Staging Your Comeback

April 7, 2008
Hopkins, known as “The Makeover Guy,†explains fashion dos, don'ts and oh-no-she-didn'ts for women in the “second act†of their lives. A quiz helps the reader identify which of six “Image Profiles†suits her tastes (“Casual,†“Romantic,†“Innovative,†etc.); clothes, hair and makeup tips follow accordingly. Hopkins is encouraging and helpful: he does not simply tell women to clean their closets of any unsuitable clothes. He provides a checklist of “what you'll need,†a 10-step to-do list and a questionnaire to determine which clothes to keep and which to toss. Benefiting from this book requires a certain amount of dedication—this is no quick-fix beauty mag article. There is even a “revival guide†journal in the back where readers can mark down outfits that worked or didn't work, collect contact information on their personal “beauty team†and keep track of daily, weekly and monthly beauty tasks. Hopkins's constant self-marketing can get annoying: irrelevant photos of himself litter the pages, and he wastes space touting his fashion victories over difficult clients. But his appearances on Oprah
, the book's attention to detail and some astounding before-and-after photos attest to Hopkins's expertise.

September 30, 1991
Far from being ``liberated,'' American women in the 1980s were victims of a powerful backlash against the handful of small, hard-won victories the feminist movement had achieved, says Wall Street Journal reporter Faludi, who won a Pulitzer this year. Buttressing her argument with facts and statistics, she states that the alleged ``man shortage'' endangering women's chances of marrying (posited by a Harvard-Yale study) and the ``infertility epidemic'' said to strike professional women who postpone childbearing are largely media inventions. She finds evidence of antifeminist backlash in Hollywood movies, in TV's thirtysomething , in 1980s fashion ads featuring battered models and in the New Right's attack on women's rights. She directs withering commentary at Robert Bly's all-male workshops, Allan Bloom's ``prolonged rant'' against women and Betty Friedan and Germaine Greer's revisionism. This eloquent, brilliantly argued book should be read by everyone concerned about gender equality. First serial to Glamour and Mother Jones.

July 15, 2008
Hopkins, known as the Makeover Guy and owner of reVamp! salonspa in Minneapolis, balances encouragement and blunt honesty in this beauty guide. He stresses the importance of remaining current (not trendy) and age-appropriate, beginning with a chapter on "Expressing the Authentic You." Hopkins pays special attention to issues associated with aging, such as wrinkles, thinning and graying hair, and "Working with a Second-Act Body." Much of the advice feels old-fashioned, though in a good way. For example, he advocates foundation garments and steers readers away from showing their midriffs or too much cleavage. While Hopkins advises readers on ways to use hair care and makeup to their advantage, he doesn't shy away from cosmetic surgery. There should be demand for his guide, as it follows Charla Krupp's best-selling "How Not To Look Old". Recommended for larger public libraries or for those where beauty and fashion titles circulate widely.Meagan P. