Book #71

The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger

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.

I really enjoyed this as an easy read and a sneaky peek into the world of fashion magazines. Although it’s absolutely not somewhere I could see myself with my usual leggings and oversized jumper looks, it was a fascinating, if perhaps overly-exaggerated, squint at the cut-throat environment wholly based around how we all dress ourselves in the morning.

Although we are supposed to sympathise with Andrea and her ridiculous tasks, there wasn’t a single second where I actually liked her. Whinging and moaning throughout the entire narrative, she came across as entirely self-absorbed - just like all the other magazine employees she saw herself as being superior to.

Miranda is, of course, the best character here. It’s almost impossible not to imagine Meryl Streep’s face whilst reading; her patronising glances, her regal aura, her utterly poisonous vibe. It was a true shame that little was done with her character; she was depicted as nothing but an evil dragon, with very little backstory and zero development. Give us more Miranda.

A chaotic glimpse of self-interest, the shallowness of others, and how it’s very easy to think we have it worse than anyone else. I just don’t think the villain here is the woman we’re supposed to think she is.