This book is a fast-paced, easy read; alternating between hysterically funny observations about the differences in the way men and women approach life and poignant, sometimes raw, recollections of personal experiences and revelations.

There has been some noise that this is a "Woman's book". Nope, I don't think so. I wouldn't classify this as Chick-Lit either. I think that's too narrow. Nor is it a feminist, male-bashing manifesto. It's more like a general field guide to relationships in the wild. [a:Rachel|488162|Rachel Thompson|http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto/nophoto-U-50x66.jpg]'s kinda like a red-headed, Marlin Perkins.

There is no presumption of gender superiority here. Her razor sharp wit dissects the communication blockage between males and females and surprise! We are both to blame! Or not, because blame is so negative ... I digress.

As a guy, I laughed so hard I cried. There were times when the observations stung a bit ("Manesia" for example), but if you're honest with yourself, you have to see the humor. The interactions are, for the most part, spot on (more on that later).

But, fair warning; if you haven't a sense of humor regarding the foibles of your gender, don't read [b:A Walk in the Snark|10320499|A Walk in the Snark|Rachel Thompson|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1300917354s/10320499.jpg|15222873]. It'll just piss you off.

I don't want to give anything away but (I'm going to), if you can buy into the concept that men speak directly to a point and women speak in circles because it's an intellectual manifestation of physical characteristics, then this book is for you!

Now for the part that's not quite spot on; I'm not sure I fully agree with the assertion that men are from Seinfeld and women are from Friends. I think it more likely that men are from Monday Night Football. That's why we have to have the remote and can't pick up paper towels. "Flag on the play!...."

In any event, I highly recommend it for anyone who has ever had a relationship. Or is thinking about one. Or thinks that relationships are wonderful. Or stupid. Well, pretty much everybody.

In the interests of full disclosure, I couldn't tell you exactly when or where I stumbled upon Rachel, but I believe that Twitter was involved. I'm not sure if it was at fault, but it certainly is to blame.

;P ( )

This lady is tooo freakin funny.. ( )

This book is a fast-paced, easy read; alternating between hysterically funny observations about the differences in the way men and women approach life and poignant, sometimes raw, recollections of personal experiences and revelations.

There has been some noise that this is a "Woman's book". Nope, I don't think so. I wouldn't classify this as Chick-Lit either. I think that's too narrow. Nor is it a feminist, male-bashing manifesto. It's more like a general field guide to relationships in the wild. [a:Rachel|488162|Rachel Thompson|http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto/nophoto-U-50x66.jpg]'s kinda like a red-headed, Marlin Perkins.

There is no presumption of gender superiority here. Her razor sharp wit dissects the communication blockage between males and females and surprise! We are both to blame! Or not, because blame is so negative ... I digress.

As a guy, I laughed so hard I cried. There were times when the observations stung a bit ("Manesia" for example), but if you're honest with yourself, you have to see the humor. The interactions are, for the most part, spot on (more on that later).

But, fair warning; if you haven't a sense of humor regarding the foibles of your gender, don't read [b:A Walk in the Snark|10320499|A Walk in the Snark|Rachel Thompson|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1300917354s/10320499.jpg|15222873]. It'll just piss you off.

I don't want to give anything away but (I'm going to), if you can buy into the concept that men speak directly to a point and women speak in circles because it's an intellectual manifestation of physical characteristics, then this book is for you!

Now for the part that's not quite spot on; I'm not sure I fully agree with the assertion that men are from Seinfeld and women are from Friends. I think it more likely that men are from Monday Night Football. That's why we have to have the remote and can't pick up paper towels. "Flag on the play!...."

In any event, I highly recommend it for anyone who has ever had a relationship. Or is thinking about one. Or thinks that relationships are wonderful. Or stupid. Well, pretty much everybody.

In the interests of full disclosure, I couldn't tell you exactly when or where I stumbled upon Rachel, but I believe that Twitter was involved. I'm not sure if it was at fault, but it certainly is to blame.

;P ( )

I'm going to bail on this. Obviously I'm not the target audience. The parts where she talks about her old boyfriend "D" who committed suicide are interesting because those are the moments that seem genuine. The rest is just a bunch of painfully unfunny cliches that were dated before I was born, as penned by a nearly 50-year-old wanna-be Diablo Cody. Honestly, women who whine about men like this ought to just get a divorce and find someone perfect or STFU. ( )

Blogger Rachel Thompson offers advice for turning a blog into a book. To determine whether it would have a market, she suggests asking “Have you experienced something that few others have? “It really doesn’t matter [what it is] as long as your experience is so far afield from everyday life so that people can escape into your book for a little while.” Or “You write about fairly ordinary topics, yet have a unique spin on them.”
A WALK IN THE SNARK, a collection of essays originally posted on her blog is in the latter category. Some of her observations are on the mark. I couldn’t identify with others. She provides humorous insight into relations and differences between men and women dealing with their daily lives, children, children, and work. I think every reader will find something which will make them say, “Tell me about it. Been there. Done that.”
An important section deals with being in an abusive relationship but being blind to it, despite warnings from others, because she was in love. Later on she refers to two broken arms I don’t know whether they were hers or her daughters because she doesn’t offer an explanation.
She points out the differences in the way men and women perceive things. “Women think tender is something their men should be; men think tender is something their steak should be.”
Among the differences are food, temperature, the television remote control (“They turn it up simply because they can.”), and men interrupting and changing the subject because the woman stops to take a breath.
Some of the essays present neither her nor her spouse in a positive light: She thinks it’s cute when her five-year-old daughter memorizes the words to Bohemian Rhapsody and sings about how she killed a man. (Why should the child have even heard the song let alone hear it often enough to memorize it?) She writes about arguments and drinking vodka while trying to convince her husband take their young son for a walk in the park. His excuse for not doing it? He has to take the dog for a walk. She’s highly into designer labels and gets upset because her husband throws the paper towels he uses to wash his hands on the floor instead of into the wastepaper basket. She doesn’t seem to care about ecology and using (and reusing) cloth towels instead of wasteful paper.
I think this book provided me with enough information about her writing that I won’t be reading any more of them.
This book was a free Amazon download. ( )