The Devil Wears Prada

By: Lauren Weisberger

Narrated by: Bernadette Dunne

Length: 14 hrs and 10 mins

Publisher's summary

A delightfully dishy novel about the all-time most impossible boss in the history of impossible bosses.

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. The Devil Wears Prada gives a rich and hilarious new meaning to complaints about “The Boss from Hell.”

Narrated in Andrea’s smart, refreshingly disarming voice, it traces a deep, dark, devilish view of life at the top only hinted at in gossip columns and over Cosmopolitans at the trendiest cocktail parties. From sending the latest, not-yet-in-stores Harry Potter to Miranda’s children in Paris by private jet, to locating an unnamed antique store where Miranda had at some point admired a vintage dresser, to serving lattes to Miranda at precisely the piping hot temperature she prefers, Andrea is sorely tested each and every day - and often late into the night with orders barked over the phone.

She puts up with it all by keeping her eyes on the prize: a recommendation from Miranda that will get Andrea a top job at any magazine of her choosing. As things escalate from the merely unacceptable to the downright outrageous, however, Andrea begins to realize that the job a million girls would die for may just kill her. And even if she survives, she has to decide whether or not the job is worth the price of her soul.

©2003 Lauren Weisberger (P)2003 Books on Tape, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Miranda's behavior is so insanely over-the-top that it's a gas to see what she'll do next, and to try to guess which incidents were culled from real life." (Amazon.com)
"Weisberger has penned a comic novel that manages to rise to the upper echelons of the chick-lit genre." (Publishers Weekly)

Fun brain candy with great narration!

I wanted to read the book before I saw the movie (love Meryl Streep) so I selected this one, and had great fun with it. It certainly isn't a highly intellectual read, but it kept me engrossed and laughing, and Bernadette Dunne does an amazing job distinguishing characters in her narration. Well worth the time, I'm hard pressed to think the movie will be as entertaining as the listen..we'll see.

LOVED IT!!!

I LOVED THIS STORY!!!!! Funny, thoroughly enjoyed the humor!!!! It is an easy to listen to story, with lessons to learn from.

Unhappy Bosses

Found it captivating and couldn't stop listening. Despite the fact it becomes somewhat repetitive at times, it is a story that many of us can relate to; Working for that one very difficult person that you try to please, but never seem able to. All along you just wanted the main character Andrea to loose it and feed some of Miranda's venom right back to her. In the end she does and you just want to stand up and screem; yes, yes yes.

Very entertaining

This book was great. I love the movie but this was deep and really telling of the struggles of how to move forward in life. The performance was amazing. Of all the books I've listened to this performance captured everything just as I imagined it to be.

Love the book, not the narrator!

What did you like best about The Devil Wears Prada? What did you like least?

The best? The inside look at the craziness of Big Fashion & the people who think that's the only thing that makes life worth living. It's funny.

The least? Probably how the author is just as snotty as her boss, by painting all Southerners as "rednecks" & worse - all a bunch of uneducated, bigoted hicks, blah, blah. Weisberger is apparently unaware of the irony. "It's ok to be bigoted towards Southerners, because they AREN'T we fabulous, oh-so-intellectual & better-than-the-rest Northeasterners." Otherwise, it's a fun read, if you can ignore the author's own near-sightedness...AND the awful narration. Bleagh. If this is your first time with the book, I'd read it, rather than listen. Only listen if you've already read the book & liked it - you should then be able to get around the narration.

The narrator's voice is far too old to read for a 22-year old. She is just not believable as the main character, & is lousy with accents. A little too breathy (not "sexy breathy" - which would've been worse) - as if she's attempting to soften the start of each word. Prim & proper. For a 22-year old New Yorker? Get real; I'm not buying it.

Would you be willing to try another one of Bernadette Dunne’s performances?

Maybe (but not likely)...if the narrator is supposed to sound like a mature woman. But she sounds like a narrator for a prim romance or a how-to manual, & since I don't usually listen to either, I'm not likely to want her as the narrator for the books I like.

Could you see The Devil Wears Prada being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

It WAS made into a movie! 😝

A TV series? Nah...it'd be the same thing, over & over. It would turn into a soap opera.

Any additional comments?

I did really like the book when I first read it, which is why I bought the audio version when it was on sale. I'm glad I did, but I'm also glad I already liked the book, because if I'd listened to it first, I would have wondered what all the hype was about. The narrator (ok, I know I'm going on & on about her!) really did change the whole "tone" of the book.

Love this book

Very different from movie so watch it first if you like the actors. I will read the sequel next.

MY FAVOURITE AUDIBLE SO FAR

I loved this book as much as I loved the Shopaholic series. It was so entertaining, I didn't mind all the driving I needed to do and even spent extra time on the treadmill, just to listen to it!!! There was not a boring moment in the book at all. I highly recommend it.

Great Book

Much much better than the movie!!!!! A must read for sure!! Read read read it!

Wickedly Entertaining

Entertaining, snarky book. Supposedly based on the author's own experiences, this book gives a look at the boss from hell, and the people she plows over.

Fun story, great narration!

This story has its brilliant moments, but can be a bit sluggish and angst-obsessed. The Runway scenes are maniacally fun, while some of the relationship explorations are repetitive and entirely expected. The narration was spot on, definitely the consistent highlight. A good listen, as long as you don't expect too much!