Snapshot

Ryan O’Reilly
Black Oak Press (2007)
ISBN 9780979412806
Reviewed by Danielle Feliciano for Reader Views (12/07)


I was looking forward to reading “Snapshot.”  While not many people have the financial means to run away from life, most of us have dreamed about it at one point or another.  I have to say, I was disappointed in what I found in this book.

While the writing was strong overall, the author’s overuse of similes and metaphors became distracting at times.  O’Reilly’s use of description, however, was enough to make me picture exactly where he was and what his surroundings looked like.  It can be hard to bring a reader into your world without becoming overly descriptive, but O’Reilly pulled this off well.

“Snapshot” had potential of being a tale of finding oneself and of coming back to the basics of what life is really about.  Instead, I found this to be a tale of a self-indulgent narrator who can’t handle life so he escapes in the most literal sense.  Escape can be a wonderful thing but if you don’t make the most of it, you don’t learn anything.  The narrator took us on a monotonous road trip from one bar to another as he and his friend Bryan did whatever they wanted, on their terms, but never really moved forward.

O’Reilly was able to make a point with his book “Snapshot.”  He cements what society has known but is afraid to admit; it is not necessary to live your life according to someone else’s schedule.  You do not necessarily need to go to college, get a job, get married, and have a child, all in that order.  It is possible, and sometimes better, to break the mold.  That mold doesn’t work for everyone and those forced to follow rules they can’t help but break will never be happy.  Sometimes we all need to take time to rediscover ourselves, especially when what we thought we knew to be the truth is torn from us.  However, I think O’Reilly could have made his point with a bit less self-pity.  It is hard to take a trip, whether in life or in a book, with someone you don’t like.  I didn’t like the narrator of this book for most of the reading and that alone made it tough to ride along with him.

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