The first of many reposted reviews. These will be basically reposted directly from the original posts. Onward!
Originally read January '07
Summary:
The basic story, for those who don't know, is this. Andrea (Andy) Sachs is a writer. She wants to write for the New Yorker some day. She's fresh out of college, and has to find herself a job. She gets a job at Runway, a fashion magazine. She's so very not into the whole fashion scene, but hey, it's a job, and she was told that if you work a year for Miranda, you can get a job anywhere you want. Andy works for the most powerful woman in the fashion industry, Miranda Priestly. Now, she didn't know until after she got the job, but... Miranda's a major bitch. Worst you could meet, quite frankly. So Andy fights, tooth and nail, to make it through just one year with Miranda, and then she'll be able to get herself that dream job at the New Yorker. But it costs her a lot in the way of personal relationships, and her own sanity.
Thoughts:
Good book. It took me a while to read, partially because I had things going on this weekend, (went to the City with Jeff to see Tarzan. Good show!) and partially because it was a longer, more involved book than the others I've read so far.
The book definitely was different from the movie. Spoilers ahead for those who haven't seen the movie or read the book and want to won't get spoiled. Skip to the line of asterisks at the end of the post for the non-spoiler stuff.
For one thing, everyone's supposed to be blondes. Two, you hardly ever see Nigel. In fact, Nigel is just shy of non-existant. He shows up three times, all the while shouting all in caps. It's like Weisberger caught the caps lock and forgot to shut it off until after Nigel spoke the first time, and she decided hey, what the hell, I'll just do that every time Nigel speaks. That'll be fun. It's strange. But yeah, he's not really that much of a part of the book. There's a guy that works in the fashion editing department, who seems to be in charge of the Closet, where they keep all the awesome Dolce, Chanel, Prada, Manolos, Jimmy Choos, etc. He's the one that really befriends Andy like Nigel does in the movie.
Andy's pretty much the same, except for the blonde thing. Miranda is supposed to be blonde as well, and a size zero. No offense to Meryl Streep, but she's no size zero.
The story was basically the same as the movie, except for a few minor points. Andy didn't yet live in NYC, and had to go apartment shopping. She wound up with a couple of Indian girls that she never saw/spoke to, and then moved in with Lily, her best friend, not Alex, her boyfriend.
Lily was the biggest change from book to movie. Lil was not the sweet, creative artist that loved the new bag Andy brought to her. Oh no. Lily was a student, going for her master's, and a drunk. There were few times when you saw Lily when she wasn't drinking, especially for the second half of the book. It got worse and worse. Not only that, she was a complete slut, going out with at least a dozen guys over the course of the book, and probably a few more that you don't even read about. At one point, she got so drunk that she brought home some creepy guy and had passed out after they'd done the deed, and didn't remember who he was when she woke up to Andy and Alex trying to get the guy to leave. Badness. She got arrested for flashing someone. And the worst of all of it, she was driving while drunk, and her blood-alcohol level was twice the legal limit and went down the wrong way on a one-way street. BANG. Car accident. Lily went into a coma. And Andy, of course, was in Paris with Miranda.
The way Andy quit was so much better in the book than it was in the movie. Movie!Andy just walked away, and tossed her cell phone in a fountain. Book!Andy was much bolder. Miranda had just asked her to literally do the impossible. (Namely, renew her daughters' passports in three hours so they could get on a plane to Paris with their step father.) Andy just stared at her, then pulled out her cell, called her mom, and told her she'd be coming home from Paris. Then to Miranda she said, and I quote, "Fuck you, Miranda. Fuck you." During a show in Paris. With a mob of people around her. It was FABULOUS. Then, after another great zinger, she turns and leaves. It was absolutely fabulous.
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I loved the ending of the book. You didn't see Miranda being all approving and giving her a smile. But it was a perfect ending for the book. Overall, I definitely liked the book, though it was a lot slower going than the other books I read that year.
Pages: Unknown (didn't keep track of this before.)
Genre: Chick Lit
Grade: A
Would I Read Again?: I probably would. It was a good quality book, though a little wordy if I remember right. It's worth the read, though. I remember liking it a lot.
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