The Devil Wears Prada- A Delightfully Dishy Novel

In 2003, a fictional chick lit novel, The Devil Wears Prada, came out, written by Lauren Weisberger. It revolves around Andrea Sachs, a freshly Brown University graduate. She holds a degree in English and recently moved to New York City. However, she moves to New York with her best friend Lily, who is a Columbia University graduate. With her fine resume, she bags a job at one of the biggest fashion magazine, called Runway. However, there she has to work as a personal assistant to the magazine’s editor-in-chief.

Andrea is full of dreams and hopes as she came to New York City. But, she has to keep up with the the excruciating schedule and belittling demands of her boss. The story unravels the Andrea’s life turning events and how she survives her nightmarish boss’s demands. So, let us read further to have a closer look in the life of Andrea Sachs.

Storyline

The story begins with Andrea Sachs, Andy, getting a job in a prestigious fashion magazine after graduating from Brown University. She dreams of working with The New Yorker, and working with this magazine will help her with that. However, there she has to serve as a personal assistant to the editor of the magazine, Miranda Priestly. She is downright a nightmare boss. She has to do everything according to her. Moreover, keep up with her excruciating demands and schedule.

“Is there some reason that my coffee isn’t here? Has she died or something?” – Miranda Priestly

Although he does not know very much about the fashion world, but people there tells her that million girls would die for her job. And, if she manages to work for a year, she can have any job of her choice. But, little does she know that her job with long working hours and loads of stress will hamper her personal relationships.

At a celebratory party, she meets a young Yale graduate, Christian Collinsworth. She finds herself attracted towards him. This hampers her relationship with her boyfriend, Alex. Her relationship with her family also suffers due to her long hours of work. Things began going south when Andrea has to go to Paris with her boss Miranda, as her co-worker, Emily, gets mononucleosis.

A series of error began in Andrea’s life. She and Alex had to take a break and while in Paris, she learns that her room mate Lily is in the hospital. She had a severe car accident as she was drunk driving. But she refuses to leave Paris, as it would cost her her job. Seeing the dedication, Miranda says, that she could see herself in Andy. She is flattered as well as horrified by this comparison. Therefore, she calls up her mom ad tells her that she will be catching the first flight home.

And at this point, she gets fired from the job as well as blacklisted from working in any magazine. Andrea moves back with her parents and break up with Alex for good. However, she finds a job in another magazine. The headquarter of the magazine resides in the same building as the Runway, here she used to work. And she could she another girl on her heels, as the assistant of Miranda.

About the Author

Lauren Weisberger was born on March 28, 1977, in Pennsylvania. Her mother was a school teacher whereas her father was a president of a departmental store. Although he later became a mortgage broker. However, her parents divorced each other when she was just eleven years old. After that, she lived with her mother and younger sister Dana.

After completing her school, she went to Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. She completed her graduation in English and backpacked around the world for some time. Upon returning back home, she received a job offer from Vogue. There she had to work as a personal assistant to Anna Wintour. Along with working as her assistant, she has written over hundred review articles. Apart from writing this bestseller The Devil Wears Prada, she has written many other novels too. Like, The Devil Wears Prada,  Revenge wears Prada, The Singles Game, When Life Gives You Lululemons and many short stories.

Character Analysis

Andrea ‘Andy’ Sachs: The story revolves around her as she is the female protagonist. She has recently graduated from the Brown University and aspires to become a famous journalist. She hopes to work with The New Yorker. Although she ends up becoming a junior personal assistant to the editor of a fashion magazine, Runway.

Miranda Priestly: The editor-in-chief of the fashion magazine, Runway, and the boss everyone is scared of. She treats her her subordinates very badly, almost on the verge of emotional and psychological abuse.

Alex Fineman: Andrea’s boyfriend, who works as a inner-city elementary school teacher. Later in the novel they break up but still remain good friends.

Emily Charlton: Miranda’s senior personal assistant and former junior assistant. She and Andrea share a conflicted relationship.

Nigel: A tall and gay man, who works as a creative director at Runway. He has an outrageous sense of style and can often get away with critiquing Miranda’s personal wardrobe choices.

Conclusion

Although this novel, The Devil Wears Prada seems like a work of fiction, it very much reflect the story of the author while she worked with the Vogue magazine. The novel, altogether, is quite funny and has many quirk to it. The life of Andy resembles that with author and Anna Wintour inspired her for the role of Miranda Priestly. However, the book spent o top of the bestseller’s list for six months.

In 2006, The book was adapted into a movie in the same name. Meryl Streep for the role of Miranda Priestly and Anne Hathaway for the role of Andrea Sachs, were chosen. The book also has a sequel named, Revenge Wears Prada: The Devil Return, which came out after a decade in the year 2013.

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