BOOK: REVENGE WEARS PRADA BY LAUREN WEISBERGER

***THIS REVIEW DOES INCLUDE SOME SPOILERS*** I adore Lauren Weisberger as an author. I find her characters witty, engaging and relatable. Her novels are easy to read but contain intricacies too. It's chick-lit for the modern woman with modern concerns, all laced together with a touch of glamour that most of us will never experience in our daily lives. The Devil Wears Prada was a stunning debut; the film rights were optioned quickly and the multi-million dollar movie instantly gained popularity. Everyone Worth Knowing was cut from the same cloth, even though it was a slightly less assured narrative than Prada because it wasn't a topic that Weisberger was comfortable with (Weisberger was once one of the assistants of the infamously hard to please Anna Wintour and therefore fashion is more her forte). It was still a fun read though and a great follow up. Chasing Harry Winston was alright - it wasn't my cup of tea personally as I found it far too 'Sex and The City' and not true to Weisberger's usual style. I thought it was a little contrived. Last Night At Chateau Marmont bought Weisberger back to the kind of plot and characters that I know and like.  True, there was a touch more celebrity about this novel than the others - the delve into the Hollywood lifestyle was a stretch for the imagination but the emotions the characters went through were so strongly played out that it really was a page turner. Now the much anticipated sequel to The Devil Wears Prada comes in the form of Revenge Wears Prada, which I rushed out to buy the moment I knew it was available in the UK. I had high hopes - I fell in love with Andy, the slightly dowdy but quick-sharp second assistant to Miranda Priestly, in Prada but my image of her is now somewhat distorted by the Anne Hathaway portrayal. I expected great things from this latest novel. I feel that I set my expectations too high. The narrative is very much the same as the previous novels. It's easy to read and the pages turn easily. The plot is really quite linear, except for a few flashbacks and references to the original Prada, but Andy is no longer the Andy that we know and love; she has her own magazine and is about to get married to a love that she has doubts about and she's angst ridden and really very annoying. I couldn't stand her throughout this book. I wanted the smart and sassy Andy and all I was given was a character that was locked inside her own head. The biggest surprise was her new found friendship with the venomous Emily which is, to be honest, unbelievable. It seemed bizarre and uncomfortable. Especially when you consider that Emily is vindictive and cruel - the opposite of Andy is almost every respect. The love interests are less than thrilling. Andy's husband Max is merely a sideline detail and it felt as though he was really unnecessary. Apart from helping to paint Andy's life as being family orientated he really is weak and slightly irritating. Alex also makes an appearance (if you've only watched the film then this is 'Nate') and to be honest, his arrival back into Andy's life just feels like a rehashing of old story lines to liven things up. For chapters and chapters it churns on and on, the sideline story being that Andy still has feelings for him and that she unknowingly befriends his new girlfriend that admits to cheating on him, but it doesn't actually go anywhere constructive until the very end of the book where it's alluded to that Alex and Andy might get back together. It's just not exciting when it's that predictable. And as for Miranda Priestly? I'm not even entirely sure why this book is called Revenge Wears Prada. The general gist is that Priestly now holds a higher position in the Elias-Clark publishing cooperation and has a say in acquiring different titles. She aims to get hold of Andy and Emily's magazine and eventually does because Emily goes behind Andy's back and sells their magazine. Priestly's appearances though are very infrequent, barely noticeable to begin with, and whilst they're 'important' she doesn't have as much of an influence as she did have in the original Prada. There isn't the sense of maliciousness or vehement hate from her that radiated off the pages in the first book. She seems weaker and comes across as less of a threat than Weisberger tries to build her up to be. In conclusion, the initial first chapters are fairly interesting, they reel you in and make you want to read more but the middle is eeked out and the ending is rushed. I felt like all I was reading was drivel and I was bitterly disappointed. Whilst I'm not an author myself I have read enough novels to know when something hasn't been given much thought and it feels like Weisberger is simply throwing something out hastily for the sake of it. Reading Revenge Wears Prada doesn't inspire me, it doesn't make me feel any other emotion than boredom and it certainly isn't a book I would or could recommend. Perhaps sometimes it's best to leave out sequels entirely and in this instance I feel that is certainly the case. Have you read this book? What did you think about it?