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The Devil Wears Prada | 
| Author: Lauren Weisberger
Creator: Rachael Leigh Cook
Publisher: Random House Audio
Category: Book
List Price: $29.95
Buy New: $2.99
You Save: $26.96 (90%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  1022 reviews
Sales Rank: 1064978
Format: Abridged, Audiobook
Media: Audio CD
Edition: Abridged
Number Of Items: 5
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 6 x 4.8 x 1
ISBN: 0739302418
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.6
EAN: 9780739302415
ASIN: 0739302418
Publication Date: April 15, 2003
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: opened, never used. price reflects this
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com Review
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. Now she's written a book, and this is its theme: narrator Andrea Sachs goes to work for Miranda Priestly, the all-powerful editor of Runway magazine. Turns out Miranda is quite the bossyboots. That's pretty much the extent of the novel, but it's plenty. 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. For instance, when Miranda goes to Paris for the collections, Andrea receives a call back at the New York office (where, incidentally, she's not allowed to leave her desk to eat or go to the bathroom, lest her boss should call). Miranda bellows over the line: "I am standing in the pouring rain on the rue de Rivoli and my driver has vanished. Vanished! Find him immediately!" This kind of thing is delicious fun to read about, though not as well written as its obvious antecedent, The Nanny Diaries. And therein lies the essential problem of the book. Andrea's goal in life is to work for The New Yorker--she's only sticking it out with Miranda for a job recommendation. But author Weisberger is such an inept, ungrammatical writer, you're positively rooting for her fictional alter ego not to get anywhere near The New Yorker. Still, Weisberger has certainly one-upped Me Times Three author Alex Witchel, whose magazine-world novel never gave us the inside dope that was the book's whole raison d' etre. For the most part, The Devil Wears Prada focuses on the outrageous Miranda Priestly, and she's an irresistible spectacle. --Claire Dederer
Product Description
A delightfully dishy novel about the all-time most impossible boss in the history of impossible bosses.
Andrea Sachs, a small-town girl fresh out of college, lands the job “a million girls would die for.” Hired as the assistant to Miranda Priestly, the high-profile, fabulously successful editor of Runway magazine, Andrea finds herself in an office that shouts Prada! Armani! Versace! at every turn, a world populated by impossibly thin, heart-wrenchingly stylish women and beautiful men clad in fine-ribbed turtlenecks and tight leather pants that show off their lifelong dedication to the gym. With breathtaking ease, Miranda can turn each and every one of these hip sophisticates into a scared, whimpering child.
THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA gives a rich and hilarious new meaning to complaints about “The Boss from Hell.” Narrated in Andrea’s smart, refreshingly disarming voice, it traces a deep, dark, devilish view of life at the top only hinted at in gossip columns and over Cosmopolitans at the trendiest cocktail parties. From sending the latest, not-yet-in-stores Harry Potter to Miranda’s children in Paris by private jet, to locating an unnamed antique store where Miranda had at some point admired a vintage dresser, to serving lattes to Miranda at precisely the piping hot temperature she prefers, Andrea is sorely tested each and every day—and often late into the night with orders barked over the phone. She puts up with it all by keeping her eyes on the prize: a recommendation from Miranda that will get Andrea a top job at any magazine of her choosing. As things escalate from the merely unacceptable to the downright outrageous, however, Andrea begins to realize that the job a million girls would die for may just kill her. And even if she survives, she has to decide whether or not the job is worth the price of her soul.
From the Hardcover edition.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 1017 more reviews...
Personal slaves and 6 shades of mascara September 23, 2008
"Devil Wears Prada" is quite an enjoyable book, if you have all time in the world in your hand. Very realistic and hilarious. Very good for learning about fashion and the glamour world.
Now about the subject matter, well, if this person Miranda Priestly actually exists in real life (in a different name of course), as claimed, I wonder what she thinks about looking at her own true self in public mirror. She is unfair, unkind, mean, vile, domineering and tyrannical. She never even pours herself a glass of water, and her slaves wait her on hands and knees. In 432 pages of the book, Miranda Priestly violated at least 400 basic human rights. However, the big question is, where her fame plus existence would be, if hundreds of Runway employees didn't support. So why none of them ever bothered reporting her to the Human Rights Commission. Why did they let her have her way like this and let it go on for so long? Is this the idea of capitalism? And particularly, why somebody who wants to write as a profession would take a job as a personal slave? What kind of a boss forbids her assistants to eat or use the toilet and get away with it? Even in USA?
