The Devil Wears Prada [Import] [Hardcover]

Lauren Weisberger (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 688 pages
• Publisher: Chivers Large print (Chivers, Windsor, Paragon & C; Large Print Ed edition (December 31, 2003)
• ISBN-10: 0754019926
• ISBN-13: 978-0754019923
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1,060 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,312,227 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Lauren Weisberger is the author of The Devil Wears Prada, which spent more than a year on the New York Times hardcover and paperback bestseller lists. The film version, starring Meryl Streep and Anne Hathaway, won a Golden Globe Award and grossed over $300 million worldwide. Her second novel, Everyone Worth Knowing, was also a New York Times bestseller. She lives in New York City with her husband.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

225 of 256 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not bad, April 16, 2003

By 

Kimberley Wilson (VA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Devil Wears Prada: A Novel (Hardcover)

There is an enormous amount of buzz about this book because the author used to work at Vouge. Most of the PR implies that this is a roman a clef about those days. So far the reviews that I've seen in a least two major fashion magazines haven't been kind but that can be chalked up to fashionistas being annoyed with someone who mocked their world.

Does the book live up to the hype? Yes and no.

It's an amusing book. The descriptions of downtown life in NYC, the side characters and the horrible antics of mean Miranda Priestly are fun but the heroine, Andrea is such a stuck up little snob that it's difficult to care about her. Margaret Mitchell was able to take a character who was an absolute monster and make millions love her. Lauren Weisberger doesn't have that kind of ability.

What's really annoying is that the book has a choppy feel. Andrea lurches from one disaster to another with no transition in between. The plot has a formula that is an old as Greek mythology. The scenes with the best friend character, Lilly and the boyfriend, Alex won't surprise anyone. The climax is straight out of an old Edgar Wallace plotwheel. The ending was a sappy, predictable let down.

The bottom line is this: if you love fashion and gossip The Devil Wears Prada will make you smile. If you want a terrific book, this won't be the one you're looking for.

85 of 96 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Lucifer in a Nutshell, March 11, 2005

By 

Alycia "Alycia" (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Devil Wears Prada: A Novel (Paperback)

Summary of "The Devil Wears Prada"

- badly dressed, tacky young woman introduces herself as the "average" five

foot eleven inch, 120 pound woman who miraculously lands an undeserved

job as a personal assistant at a fashion magazine, immediately making every

other woman reading her story roll their eyes

- said young woman complains endlessly about her miserable life of wearing

designer clothes, attending gala society parties, the inhumane rule of not

being able to smoke or make personal telephone calls during business hours,

and her boss's crass insistence that she do her job without copping an

attitude

- said young woman somehow manages to retain her job despite looking down

on all of her colleagues and willfully sabotaging company spending records

- young woman fails to look human because she reacts unrealistically to her

own problems, and those of her cardboard cutout plot-point friends

- young woman somehow attracts a world famous, handsome author despite

her failure to appear attractive to her merely locally famous elementary

school teacher boyfriend.

- young woman finally tells off boss

- young woman somehow lands job at another magazine as a writer, despite

having never demonstrated any talent to her audience

- everything comes up roses for young woman

- and then, nobody cared

246 of 298 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Trendy read and just as fleeting!, June 3, 2003

By 

Jorge Carreon, Jr. (South Pasadena, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Devil Wears Prada: A Novel (Hardcover)

Fashionistas around the globe have been salivating for the publication of THE DEVIL WEARS PRADAsince its first announcement. For those in love with all things Vogue et.al., who wouldn't want to read a deliciously biting roman a clef about a woman who is probably Anna Wintour and then some? Alas, that's the problem with the book, it only caters to those in the fashion know, which results in a shallow exercise of style over substance.

While author Lauren Weisberger has a grasp of sustaining a narrative, but the predictable scenarios she concocts are hardly the stuff of good fiction or, sadly, biting satire. Bitchy asides and brand names are stretched thin, for sure.

Even worse, her alter ego, Andrea, is too bland a creation for the reader to really care about. Her ambition is not telegraphed with any real force since all I kept thinking was why stick it out in a thankless job that is beyond demeaning? Is being a writer at the New Yorker that important? I'm sure it is for the character, but Ms. Weisberger's colorless prose fails to register such details with depth.

As for the infamous character of Miranda Priestly, I know plenty of folks like this woman. Hell, I even worked for one. The only real joy generated by this novel was smiling over what a complete and total virago she remains throughout the book. I also loved how Weisberger captured the absolute absurdity of such fields like fashion and other show business enterprises that rely so heavily on image. The worlds she creates are definitely based on some sort of fact, but it is unfortunate the she didn't take such an interest in her overall plot or characters.

Perhaps my dissatisfication in the novel stems from something greater. As "chick lit" continues to fill our minds and best seller charts, does the world need one more "Mary Tyler Moore-clone taking on the world on her terms kind of heroine?"
British sensation Helen Fielding offered some reality and humanity to the hip and happening world of Bridget Jones. However, Andrea Sachs is no Bridget Jones and the short-lasting effects of this novel makes you wonder why can't us Yankees create such a vivid piece of fiction!

Ultimately, THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA is Diet coke for the brain. To be honest, I am tiring of our current fascination with excess, entitlement and shallowness. This hotly hyped novel implodes before its predictable "up yours" finale. Like the fashion magazines it lampoons -- it's all about really pretty pictures with ultimately very little to say.