The Devil Wears Prada

The Devil Wears Prada Book Review | Is the Book Better Than the Film?

This week on The Dad Book Club, we're reading The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger—the bestselling novel that inspired the iconic film starring Meryl Streep and Anne Hathaway. But here's the confession: I had absolutely no idea it was a book.

Often remembered as a glamorous story about the fashion industry, The Devil Wears Prada is actually a sharp workplace satire about toxic bosses, career ambition, burnout, and what happens when your job starts taking over your life. We explore the differences between the book and the film, why Miranda Priestly is even more terrifying on the page, and whether Andrea Sachs is as sympathetic as audiences remember.

We discuss the novel's portrayal of office culture, the pressures of success, work-life balance, and why so many readers—and viewers—see their own careers reflected in Andrea's journey through the world of high fashion.

Plus, we answer the big question: is The Devil Wears Prada one of those rare cases where the film is actually better than the book?

Join us as we dive into one of the most famous book-to-film adaptations ever made and discover whether this modern classic deserves its legendary reputation.

Topics covered:

• The Devil Wears Prada book review
• Book vs film comparison
• Miranda Priestly character analysis
• Workplace culture and toxic bosses
• Lauren Weisberger's bestselling novel
• Meryl Streep and the film adaptation
• Career ambition and burnout
• The Dad Book Club podcast

#TheDevilWearsPrada #BookReview #BookVsMovie #LaurenWeisberger #DadBookClub #BookPodcast #ReadingCommunity #MerylStreep #AnneHathaway #WorkplaceCulture #LiteraryPodcast #BookTok #BooksAndMovies

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hello and welcome back to Is the Book Better? The podcast where we take a film, we read the book that the film's based on, and then we ask the question, Is the book better? Because we've heard it all the time, haven't we? You watch a film, you really enjoy it, you tell a friend, and they go, Oh, it's good. The book's better though. And I challenge that. The book can't always be better, so I'm on a quest to see which ones aren't better. And so far, we've found quite a few. And is this one the same situation? If you've read the title of this podcast episode, you already know which book we're talking about. The sequel's just come out, and we are talking about The Devil Where's Prada. I'm also thinking that should this podcast be called I Didn't Know That Was a Book, because once again, I didn't know this was a book. Every few weeks I discover some film I've watched a dozen times was a novel, and I'm like, oh. Why didn't I know this? Obviously, there's some obvious ones. I didn't know Forrest Gump was a book, but I don't think many people do know Forest Gump was a book. But now I think about it, have I seen that high the stiletto with the Devil Wears Prada written on a book, or was it a DVD? Am I now forming my own memories of the time in a bid to convince myself that I'm not a dum dumb? I don't know. But either way, didn't know it was a book. I guess I wasn't the demographic, so I'm gonna let myself off for this one. So if you've never read The Devil Wears Prada, and Ono is a film where Maelstroop terrifies an entire office by raising an eyebrow. I was in the same boat. So let's find out whether the book deserved the film or whether the book is better than the film that everyone loves. I don't think I've actually met anyone who's like, the devil's Prada. Oh no, not for me. Everybody loves this film. So the book I feel had to work very hard, especially if someone watched the film and then went to read the book because they're like, oh my god, I want to consume all media attached to this. Did it live up to it? Let's find out. Oh, and once again, admin. Do you know I'm terrible at doing the admin part? If you like this podcast, please subscribe and like and comment and share. It's all great for the algorithm, um, and it helps me go on some chart somewhere, and hopefully at some day someone will say, Here's the top 100 podcasts about films, and I'll be there at number 100, or maybe on the bench. I don't know, we'll see. So if you could do that, that'd be great. If you haven't followed on whatever platform you're listening on, please do. Um you can find me on TikTok with is the no the better dad project. I've got that other thing going on, but I do all my film stuff through there as well. Um, I try to have two accounts, but each is too much. I don't know how people um have two relationships. I can barely run two TikTok accounts. So yeah, that's I think that's all the admin out of the way. And of course, there are going to be spoilers. I often say this about 25 minutes in when I forget, but today I've remembered there are going to be spoilers in this because I cannot compare a book to a film without spoiling what happens in it, really, because otherwise I'd be so vague that I could just talk vaguely about multiple books and just keep sending out the same episode with different titles. So, let's get into The Devil Where's Prada. Now, I'm gonna focus on the main person. I know, I know it's Andy, Andrea, I know she's the the protagonist. However, when you think of the iconography and when you think of the person that makes the Devil Wears Prada, the Devil Wears Prada is Meryl Streep. We know that. We know it's Meryl Streep, and when you think of most films uh that involve Meryl Streep, who makes it? Meryl Streep. So that's why it's interesting to see that the Miranda in the book is almost like supernatural compared to the Miranda in the film. The Miranda in the film, I think they were like, Meryl, you've got the chops. Or Meryl went in and she was like, Listen, I've got the chops, alright. Let's give this Miranda character a bit of vulnerability. We can't have her being this supernatural force of nature the entire time. She also has to have human moments, otherwise it's just gonna be tedious. We're not gonna be able to ever see any humanity in the villain, I guess. And let's face it, we all know the best villains are the ones you're kind of like, oh, it's got a point, they've got a point. So, of course, both the book Miranda and the film Miranda are very hard to please. It's just the film Miranda I think makes it a bit more possible. She's still very curt, the quotes of like that's all, the dismissive, like not being dramatic, just being having a presence enough that if you want a conversation done with, you can be like, that'll do, that's all, that's all there. But the book, Andy, has to really anticipate Miranda and know what Miranda wants before even Miranda does, and the job isn't more so much about competence, it's more mind reading. So that's that's where it comes out, that's where the book feels different in that and in that regard. I feel like the humanity that Merrill Street brought to the part of Miranda makes this job just a little bit less toxic than it is in the book. And then we get on to the second main event, I guess. The slightly less main event of Anne Hathaway and Andrew. See, it's Andrea in the book, but I I I prefer Andy, to be honest. Um she looks down on the fashion industry and she thinks it's superficial, she thinks it's ridiculous, she uh sees herself as a serious journalist trapped among people discussing shoes and handbags, which is the premise to every single film in which there's a journalist. Every journalist, and this not might this might not be real life, but if this many films have been made about journalists being like, I'm too good for