|
FASHION FABLES
This book was part of the flurry of reading I went through after reading Inkheart, and I said that my choices weren't that...I had a lot of expectations after watching the movie, but the book let me down.
The basic story is the same. Andrea Sachs is a recent graduate, looking for a job to build her resume, on her way to writing for the New Yorker. She lands a surprise job as assistant to Miranda Priestly, editor of the Runway magazine, and enters the fashion industry. She is regularly insulted by the fashion-snob employees at Runway for being too "fat" and ignorant about fashion. Andy is overworked by her demanding boss, and slowly starts moving away from her family, her boyfriend Alex, and her best friend and roommate Lily, as she gets sucked into her job.
What I didn't like about Andy was that she was too self-absorbed from the start. She struck me as selfish and uncaring, and her reaction when she hears of Lily's accident is downright mean (she curses Lily for being an obstacle). You might say that it's an effect of her job, but I thought otherwise. Miranda's character is not fleshed out the way it was done in the movie: she did not seem as impressive as Meryl Streep portrayed her to be. The ending was also a little abrupt for me. But the book gives a good picture of the snobbery in the fashion industry, the grime behind the gloss- the long hours, the starvation syndrome, the size-zero mania. But if I had a choice between the book and the movie, I would recommend the movie as I think it is more tightly scripted than the book.
Have you read the book? What did you think about it? How did it compare with the movie?
If you like this post, you can receive free updates by Subscribing to my RSS Feed or by signing up for Email Updates
It's rare that a movie surpasses the book it's based on, but it does happen sometimes! I've seen the movie, and while it was entertaining, I wasn't crazy about it or anything. Between that and your review, I think I'll give this a miss.
You're so right. This is the first time I can remember saying "Give me the movie any day"!!
I haven't seen the movie, but about 1/2way through the book I was so irritated with the main character that I quit.
Thanks for the review. I've seen the movie, but I've never read the book. I'm on the fence about reading it because I don't like to read the book after watching the movie.
I read this book and didn't think it was that great, so I avoided the movie. After your review, I plan to get a copy of the movie to watch. Thanks!