Throughout the book, these personal slaves arranged her trips, fetched her food, served her demands, took her car to garage, picked up her dirty laundry, ordered for her desired goodies, her designer dress and makeup and accessories; but wait a minute, I'm confused, Miranda Priestly is an editor, right? She is not a fashion model herself. A fashion magazine is supposed to work on the fashion models, right? She is an icon in the fashion world, but does not pose herself on magazine covers, right? They are supposed to care for what models wear and use, right? So why does everybody work their butt off to cover this editor in diamonds?
And what's with this materialistic concept of life-style? Since when painting face in 20 layers of make-up or 6 different shades of mascara or having more supplies+instructions than a NASA scientist needs or brand names written all over the body is a huge achievement in life or maybe the ultimate goal of life for these privileged people? These makeup Gestapos and fashion Nazis. Hmmm, think of the remote regions in the third world where obtaining little bit of food or medicine only once a week is a regular way of life.
To be honest, no matter what the author's intention was, I COULDN'T really bring myself to feel empathy for Andrea. She gets her personal chauffer and limo ride anywhere she goes, she doesn't even need to use public transportations. If one thinks her life is arduous, try to live and work in Bangladesh or Pakistan or India, you will see what an "arduous everyday life" means.
Every time she is out on the street running an important errand for Miranda (especially she knows very well how Miranda gets impatient and pissed), still she (Andrea) is either taking time smoking cigarettes or talking on the phone with her boyfriend or girlfriend! Are those absolutely "life-and-death" necessity during working hours? Not to mention her home-front, her family and boyfriend and girlfriend, who tried to jeopardize her career and kill her ambitions and bring her down to their trailer-trash level in every opportunity they got.
In my opinion the author babbled way too much constantly and unnecessarily. Here is an example, Miranda asked Andrea to come to the party at 4pm on page 305. Party starts at 7pm the same evening. Page 320, 321, 322...... we are still not at the party! Party finally starts on page 325! Imagine! 3 hours, 20 pages! Furthermore, she wasted plenty of pages on this Lily the whorish alcoholic troublemaker fiasco, as if it is Lily's biography! That was an annoying distraction from the main focus of the story line. She is a screw-up and drowned in booze and no match for Andrea's level, so why going on and on about Lily and fattening the book? Especially, the book should have ended at page 412. Chapters 18 and 19 (page 413-432) were completely useless, pointless and ridiculous. Those pages seemed like somebody else added them later, or the author doesn't know where to stop.
Ultimately what came out of this whole thing? Has Andy learned something out of it? This entire ordeal ended up in nothing. She eventually went back to her trailer-trash life, to become a fat Jewish mom in dirty clothes and having a half-blind wet-blanket husband and a bunch of screaming snotty babies. Maybe that's good enough for her.
 Uneven September 11, 2008
DWP has many pluses and minuses. The pluses are a great plot centered around a struggle with a power crazed boss. The minuses are the many overwritten passages. Weisberger was new to writing and that is to be expected and the story eclipses a lot of it. The best thing to say for it was I was pushed to turn the page and could read it in a short period of time and feel transported to her situation even when I didn't like the genre. For a first timer that is impressive.
Not as good as the movie:) July 19, 2008
You know how the book is out and you have to see which is better the book or the film. Well the toss up is the movie is so much better the book is ok but not as good as the film.:)
 Okay book, but didn't love it July 13, 2008
This book was enough to hold my interest to read the whole thing, but I didn't love it.
It's a story about a college grad who starts her career at a fashion magazine as an assistant and has the meanest, most inconsiderate boss ever.
The storyline was okay, but I felt like it was a continual gripe session about how horrible her boss was, how she was always hungry, tired and wearing uncomfortable shoes. The book would have been fine and much shorter without all of that.
The character was somewhat likeable, but not developed enough for you to care about, as was the case with most of the characters. The idea of the story was pretty good, but there were so many possible things that could have happened that would have made it way more interesting. The largest crisis' were finding a Hary Potter book and a car accident.
I walked away from this book feeling a bit unsatisfied. Seemed like there were still many loose ends. I listened to the audio version and she was quite good, which was probably what I liked most about this story.
I am not sure I would recommend this book, but I didn't hate it.
Good book, maybe slightly over-blown June 3, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This is a good book, but what fascinates me most is that it has the most even distribution of reviews on any book I've seen on Amazon. 1, star, 2 star, etc. all get about the same votes. Take a look. You don't see it so even like that very often.
This is a book that is really not for everyone. Being into fashion helps, and the author walks a wobbly line between glorifying the fashion industry and critiquing it.
At any rate, it's a few notches above the movie, so if you enjoyed that, you would most likely find this book a fun and easy read.
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