New York - January 03, 2001

Shutterbabe

“Shutterbabe” by Deborah Copaken Kogan

Sure, lots of chicks can write a book.

And plenty can snap a photograph.
(We have a special fondness for those granny types that crouch, knock their knees together, and squeal, “Wait! It’s a flash!” Oh weren’t those family holiday get-togethers fun?)

But few and far between are those who can write a book like Deborah Copaken Kogan’s Shutterbabe (Villard Books), her much-hyped work chronicling her sex-ridden adventures as a photojournalist through love and war. And we’re not talking about a riff at some bar with a guy you’ve been dating. Try a war in Afghanistan, try taking pictures, and living off Snickers, Tic Tacs, and melted fat from a cauldron.

Well-written? Yes. A breeze to read? Yup. In all, riveting. Our only bone to pick? If we have to hear about her tampon woes one more time, we may well vomit. But you keep reading … because the story rocks. And a chick with balls like hers deserves at least a few hours of your attention. From serial date rape to land mines to Romanian orphanages to Zurich needle parks … startling is the tale of a not-yet-25-year-old.

Makes you kind of feel like a peon snapping pix with your Canon Digital Elph as you lie by the pool in Miami.