Revenge Wears Prada: The Devil Returns

This book was a chore to get through. The plot was so contrived.

Emily was a very popular character in the first book. So, to keep the character going, the author came up with a contrived excuse to make Emily and Andy good friends.

Max was a great guy. Devoted father, caring husband, etc. But because the author was determined to get Andy back into a relationship with a guy she had barely seen in 10 years, that was all flushed down the toilet in the last quarter of the book.

Andi went from a likable, though bratty at times, character to an awful, repugnant, spoiled, delusional brat!

By the time I was finished with the book, I was ready to strangle the heroine, Andy. The whiny, entitled college graduate who nevertheless charmed me by twisting herself into knots to please the demanding Miranda Priestley in The Devil Wears Prada has remained whiny and entitled. Instead of being the ultimate pleaser, she's now impossible to please. She has a flourishing career, the perfect husband, an adorable child, loving friends and family and yet she's still miserable. Her inability to communicate with her husband, her best friend and business partner and her former adversaries at Runway magazine makes you wonder how she's managed to become so successful. Nothing about this rang true - particularly her pining for her long-lost, judgmental, holier-than-thou college boyfriend.

The best parts of the book include her encounters with her former boss Miranda Priestly who still manages to intimidate 99% of humanity as well as descriptions of life among 1%er New Yorkers.

Other readers hope for a movie sequel that was as fun as the movie version of the original book. My advice to Meryl Streep and Anne Hathaway: Don't bother.

This review originally appeared on BlogsLikeaGirl.com http://blogslikeagirl.wordpress.com/2014/06/10/book-review-revenge-wears-prada/

Confession: I love The Devil Wears Prada. I reread it once a year; if it’s on TV, I watch it; I own the soundtrack; and I even bought The September Issue because I’m semi-obsessed with Anna Wintour aka Miranda Priestly. So when I saw the sequel Revenge Wears Prada at the San Francisco airport, I had to pick it up.

And I’ve never been so disappointed in a sequel since the Hobbit movies came out. The book picks up 10 years later after the original left off and we catch up fairly quickly with Andy, who now has it all – a hot husband, lots and lots of money, an editor-in-chief position at a instantly popular bridal magazine that she funded with Emily, Miranda’s other assistant, and a baby on the way. Seriously, Andy has everything. And yet, she finds some way to whine about it.

The weakest part of Devil Wears Prada was always how everyone whined because Andy had to spend *gasp* one year working for Miranda. Honestly, I’m celebrating my one year anniversary at work next week and it feels like I just got here. I know when a job sucks it can feel longer – I was once at a place for four months that felt like decades because it was so awful. BUT you either deal with it and stop whining or get a new job.

Here, the same problem arises. Again, it’s been 10 years since Andy worked for Miranda and she’s acting like it was yesterday. Even the near threat of working for Miranda has Andy sweating bullets. Like, you think she would have grown from this, developed some copping skills maybe?

The other problem with this in addition to the novel length whinefest is Miranda is in it for three scenes. Yup, the best part of the Devil Wears Prada franchise and she’s not even in this one. I suspect the author realized that everyone sided with Miranda and thought Andy needed to just get over it so she overcompensated by making Miranda’s role minimal while having Andy constantly obsess over her. It backfires.

Bottomline, skip this book if you’re a hardcore Devil Wears Prada fan.

This is a mediocre sequel not worth spending any money on.
The title is misleading. There isn't any Andy Vs Miranda battle as such here.
10 years after the Devil Wears Prada, Andy Sachs has now teamed up with former Runway assistant Emily to start a bridal magazine. Andy is the kind of business partner you don't want to have. Why? Because once Andy becomes pregnant, she reduces the amount of time she spends working for the magazine. After she has her baby, she starts looking at work as a burden..trying to avoid work as much as she can. Poor Emily ends up doing almost all of Andy's work. (Interestingly, neither Andy nor Emily talks about Andy resigning and becoming a Stay-At-Home-Mom- even though it is very clear that Andy just wants to be with her baby all the time and doesn't really care about the magazine.) Andy shows no gratitude towards Emily for the extra work she is doing. When a take-over offer comes from Elias-Clark, Emily and Max (Andy's husband and co-owner of the magazine) make it very clear that they want to go ahead. Andy is certain that she doesn't want to accept the offer. Yet, she keeps delaying this decision- giving false hope to poor Emily and Max. She uses her pregnancy and baby as excuses for this. When they have enough of Andy's stalling, they team up against her.
By this time, I was really irritated with the character Andy Sachs. Like another reviewer has said, when you start despising the so-called heroine and are rooting for the so-called villains, you know that something is truly wrong with the story.
Miranda is like a guest star in this novel- not much relevant. It actually is a book about a new mom who believes that non-moms like Emily should be doing all the hard work while Andy The Entitled Mom spends time with her baby. Such selfish behavior puts her in the same group as Miranda and one ends up feeling no sympathy for her.
I regret reading the book!
Since the plot itself is so pathetic, there isn't much to look forward to. Yet, I finished the book thanks to the fashion references and little twists and turns peppered throughout the book. It can be an Okay-ish beach/vacation read. But if you have better options, you should not pick up this one.

The Devil Wears Prada was a "fictionalized" account of the author's stint as an assistant to Anna Wintour, the magazine editor of Vogue (in the book, it's Miranda Priestly working for Runway) and said editor quite famously runs a tight ship and wields a lot of influence in the publishing world. She was portrayed as completely unreasonable, asking her assistants to accomplish the impossible (like obtain an unpublished copy of a Harry Potter manuscript), and as someone who had no patience for even the most minor things (wondering why her assistant could not instantly obtain her morning Starbucks, despite that the round trip would require at least 15 minutes). I think most people have had a boss that was completely unreasonable, and left them feeling overworked, underpaid, and undervalued, so it was easy to relate to Andy in that book and the ridiculous tasks her boss, Miranda Priestly, asked of her. Point blank, the star of that book, what made it so interesting, was Miranda's character.

Not so in this book. This book is all about Andy, who, as it turns out, is pretty boring on her own. Whereas in the original book she had some strength, and tried her hardest to maintain her individuality despite the pressure to conform, in this book she has veryy much become the thing she loathed in the first. She is also paranoid and a bit histrionic. As noted by other reviewers, it reads like juvenile fanfiction. Andy has the emotional maturity of a 15 year old in this book, and she spends the entire book obsessing over Miranda, despite that she hasn't seen or worked for her in 10 years.

Andy has changed so much, and not for the better. In this book, she seems to actually care about high society (her betrothed is an old money, well known family), name brands (she at one point specifically mentions a large Louis Vuitton bag she owns), and what other people think. She never cared about that in the first book - she didn't know name brands, didn't care about them, and when she finally began to wear them, it was only to save her job. Heck, she even gave away all the designer swag she had by the end of the book. She cares so much what other people think (mostly Miranda), she spends the entire book talking about it. She is also incredibly self-absorbed, if we are being truthful.

The book was riddled with red herrings, too. The first major drama concerns a note she found on her wedding day in which, cliche of all cliches, her suspicions that her mother-in-law doesn't much like her or find her good enough for her son are confirmed. Said note also mentions that he happened to run into an ex-girlfriend, whom mother really liked. The note itself, while mean, is pretty innocuous and in no way implicates her husband in any shenanigans. Yet, she spends the next third of the book obsessing over it, as though he did something wrong (it's never even made clear whether he saw the note), and practically ruins her marriage because of it. I mean, she literally walks into the marriage not trusting him. She says, "I do," while simultaneously believing that this note means he may have cheated on her, or wants to be with his ex. Why? Because she is projecting the MILs statements onto him? Completely irrational. Heaven forbid she talk to him about it, this man who was written as someone who loves her more than anything, will do anything for her, and essentially around whose world he revolves. And that's just it - she never actually bothers to discuss it with him, even when he tries to get her to open up about what's wrong.

Moreover, there were a ton of filler scenes, including one involving her family doctor wherein she learned she was pregnant. It was just plain weird because there was this whole dialogue about a male nurse practitioner being in the room, how unorthodox it was, and whether she minded. The doctor even pointed out how unorthodox it was, asking if she felt ok with it. Why was that necessary at all? Why not just write in that the female nurse came into the room, then they performed the examination? Did the book have a word quota to fill, so you thought you'd pad a few paragraphs with this entirely unnecessary scene involving a male nurse who shouldn't be there?

Everything involving Nigel and the other Runway colleagues made no sense. Everything was written with this sinister tint. She greatly details how Nigel did not respond to any voice mails, emails, or other attempts at contact after the events of the first book. When Andy happens to run into Nigel at a wedding, he oddly pretends like nothing happened, but at the same time, "mean girls" Andy. Or maybe that was simply Andy's eternal paranoia kicking in, because, as with everything else, she spent the entire time lamenting what he thought about her and what he was up to, as though Miranda sent him there to torture her. For the most part, all of his scenes in the book were entirely filler and added nothing.

The same is true of many tertiary characters. Weisenberger had many of the stars in the first book make cameos - Lily, Alex, Nigel, Miranda's twins - thinking that would somehow satisfy the fans' desire to know "where are they now," but they were all filler. They added little to nothing to the story and did nothing to satisfy the need to know where they are now. The story was all about Andy, poor old, unlikeable, persecuted Andy.

Miranda was hardly involved in this book, and as can be expected, the best scenes were the few with her in them. The oddest part about this book is the title - there was no revenge plot here at all, and it is very strongly implied that Miranda has thought very little of Andy since she left Runway. She becomes involved in the book for a legitimate business purpose, but Andy, in her petulant stubbornness, refuses to even discuss the situation. The worst part about it is that she is effectively punishing herself, her business partner, and various others in her life, under the misguided belief she was punishing Miranda somehow, when in actuality, Miranda couldn't care less.

Now, I understand she did not want to be under Miranda's thumb again, I get it. But why did she make no attempt to negotiate the deal with more favorable terms? It's like she just never even considered the offer when she learned where it came from. That does not seem like the mindset of a shrewd and capable entrepreneur, that's the mindset of a child. Andy made everything all about her, giving nary a thought to how her decisions affected those around her. So, while I understand her ire when she felt betrayed by her loved ones and a decision they effectively took out of her hands, I also completely understand their position - their judgment was not clouded by PTSD from a job held ten years earlier, they were simply looking at what was actually best, from a business perspective, for the company.

This was not the worst book I've ever read, but it certainly was not very good, either, particularly for fans of the original. Andy was not terribly interesting on her own, and she wasn't terribly likable, either. The plot was much ado about nothing, which only amplified Andy's worst character traits (the aforementioned paranoia and anxiety). I'm not sold on Weisenberger's style. As many reviewers have already stated, this book was little more than a money grab trying to capitalize off the success of the original (which I can only assume means that her non-Devil books did poorly). With a lot of books, I stay up way too late reading them because I simply can't put them down. This was the opposite - I stayed up late reading it because I just wanted it to be over and did not want to spend another night reading it.

Skip this one. Your money and reading time is better spent elsewhere.

"The Devil Wears Prada" was a popular book not for its quality, but rather at its look at the lifestyle of the thin and fashionable through the eyes of someone not so thin, out of touch with fashion, and not as privileged as the "in crowd" of the fashion world. While the book had its faults and the main character Andrea (loosely based on Weisberger herself while working under Anna Wintour in Vogue) was whiny and seemed unrealistic in her goals (wishing to write for the New Yorker just out of college), we did get a peek at the lifestyle most of us aren't exposed to (and have a very slim chance of actually catching a glimpse of, not to mention join).

This book picks up a decade later, where "Andy" is about to marry one of NYC's most eligible (and well do to) bachelors. After all her old crowd (meaning Lilly & Alex) have left town, Andy somehow becomes BFFs with Emily, her old arch nemesis at the dreaded job at "runway", learns a little about fashion, and even manages to thin down to a size 4.Both Emily & herself are co - owners of a bridal magazine, which Miranda, AKA the "devil" wants to purchase. Everyone thinks this is a great idea,which would mean a lot of cash & prestige for both Emily & Andy, and exposure for the magazine itself - but Andy refuses. After all, it should be obvious that working with Miranda is not an option since she's such a terrible person, right?