this place, is every journalist just like that? Because that's always the way. Every journalist is always stuck writing puff pieces when they want to be doing, you know, hard-hitting, cutting-edge journalism, and they're never doing it. Because I guess not everyone can do hard-hitting journalism. There needs to be some people to do the puff pieces. I mean, I guess that's AI now. But as the story progresses, she starts caring about the things she wants marked, because let's say, in the biggest transition you see is visually in the film, uh, she goes from being uh obviously a terribly frumpy Anne Hathaway, like absolutely you can't you can hardly look at Anne Hathaway uh when she looks like that, into obviously um beautiful swan Anne Hathaway. And I guess they did that with the Princess Diaries as well. Princess Diaries, yeah, Princess Diaries. Princess Diaries. That doesn't sound right. Princess Diaries? Anyway, they do the transition thing, they have her be like a terribly ugly, um, terribly ugly uh teenager, and then she becomes a princess. And everyone's like, wow, that's mind-blowing. But they've always done that with films. She's all that. You know, they they say this girl that we're meant to be like, yeah, she's hideous. She's oh my goodness. And then they like like I don't know, take her glasses off and put her hair down, and we're like, oh my god, hubba hubba. So I guess that's kind of what happens here, but it happens more gradually. Uh, she doesn't wake up one day transformed, instead, she starts dressing differently because she realizes that that's working well with Miranda as well, preempting it, dressing differently, thinking differently, and also prioritizing work over everything else makes Miranda slightly less harsh with her. Um, however, the in the book, the reader is meant to notice the change before um Andy does. That's the thing. In the film, I think she notices it a lot sooner. She knows she's changing, she knows she's wearing these different clothes. However, we get the hints in the book beforehand, and we see that she's slowly becoming what she hated. And it's not so much about whether fashion matters this book, it's about whether success changes people. And you do see that in the film, you know, she outgrows Adrian Grenier, well, so much so that he's not even in the second one. But that's that's they're pretty they're relatively similar, I would say. Maybe Andy in the book is more annoying. She complains a lot. However, this job is a job where you would complain a lot. And the main gripe that I've seen a lot of readers have is that she judges the fashion industry while simultaneously benefiting from it. So you can't be throwing stones what from inside the house, because that's kind of what she's doing, and and I guess she's up against this Goliath in Miranda who's awful. But she's not exactly a saint either in the book. And I do feel it is one of those books where everyone is a bit irritating. Um yeah, so there's there's no one really that likable in the book, so I think that's what the film does well, is that they're like, right, listen, we've all read the book. We know that not everyone is no one, you're not really rooting for anyone, really, in this. So we need to humanise Miranda a bit, as I said in the last point, and then also make Andy a little bit less annoying and a bit more self-aware. So I think that's where the the film definitely brings better character development. And also the fashion world. The book leans in more how ridiculous fashion is. I know obviously there's some big dresses and some big there's a lot of events in the film. But the absolute stress of cocking up minute details and making a mountain out of every single molehill you encounter in your day is very much what this book focuses on. Like people panicking over coffee orders, a missing skirt ruins an entire shoe, and it's just absolute pandemonium for something that if you were to go home and talk to the significant other and be like, What a fucking day I've had. Oh, what happened? Oh well, um, we couldn't find that Mason Margella 2013 skirt or something. He's like, Alright, did you could you wear a different one? No, God could no, it couldn't possibly, you know, it's that kind of thing. And I feel a lot of us come home from work, and as we start to talk through the issues that we had to our partners, they're kind of like, Oh, oh, that sounds terrible, and they try they try and support you, but in the moment, those things seem bigger than they are, and this is the epitome of that. So if you are someone who likes to mount make a mountain out of a molehill, maybe you should be in fashion. Um, but yeah, it is all high stakes, but self-enforced high stakes. The the stakes are very, very low. Like, let's face it, you know. If a belt's coming in late from Milan, is it the end of the world? No, no. So maybe because I couldn't really buy into how high stakes everything is, that did wane on me a little bit, I would say. Now, a positive for the book though, I will say a positive, the boyfriend is a bigger deal in the book. Which I guess that's a positive for the book, but it's also a positive for the film because hey, I watched Entourage, I probably watched it too young and thought it was cool. Hate to admit it now because I've I've read the discourse on Entourage and how it's probably one of the worst things you could watch as a young boy, as a formative male. Um, but less Adrian Grinier was fine. Grenier? Adrian Grinier, I don't know. Less of him is fine. All he did was moan. So the boyfriend being a bigger deal only in the books, I guess, is actually a positive to the film. Um we spend a lot of time on her relationships in the book. Almost almost too much, if I'm honest. Her boyfriend, her friends, her family, they they do get frustrated with her obsession with work, and we do see that come to a fever pitch in the film. But it's how many times could you be told that your work life balance is off before you finally listen? And that's what it feels like. You just feel like you're shouting at Andy. Like, can you not see how terrible this workplace is? Do you wanna you wanna get out of it? Like, is this the path you want to take to become a more serious journalist? It's almost strange that he stays with her as long as he does. Um, because like at what point does your career ambition become your entire personality? And that's kind of what the boyfriend's up against. Like, she's changing. She's not who she he's not who he fell in love with, and because she's surrounding herself with work, that's who she is becoming, so he's either gotta learn to love again with her and as the different person she is, but realize that she that the person he fell in love with may just be gone, and that happens. People grow up, people change. People often say you have to get married three times, not to different people, but you get married at first. I saw it the other day, you get married at first, you travel the world together, you go do all the fun stuff. That's your first marriage that you go through, and that's fine. Then you have your second marriage, which is the um you have kids, and it's all about the focuses on them, and then you get have a little bit set aside at the end of the day for you know when the kids are asleep and you work on your marriage there and you work on your relationship there, and then the third time is when the kids are gone and you're back with your old bodies and your personalities again and who you are now without any of the veneer that you had during the first marriage of your life. Who is that person there? Are they the person that you want to be with? Are they the same person? And so you have to survive all three of those marriages. I know that's quite a I guess pessimistic. That's I think that's simultaneously pessimistic and optimistic that you have to survive them, but they are the three stages. The first one's obviously the easiest. All you're doing is kind of you can be as selfish as you want, your only priority is yourself, that's it. And it I guess it depends when you say your priorities are yourself. Are you saying that your priorities are yourself as a unit or yourself as a singular? And Andy's priorities are herself as a singular, for sure. And hey, nothing against that, but at the same time, if your priorities are you as a singular, don't drag someone along with you. Bin them off. Especially if you feel like you're dragging them, if you feel like you're dragging someone along, get rid. And she should have. It would have been a lot easier for her boyfriend in the long run. And I know breakups are hard, but yeah. You gotta do it. You're in the fashion world now, baby. Gotta cut them off if they're holding you back. And she she's annoying, but he is also whiny. However, he's much more whiny in the film. I think he's he's uh more sur I not cerebral, but he's I think he's more emotionally intelligent in the book. And in the film, he's just I don't know whether this is the uh writer, the screenplay, the writing, or what Adrian Grinier took from it, but there's just nothing going on there. And he's a good looking guy, but you immediately you're like, she can do so much better, even when she's this fronty mesh, you're like, she can do so much better than him. Even when she's disgusting. A film, I would say is what it's obviously about a toxic work environment. Simple put, it's it's about a toxic work environment. Um in regards to obviously her personal relationships failing, we wr and about work-life balance, we realise that the the villain is ambition. It is not Miranda. You know, it's obvious you you have to have a figurehead, I guess, of the of of as the villain, but it's the ambition herself. She will sacrifice everything to become successful: relationship, sleep, health, free time, dignity. All to get ahead, and Andy thinks she's above that, but before long she's rolling her sleeves up and she's getting in. She knows a million girls would kill for this job, and that becomes one of the central ideas. The job is prestigious. Everybody wants it. As much as she may not think it's prestigious because she's above it, she she knows how lucky she is to have that job. However, at what point do you go, fuck, is this worth it? Is it I'm sacrificing so much? Like, at what point do you look back and go, were those 10 years I gave to that job worth it to be where I am today? And I guess if you look at the Devil West Prada 2, maybe. And you know, you can always look back on a situation with rose-colored spectacles and be like, it was terrible at the time, but you know, it's something that formed me into a human. Footballers do it, you know, not to bring my you know man stuff into this, but footballers do the same thing, they will look back on what sounds like a terrible situation, be like, you know, well, back in the day the manager used to walk in and whoever wasn't pro uh like whoever hadn't shown up on the day, he'd just walk up to them and fucking slap them in the face. Um, and then you know, he'd he'd call their wives and tell them that we'd been out cheating, so they'd be angry so we couldn't go home, but it meant we could just train longer, and it meant we'd be all training all night, and we knew it made us better players at the end of the day, and that's the type of manager he was. You know, he's a brilliant manager like that. It's like that sounds terrible what happened there, mate. Obviously, I'm um I maybe exaggerating what they say, but whenever I hear a footballer talk about the things that managers did to spur them on, it's never it's never a speech, it's never a bit of man on man, like let's have a chat about what's going on, mate. It's always very much like I was spending too much time with my dog, so he kicked