This was on loan from my Mum. I’m not into ‘chick-lit’ anyway, but I’d heard it was meant to be quite funny so thought I’d give it a try (if only for a lack of anything else to read).

However, from the first chapter I disliked the main character. it starts with her having been asked to go and collect her boss’s car from the garage, which is a “stick-shift,” and having always driven an automatic, she’s struggling with it. I suppose I could ignore how American that is, if it wasn’t for the fact that she seemed to find the task of driving a car for ten minutes so stressful. And being that you have to use two hands for “stick-shift” cars, and she was struggling anyway, why then light a cigarette, when you know you won’t be able to smoke it? I personally had no sympathy at all when onoes, she’d burnt her leather trousers with it. It was her own silly fault.

And really, I felt that way throughout the book. Only sometimes did I think her boss was behaving out of line, but then, with such an incompetent assistant, who could blame her for getting exasperated? When you have employed a woman in a job (that, as she quite rightly says, a million girls would die for), it would rather annoy you when your new employee then sighed and muttered to herself whenever you asked her to do a simple enough task, like getting breakfast or getting a coffee from the Starbucks across the street. And she would always chat on her phone, taking 30mins to do a simple, five minute job – no wonder she’d then get nagging phone calls asking where she’s got to, or told to get another because it’s now too cold! I wouldn’t be happy with that either. And the amount of money she wasted on supposed ‘expenses!’ Hardly a star employee.

Once I had begun to dislike the character, it was difficult to really gain any sympathy or enjoy reading it, other than to laugh at the idiocy of her behaviour. I don’t know how she thought she’d be able to handle a high-class journalism job, full of deadlines and pressure to do well, if she can’t manage simple tasks like getting a coffee. As the book progressed, she grew more annoying, becoming obsessed with her job and answering her stupid mobile phone – to the point where her best friend is in a coma, possibly dying, and she goes to a fashion show instead. No wonder her boyfriend dumped her for it; I don’t blame him.

Overall – avoid, avoid, avoid! Apparently the film is better, but it’s not like it could have gotten a whole lot worse! I’m giving it 2/5 because it was quite a page-turner, so obviously the writer did something right to keep me gripped for that long. ( )

Wow. I rarely say the following: I didn't finish this book. I decided to rate and review it, nonetheless, after comparing novel to movie. Progressing at a painfully slow pace, this book just didn't live up to the hype. The movie, however, was an enjoyable reprieve. ( )

I expected so much more out of this book. A bit too Disney for my liking. ( )

Most recent college grads know they have to start at the bottom and work their way up. But not many picture themselves having to pick up their boss's dry cleaning, deliver those hot lattes, land them copies of the newest Harry Potter book before it hits stores and screen potential nannies for their children.

The self-described "biggest fashion loser to ever hit the scene," Andy takes the job hoping to land at The New Yorker after a year. As the "lowest-paid-but-most-highly-perked assistant in the free world," she soon learns her Nine West loafers won't cut it--everyone wears Jimmy Choos or Manolos--and that the four years she spent memorizing poems and examining prose will not help her in her new role of "finding, fetching, or faxing" whatever the diabolical Miranda wants, immediately.

She finds herself in an office that shouts Prada, Armani and Versace at every turn and where everyone basically mistrusts everyone else; you are assessed from head to toe & evaluated by the shallowest factors imaginable.

It's a killer title: "The Devil Wears Prada." And it's killer material: author Lauren Weisberger did a stint as assistant to Anna Wintour, the all-powerful editor of Vogue magazine. Miranda's behavior is so insanely over-the-top that it's a gas to see what she'll do next, and to try to guess which incidents were culled from the real-life antics of the woman who's been called Anna "Nuclear" Wintour.

I'm actually not that surprised as to the personality of Miranda Priestley; I worked for a person like that. Believe me, I was still smarting from the experience in that the first time I read this book, I couldn't help but relate. Maybe that's why I didn't like it that much at the time. It reminded me of myself--of stretching yourself to your limits, just to be able to meet the demands of your job, which in the end equals servitude.

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 ending was a sappy, predictable let down. But then we are all rooting for a happy ending for somebody who was made to feel like a modern-day Cinderella, right?

Book Details:

Title The Devil Wears Prada
Author Lauren Weisberger
Reviewed By Purplycookie ( )

Entertaining read. ( )