university for daughters of wealthy parents (parents sent her there for connections). Even there she was up to study just the English literature (bottom pool for people with no talents).At the university she has mostly partied and gossiped. She was not accepted at any sorority. Her only girlfriend is a loser and drunkard.In short, Andy graduated with mediocre grades without useful connections for carrier advancement. After graduation Andy and girlfriend arrived in NY and partied until her parents got fed up with her spending their money and canceled credit card.She had to start looking for a job. Being lazy, and not used to work, she went for the first available job without doing any research, just for designer clothes incentive.On the first day her coworkers showed her their contempt. Instead of trying to follow their advice on how to improve herself, she took offense and sabotaged as much as she could. They almost had to force her to dress and style her hair properly (at the movie she had to beg Nigel, very cute), funny considering that designer outfits and makeover were free of charge as part of required appearance.She ate fat pea soup and onion bagels while considering herself as being slim (size 6!) and beautiful (yeah, right, while smoking like a chimney, we know what it does to your skin).Miranda saw through her and tried to get rid of her by sending Andy on fool's errands. Amazingly, she still did not fire her when Andy could not get it right. Maybe Miranda had too much fun watching Andy being frantic and hysterical instead of composing herself to solve the problem. It seems that Andy is not very keen on problem solutions. She was made much smarter in the movie, by the way. In the book, she is so proud of figuring out how to get coffee ahead of the crowd, WOW.A good example is the story about the newspaper's restaurant reference when Andy was running for a week and could not find it. It was all because of her laziness and lack of intelligence. From the very beginning she was made to memorize what periodicals Miranda reads every morning. All she had to do each morning is browse through the headlines so she could easily catch Miranda's references without much explanation.I just feel sorry for Miranda: she could not trust anybody, had to explain every little detail to these stupid girls. When left alone they will just stuff themselves and gossip. You cannot drag them to the gym even when it's free and in the same building. They are full of ambitions but no substance.Miranda did not go to the exclusive school, she did not read fancy books, have never been spoiled by rich parents. She educated herself just by being smart and determined. She had to work on her Brooklyn accent and her appearance. She does not hold any respect for these lazy foolish girls who had everything. I am sure she ordered a steak just to make fun of her assistant - she does not eat it because she knows better then anyone that steaks do not make you look beautiful.The author wrote a vicious little book of gossip. The book itself is mediocre but became popular perhaps because it was hinted that Miranda's character was written after Anna Wintour.Incidentally, nothing but names is left from the book for the movie. The author failed to make readers, who look at the facts,not emotions, hate Miranda, so the script was completely rewritten to make assistant very likable.I like the way Emily, brilliantly played by Emily Blunt, had been made into even bigger nasty person then Miranda.
The Devil Wears Prada
The movie is better! I really struggled through this one. I hate to buy a book that is not only terrible, but painful to read..... The author descriptions of characters, clothing, ..and basically throwing names of designers, and the descriptions of the attire was not chic, it was tacky. Totally not believable. ugh! How upsetting.
The Devil Wears Prada
I enjoyed the style of writing and how light and quick this was to read, however, there were many things that bothered me.I didn't honestly think it was that awful to have to do several coffee runs a day, order breakfast a few times a day, set up dinner reservations, research restaurants or whatever, and run errands. Every single thing Andy had to do was at NO COST to her whatsoever. EVERYTHING was comped and thus she was actually making GREAT money to do what she did.I kept hoping that she would grow up throughout it all... Stop being so whiny and ungrateful and start realizing that she really did have a pretty great job, especially considering her lack of experience. Her best friend annoyed me and her boyfriend was awful...In the end, Andy was blamed for her friend's alcoholism (and what, pray tell, could she have honestly done if she hadn't had a life of her own?? She even tried to bring it up a few times and Lily brushed her off) and for her goody-two shoes boyfriend losing interest. Andy says she used to call him every single day, yet he whines that he had been trying to talk to her for a year??Writing crap for Seventeen magazine is a considerable step DOWN since Seventeen is the teenage equivalent of Runway! It was absurd that Andy worked so hard for so long and then her idiot friends convinced her to quit and fly home because THEY were irresponsible. The ending was highly disappointing.Andy didn't change at all, beginning to end. She was still as immature as ever, just like her "I don't know what to do, so I'll just travel Europe until I'm broke" at the beginning of the book! Is it honestly THAT hard to get an entry-level job?Andy wasn't very likeable and the whole thing seemed exaggerated. I never rooted for her to fly back home, I was angry at her "loved ones" and even more angry when she told Miranda off. I also don't see how exactly it was a problem doing the work she did to begin with. Say she needed a night off, was there NOBODY she could have had deliver The Book? Not even a messenger service she could pay $100 to deliver it? Could she not have told Miranda that something wasn't possible?? Or that she needed more information? Those who catered to her enabled her to be as controlling as she was, so they could only blame themselves. Not to mention that all of these "impossible" things like getting a book pre-release and finding a restaurant were entirely possible because of the respect the woman had earned all over.Not bad for a fluff novel, but disappointing on many levels.
The Devil Wears Prada
I watched the movie before reading the book. I thought the movie was great because of a meryl streep and anne hathaway. I thought the book would be better. It was okay. I expected more from Miranda, Nigel, Emily. I expected to see more of Christian in the book and less of Lily. The book had its funny moments and I am glad I bought it but the movie was much better.