The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger

“Beware of all enterprises that require new clothes.”

-Henry David Thoreau, Walden, 1854.

I first decided to read The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger, when I watched the movie adaptation of the book. The first time I watched the movie, I instantly liked the charm and humor the movie portrayed. When I found out it was based on a book, I knew I had to read it.

Andrea, Andy, Sachs a small-town girl fresh out of college, lands the job "a million girls would die for." Andrea's boss, Runway magazine's editor-in-chief Miranda Priestly, is demanding, unrealistic, powerful and a guaranteed ticket to any job in publishing, assuming Andrea can survive a year of working for her. Though Andrea's real goal in life is to write for the New Yorker, she casts a wide net of resumes after graduating from Brown University, hoping to get a job that's anything but mundane.

Slowly, the fourteen hour work hours and twenty-four hour phone calls begin to interfere with Andy’s family, best friend Lily, and boyfriend, Alex. However, during fashion week in Paris, Miranda sees the hard work Andy has put forth and promises to place phone calls to people she knows at The New Yorker on Andrea's behalf once her year is up, and tells her she can actually do some small written pieces for Runway. Although Andy receives urgent calls from her family, she honors the commitment so stay with Miranda. However, Andy finally realizes that she is slowly becoming just like Miranda, and her family and friends are much more important than her job.

Andy quits the job, and returns home where she works on short fiction and sells the designer clothes she acquired from working in Paris. Even though Andy didn’t get the dream job she wanted, she learns that sometimes in life there are much more important things, like family and friends, then jobs. Andy learns that you should do what you truly love and have a passion for, instead of putting yourself through pain and misery.

I was very captivated by this book. I found a lot of humor in it, especially all the ridiculous tasks Miranda put Andy through such as sending the latest, not-yet-in-stores Harry Potter to Miranda's children in Paris by private jet, to locating an unnamed antiques store where Miranda had at some point admired a vintage dresser, to serving lattes to Miranda at precisely the piping hot temperature she prefers. I also laughed at Miranda’s snobby remarks. Miranda always found a way to make a statement, especially with the famous line of, “that’s all.”

However, as funny as the book was at the same time, it was very dull. I found myself constantly dozing off. The book was simply far too long, filled with page after page of endless errand running for a rude boss. I think Weisberger spent too much time on details, and less on getting to the main points. The endless complaints about the useless errand running also got to me after a while, to the point where I simply didn't like the main character all that much anymore. She didn't seem to have any self respect, and the explanation that she was doing this as a means to be able to pick anywhere she wanted to work after a year didn't seem plausible. I couldn't believe Andrea let her boss treat her like that, and constantly. It'd be one thing if Miranda had at least some redeeming qualities, but there were none.

Based on these observations, this book wouldn’t be the first I would recommend to someone. I would much rather prefer the movie over the book. The movie was able to get the point across much more dramatically and quickly. The book is very long and detailed, so not many questions came up, except one. Weisberger never explained why Miranda was so snobby and rude. She only spent about a page explaining Miranda’s childhood and how she became editor-in-chief. I feel that Weisberger should have at least given a little bit more detail on how Miranda came to be so arrogant and demanding.