The answer is a resounding "no!!!". while rarely being more than a shadow in the background, Miranda doesn't behave rudely towards Emily and Andy, so these fears seem to be unfounded. Once again, the premise of this book as having a boss as bad as the devil just isn't realistic or convincing enough, just like in the first book...

I didn't expect much from this, but having enjoyed the first part of the book (Alex and Lily out of the picture, Andy seeming to have evolved into a more open minded grownup), I got my hopes up, then of course it all fell apart and once again Andy became unrealistic and unlikeable.

The choice to write this book in third person was an off-putting departure from The Devil Wears Prada. I actually enjoyed Andrea and Emily's friendship and found it somewhat believable. Miranda's all too brief appearances were delicious.

I read this after reading the first book for the hundredth time. (I was barely able to get through it. I used to find it funny and entertaining and a great depiction of a high stress working environment. Now it comes off as the whiny tirade of a spoiled, privileged and judgmental white girl who is a complete doormat to her sanctimonious, sexist boyfriend. And why did Weisberger take every opportunity to insult Southerners?)

Miranda and her world remain fascinating, and it would have been outstanding to read more about it without all the boring Andrea stuff getting in the way.

If I could sum this up in one word? Awful. I'm not saying that The Devil Wears Prada was some literary genius piece of word that should be compared to Shakespeare or something, but it was fun. Fluffy, but a good airplane or beach read. I've read Everyone Worth Knowing too, also a nice fluffy read. Revenge Wears Prada? It's not often I will just skim through a book just to see how it ends... or even put down a book without finishing it, even if it's terrible. I couldn't even finish skimming through this. I ended up passing it off to my girlfriends... who also couldn't get through it.

Just pass on this one, and let Andy's story end as it did in the original, and let your imagination finish off her story for you.

Sure, The Devil Wears Prada is a guilty pleasure for readers who enjoy a little tabloid rag now and again. It's never going to be considered a great literary work but for all those who enjoy reading Yelp and Reddit rants about bullying bosses online, then it's certainly a fun read.

Forever immortalized by the film played brilliantly by Anne Hathaway as Andy Sachs and Meryl Streep as her boss from hell, Miranda Priestly, the sequel takes place a decade later after our heroine quits her job and starts off on her own. Life couldn't be better. She and her former coworker, now BFF, Emily are running a successful up and coming bridal magazine called the Plunge. She's marrying a handsome, wealthy entrepreneur and her writing career is on the rise. Enter business deal concerning her company and add her old boss Miranda in the mix and problems ensue.

Unlike the first book where Andy finally gets a backbone and stands up to her boss, this new and improved Andy suddenly does a 180 and becomes this pathetic, whiny victim with no self-esteem in Revenge. It's like everything about the character that made her sympathetic just reverts back to being a doormat. Even when everyone in her life is barreling over her, she allows herself to be abused repeatedly until the end when out of the blue has an epiphany to take back some control over her life. By this time it's too late and she's ruined both her career and relationships and the reader is now left with some ridiculous forced resolution at the end.

Like they say, the sequels are never as good as the first.

On the plus side, I didn't want to put it down. But...it is one of those books where you get to the end and wonder why you wasted your time. The title of the book implies that there will be revenge. There is none to be found anywhere.

Instead we spend the entire book reading about Andy trying to decide if they should sell their magazine to Miranda for a large sum and everyone, including the the readers, shouting to do it already. I really was expecting her to sell, go in there and wreck havoc and some revenge, and then get fired, collect her $, and move on with her life. That is how it should have ended.

But no, for about 18 months we hear Andy whine about her Miranda nightmares and how working there for a year would be hell (like she wouldn't be fired in 2 days and keep her money anyways). I felt sorry for her poor husband Max. He worshipped her and although he made a stupid move in the end that wouldn't happen in real life, she cannot forgive him. She does forgive her horrible ex-boyfriend who dumped her horribly.

Ugg. This book just made me want to scream in the end.