cover image Snapped

Snapped

Pamela Klaffke, . . Mira, $13.95 (256pp) ISBN 978-0-7783-2746-2

Former journalist Klaffke's debut is a delicious guilty pleasure full of hilarious, irreverent moments in the declining career of a glossy mag gal. Sixteen years after founding the snarky Snap magazine on a shoestring budget, editor Sara B. has grown the scrappy zine into one of Canada's biggest weekly glossies, spawning three boutiques, a “Trend Mecca Boot Camp Weekend” and a slew of imitators. Though Sara enjoys her role as arbiter of good taste—the mag's most popular feature is her Dos and Don'ts page—she's overwhelmed by the magazine's success and having suspicions that she may be a narcissistic jerk. Furthermore, at 39, she's beginning to question the validity of a career that involves making fun of people for a living, and she's even having trouble telling the Dos from the Don'ts—a fact hammered home by her stylish young assistant. Although Sara's runaway imagination takes a few turns for the disturbing and she lucks into too many fortunate turns, her character arc and eventual shot at redemption make for absorbing reading. A dark, comic absurdity peppers every page of this sarcastic romp. (Jan.)