it off a cliff. But that's the type of manager he was, and that's what this feels like. It just feels like oh is she in the Devil Wars Prada 2, is she looking back at the horrendous stuff that happened with Rhodes Colour spectacles being like it's made me the woman I am today? And it's like, would you have got there anyway? Maybe, maybe. So which is better? I think the film, so this is a 14-hour audiobook. It's a it's a it's a pretty chunky audiobook, and I think the film does a solid job, if this hasn't been clear, the film does a solid job of streamlining the Devil Wears Prada into an hour and a half, does a very very good job of it because you go through all the trials and tribulations that Andy goes through without it being too drawn out, you still have the same, you're still affected in the same way. So for me, the film is better. Miranda's got more depth, Andy's more likable, the emotional arc is there, it tightens the story and it removes some of the repetitive sections, let's face it. I I was getting a little bit bored of the fashion chat, and I know it's a fashion book, and I know it's not for me, but I was getting a bit bored of it, and the and and I'm someone who's sat through the audiobook of Project Hail Mary, which I still love, and that's a lot of science chat, and I don't like science, but I was loving that science chat, but this fashion chat was getting too much for me. And what's Project Hail Mary? A 10 hour audiobook, 12 hour audiobook, and there's a lot of science in that. So the f if the fashion felt so much, so yeah, streamlining the family, strip they the streamlining's done well, they've cut the right places and added things too that make it a stronger story. So for me, the film is better, simple as. And the older I get, the less I think that the devil web product is about fashion. It's really about the moment when the career starts rewarding you for becoming someone you didn't intend to be and the sacrifices you make just to become a person that is just impressing someone else who had this job 30 years before you. That's all you're doing. And then s along comes another intern in 10 years who's gonna just try and impress you to get your job, and you're gonna put them through, hopefully not, you'll learn from the horrible stuff your boss did to you and do a lesser version of it to the next person. I guess that's how we pass that on. It's like being a parent. The terrible things your grandparents did to your parents, you hope to not pass on to your kids. But then some things where my mum's always been a stickler for manners, maybe too much of a stickler for manners. But her mum, if her so if I if I don't have the right table manners as a kid, I would be told. I wouldn't be beaten, I would be told. But if we go back one more when my mum was younger, and she if she put her elbow on the table, her mum used to poker with a fork. So we learn and we get better, and so my kids have very good table manners and they're only four and two because we're pretty solid about table manners and being polite at a table and blah blah blah blah. So you learn your own ways of doing it without being so toxic, but you still want the same outcome. Because I'm very happy with my table manners. I'm glad I don't eat like an American. No offense to any American listeners, you may eat correctly, but this whole fork in and knife cutting like that, like you're playing a cello. No, this is not how it's done. Use a knife or fork properly, please. Um, anyway, I've I've gone down a I've I've the point was at the time something happening to us is horrible, but then you see the end result and you look back at the journey that got you to the end result and you think, was the juice worth the squeeze? And for for me for this, I think Andy may have got there anyway without going through such a toxic job, toxic work environment. Were the sacrifices she made worth it? She lost a lot along the way to gain a career, so up to her if that's worth it. Would she then do it to the next person? I don't think she would. I think she would do it in her own way and she would do it in a better way. So maybe that's what she can take away from it. I've made the same point twice there. My point is that time and memory no. Memory is a is a weird thing, it's not reliable, and sometimes we can look at a bad situation and think it's made us who we are today and did it. Anyway, of God. The book that the film's better. If you if you like that podcast, I had a I've had an absolute existential crisis at the end there. If you like that podcast and you made it through that um tirade at the end, uh like and subscribe. Um this was a long audiobook. I I do like to read books, but I drive a lot, so audiobooks are the one because um I think if I start reading at the wheel, that might be bad. So that was The Devil's Prada. The film is better. Um, but if you want to read the book, by all means go at it. I just think you get the same, if not a better, result from the film. And then you've got the sequel as well. You could watch both films instead of reading the book if you really wanted to. So that is it for this week. I will see you next week where the film is going to be. Looking at my notes. Oh no, I had it written, I've literally got it teed up on my phone, ready to go listen. It is going to be the Shawshang Redemption. We're going back to Stephen King. I have to be with the crowd of everyone that thinks Stephen King's a great writer because so far, everything I've listened to of his and read of his I have not enjoyed. Life of Chuck. Hated it. Hated it. And there was one more that I've done an episode on that I've completely forgotten with Stephen King. But it was bad. Didn't enjoy that either. So it is a Short Shant Redemption. Obviously, I've seen the film. So I'm gonna go read the book, listen to the book. And I'll see you next weeks for that. Alright, see ya.