Scan barcode
A review by erinlcrane
The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger
2.0
I kind of hated this, but I didn’t feel like I could give it 1 star because it’s not horrible at what it’s trying to be. I just really don’t like what it’s trying to be either.
To be invested in the story you have to buy that Andrea needs to do this job for a year and then she’ll somehow get a job at the New Yorker. Through the majority of the book I didn’t understand why or how that would happen, so I didn’t understand her determination to work at this horrible job for a year. It made it very difficult to care.
I was also confused by Miranda as “the devil.” It took a good while for her to feel like *crazy* levels of horrible. I didn’t see her fire or threaten to fire a single person until the very end. I felt like it took too long to really feel her awfulness.
Other things I didn’t like:
1) Lots of casual racism, especially at the beginning
2) Boring details, including the multiple (Kindle) page snippet from the Bulletin and a description of the floor plan of the office
3) Repetitive crises and conflicts - oh she tried to make another plan with Alex? I wonder what will happen…
4) I kept expecting her to have to have a reason to write for Runway - got my hopes up when the travel writer called, only to have nothing come of it. Got my hopes up again when she had to write a speech. Nope. It would have been an interesting turn of events if she’d had an opportunity to write and have something come of it, but that was never something the story explored. I never even understood exactly *what* she wanted to write. Writing “for the New Yorker” could be a lot of things. In the end she writes a short story, which is not something you’d write as an employee of the New Yorker… you’d think if she wants to write so badly I’d have a better idea of what she wants to write!!
Things I wanted to like but failed me because this isn’t trying to be literary fiction:
1) The discussion around beauty standards and eating disorders. I wanted more, it would have been a perfect thing to address. When Anita writes to Miranda and Andrea is like, this lady creates problems for girls like Anita - let’s get into that!! No? Ok..
2) The discussion around Lily’s alcohol abuse and other self medication strategies. Let’s get into that! Oh she’s just a device to give Andrea a crisis… ok.
3) The discussion around awful “idea” people, powerful people, whose bad behavior is tolerated because they are “geniuses.” I loved when Andrea is talking to Emily and trying to get Emily to see that Miranda’s genius does not excuse treating Emily and others like trash. This is weirdly not explored more as a problem despite being the main conflict of the story.
To be invested in the story you have to buy that Andrea needs to do this job for a year and then she’ll somehow get a job at the New Yorker. Through the majority of the book I didn’t understand why or how that would happen, so I didn’t understand her determination to work at this horrible job for a year. It made it very difficult to care.
I was also confused by Miranda as “the devil.” It took a good while for her to feel like *crazy* levels of horrible. I didn’t see her fire or threaten to fire a single person until the very end. I felt like it took too long to really feel her awfulness.
Other things I didn’t like:
1) Lots of casual racism, especially at the beginning
2) Boring details, including the multiple (Kindle) page snippet from the Bulletin and a description of the floor plan of the office
3) Repetitive crises and conflicts - oh she tried to make another plan with Alex? I wonder what will happen…
4) I kept expecting her to have to have a reason to write for Runway - got my hopes up when the travel writer called, only to have nothing come of it. Got my hopes up again when she had to write a speech. Nope. It would have been an interesting turn of events if she’d had an opportunity to write and have something come of it, but that was never something the story explored. I never even understood exactly *what* she wanted to write. Writing “for the New Yorker” could be a lot of things. In the end she writes a short story, which is not something you’d write as an employee of the New Yorker… you’d think if she wants to write so badly I’d have a better idea of what she wants to write!!
Things I wanted to like but failed me because this isn’t trying to be literary fiction:
1) The discussion around beauty standards and eating disorders. I wanted more, it would have been a perfect thing to address. When Anita writes to Miranda and Andrea is like, this lady creates problems for girls like Anita - let’s get into that!! No? Ok..
2) The discussion around Lily’s alcohol abuse and other self medication strategies. Let’s get into that! Oh she’s just a device to give Andrea a crisis… ok.
3) The discussion around awful “idea” people, powerful people, whose bad behavior is tolerated because they are “geniuses.” I loved when Andrea is talking to Emily and trying to get Emily to see that Miranda’s genius does not excuse treating Emily and others like trash. This is weirdly not explored more as a problem despite being the main conflict of the story.