"A million girls would kill for this job."
The Devil Wears Prada
written by Lauren Weisburger
If I were to go up to someone and demand, "Make me dinner reservations at that restaurant reviewed in the newspaper I was reading last week." they would leer at me like I was a loon and back away slowly. This is a ridiculous request for anyone to make, yet when Miranda Priestly says "jump", you jump. In The Devil Wears Prada when Miranda makes a command, it is followed in a blink of an eye without hesitation or question because in the fashion industry, in her esteemed position as editor of Runway magazine, her opinion is the only one that matters. She holds her power over people and makes them dance like puppets. To be her assistant would be hell, but when Andrea lands the job all she knows is that it a position that, "A million girls would die for." Sounds like a great opportunity to enhance a resume, until you realize that expression should be interpreted more literally.
If Andrea works for the "Dragon Lady" for one year, she can get a position at any newspaper, including her dream career of writing for the New York Times, but the question is; can she last that long? She must fulfill every one of Miranda's outlandish requests, and they are quite outlandish. For example: securing a steak dinner for Miranda's lunch while simultaneously obtaining the next Harry Potter book before its published. Andrea is on call at all hours and as she becomes increasingly immersed in the fashion world, all other aspects of her life begin to fall apart. In order to make it throughout the year she has to become the kind of girl who cares how they look and leave her old friends behind repeatedly. She is mercilessly pulled apart by the pressures of her work and the growing strain on her relationships with loved ones. This book may seem like a book about a girl who starts loving her shoes more than her boyfriend, but that is a shallow, almost slanderous, comment on an impactful lesson on where happiness and true success originate.
Yes it's true that Andrea makes some mistakes, but overall her character is representative of what happens when a person is repressed and blackmailed. She is learning to manipulate people order to keep Miranda happy, all for the promise of achieving her career goals. As the year wears on she is warped into one of her bosses drones and loses her individuality. The friendly sweater-wearing "Andy" gives way to a career consumed and stiletto-wearing stranger. Andrea begins to learn that not all the evils in life obvious, sometimes they wear Prada.
The reader can equally sympathize with Andrea and the people she leaves behind in her career focused pursuits, leaving the reader to question; how far will she go? It may be a book aimed at girls, but it succeeds in focusing on some of life's toughest lessons, while entertaining us with Andrea's outrageous plights and extravagant errand running. It could definitely pass for a "beach read", but there is a dark underlying layer that gives The Devil Wears Prada a surprising depth. It's worth a read. However if it gives you pause to carry around a book with a fashionable shoe on the cover, you can always balance it out by pairing it with 1984 by George Orwell. No one will question it.
"That's all."
