The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger

Whilst the basic premise of the book is the same as that of the book, that is where they diverge and I have to say the film is far better than the book.  If for no other reason than the three given below:

1. Nigel in the film is an amalgamation of 2 or 3characters in the book - none of whom really have much page time.  This means that there is no natural sympathiser for Andy to turn to in the office.

2. Andrea herself is actually pretty much unlikeable in the book,she has none of the charisma of her screen counter part.  This was my biggest issue with the book to be honest - the main character is just so self-absorbed and just lives to have her own pity party, it drove me batty

3. In the film we do see a touch of humanity to Ms Priestly - well, towards the end we do.  In the novel this is completely missing and she is painted as completely vindictive and self-centred with no redeeming qualities whatsoever.

The plot is more or less the same as that in the film so you do know what is going to happen overall.  There are some significant tweaks though, particularly with Andy's living arrangements and relationships.  Unusually the screenwriter has taken a rather unprepossessing novel with a great idea and turned it into broadcast gold.

I found the writing to be rather stilted and there was an awful lot of covering old ground; there are only so many ways you can describe going for coffee or answering the phone.  It does feel like a one-idea book and that nothing that is put on the page should deviate from that so it does become, actually, quite boring in several places.  There are some good moments but these come early on when Andy is fully subsumed by Runway magazine and still has at least half a brain and a sense of basic human dignity.

Basically if you haven't seen the film you will probably enjoy this book a lot more.  If you have then probably best to steer clear as it will disappoint.