Snap by Susin Neilsen

 

Snap / Susin Nielsen
TO: HarperCollins, c2025.
336 p.

I've been finding it hard to read lately, my concentration is off for many reasons. But I picked up this new book at the library and it "snapped" me out of my reading slump! I've read Susin Nielsen's YA books and enjoyed her style - this is her first adult novel, and it made me laugh and cringe at the same time. Great read, quick moving, engaging, and with some uplift in the end. 

It gives us the stories of three characters who become unlikely friends after meeting in an Anger Management class. The publisher's synopsis introduces them best: 

Frances Partridge, fifty-five, is a beloved children’s author. Geraint Blevins, forty-one, is an auto mechanic and devoted family man. Parker Poplawski, twenty-three, is just starting her career as a wardrobe assistant on a hit TV show. What do these people have in common?

Well, what they have in common is that they each reached a point where they snapped, and did something very unlike their usual selves, enough to put them into a court diversion program, and the Anger Management class previously mentioned. The book explores what led to each of them snapping, and why their lives got so complicated. And it acknowledges that we don't know what is behind a "viral moment" like poor Frances' recorded meltdown at a school visit. 

I thought that Frances' story was the most fleshed out here, though Geraint's is pretty thorough as well. Parker's is a little weaker, but it's hard to have three full storylines going. Still, their unlikely and ultimately charming friendship lifts the book beyond any one person, and I enjoyed it so much. I read it all of one weekend, and found it very funny in parts, while still dealing with serious topics and emotional distress in each of their lives. I loved the side characters, too, and thought they added in many extra touches that grounded the book. While the end might be a touch unrealistic (everyone gets their 'revenge', or at least a sense of justice) it was awfully satisfying. I'd classify this as "Uplit", a book that while delving into unhappiness, turns out right in the end, in a way that leaves the reader feeling positive. I really loved it!