Snapped

By Pamela Klaffke

Book Overview

Sara B. is losing her cool. Not just in the momentary-meltdown kind of way--though there's that, too. At the helm of must-read Snap magazine, veteran style guru Sara B. has had the job--and joy--for... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0778327469
• ISBN13: 9780778327462
• Release Date: December 2009
• Publisher: MIRA
• Length: 248 Pages
• Weight: 0.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.0" x 0.7" x 5.1"

Customer Reviews

Oh Snap

I'm surprised I liked this as much as I did because I'm definitely not in the book's target audience. For one thing, I'm a guy. For another I don't know anything about fashion. I've never seen an episode of "Sex and the City" or "Ugly Better" or "America's Next Top Model" or "Project Runway." I never watched "The Devil Wears Prada." I did read one "chick lit" book solely on a whim because it was super cheap and I was bored. But I did really enjoy this book because it's so funny. The story centers around Sara B., a cofounder and photographer for "Snap" magazine. Sara's main contribution is to take pictures of people who are then labeled as "DOs" or "DON'Ts." She's been doing this for almost twenty years to the point that she's now 39 and most of her subjects are far younger than her. Despite the success of the magazine, Sara feels generally unfulfilled. She's never married or had children like her friends or really even had a serious relationship. She drinks and smokes almost constantly, often to the point of excess. And when she takes the picture of a young woman with a parrot on her shoulder whom she calls "Parrot Girl" she realizes her passion for the job is waning. Not long after this, she meets a perky young woman named Eva, whom Sara makes her assistant and takes under her wing. Except of course Eva is a backstabbing phony out to usurp Sara's job--not that she really cares. The story is narrated by Sara and full of hilarious asides and fantasies, many of which are darkly comic like a game show where only the fastest shoppers survive while those who use coupons and write checks are shot. A lot of her asides are also self-deprecating about her enlarging rear or sagging breasts or flabby stomach. I think what I enjoyed the most is that while Sara goes through changes, she never really changes entirely. There's not that "A Christmas Carol" moment where she decides to change her ways and be "good" forever. Nor does she decide that to be happy she needs to settle down in the suburbs like her friends and have kids. In other words, she never sells out herself. The story doesn't contain many surprises, but it's enjoyable guilty pleasure reading--even for dudes. That is all.

For Those Who Love Saracasm!

If you aren't a fan of sarcasm, well, this book may not be for you. I loved the tone of this book. The writing is very simple, funny and direct. It's a great quick read. There are many fashion references, because the main character runs the D0s/Don'ts section of a magazine. The inner dialog of this character is hilarious and felt very real. I could easily identify with her and found myself laughing out loud at some of her observations. I wasn't sure what to expect from this book, but I was very impressed with it!!

An "It Girl" approaches 40 & loses it

Snapped is the first-person account of Sara B., a cool, with-it fashionista who slams up against her 40th birthday with an epic mid-life crisis. Sara is co-founder of the super cool magazine Snap, and has reveled in her role as fashion arbiter creating a Dos and Don'ts photograph spread. Not only is Sara B. invited to the most popular restaurants, parties, and bars, but also her mere presence adds coolness to a venue. As Sara B., approaches her 40th birthday, she fears she is losing her magic touch, and starts to hesitate when deciding who is a Do or a Don't. She is becoming frustrated at work, where her partner has taken on most of the "grown up" business activities, and is disconnected from her best friend, who has moved to the suburbs and had a baby. When Sara B. meets Eva, a young hanger-on with a case of heroine worship, Sara quickly hires Eva as an assistant, enabling Sara to sink even deeper into her private agony of self-doubt, drinking, and bad behavior. As the story unfolds, Sara finds that people are both better and worse than perhaps she assumed, that you shouldn't always define others by their choice in clothing, and that her camera is a mechanism to distance herself from other people. Over time, Sara remakes herself and her life into something that both deeply connected to what she has been, but better. I found the approach of an "It girl" or cool kid losing it as she approaches forty unique and refreshing. Sara B. is not always a mature or likable character, but her own self-loathing preempts any irritation I might have felt as a reader. There are just a (very) few uneven moments in the story, but overall it is an honest, cooler, no holding back, more mature perspective on the type of character sometimes lionized in the chick-lit genre. I would recommend Snapped to anyone who enjoys stories about self-discovery, reflection, re-invention, and "Bridget Jones" type novels.

Sara B. can help you escape your life for a little while!

I fell in love with Sara B. I lost myself in this book, it is a great story about a woman who could be any one of us who gets caught up in life. Sara B. is a photographer and business woman who snaps photot's of folks on the streets for her magazine SNAP - for her Do's & Don'ts section. She drinks to much, and is always looking for something else to lose herself in. She gets caught up in her lifestyle, the pictures and her feelings that she is judging and being "mean" when she picks someone as a Don't - especially when she meets them again later on! A fun story about how Sara B. lifts herself from her position and finds a new passion in a dead womans clothes, magazines and friend. If you love glamour, parties, and fashion you will love this book.

superb sarcastic tale

Fifteen years ago Sara B and Ted founded Snap with no money to truly launch the magazine. However, with its Dos and Don'ts, the magazine has become one of Canada's most popular weekly. In fact if imitation is the ultimate flattery, than Snap is the top gun. However, as Sara B closes in on her fortieth birthday, she has lost some of her edge; even she knows she is on cruise control professional and personally. Her affair with younger Jack is okay but not any euphoric incredible. Even her renowned page Dos and Don'ts has lost its luster at least in her mind. Sara B especially feels her age since she hired energetic youthful Eva, who represents what Sara B was before she realized the new forty is still forty. This is a superb sarcastic saga of a woman not coming to grips with middle age hammering at her when she compares herself today with Eva and with herself at Eva's age. Time has moved on and she fears passed her by when she was not looking beyond the next Don'ts. Fans who relish a dark jocular acerbic tale will appreciate this strong tale as Sara B realizes she has gone from a Do to a Don't. Harriet Klausner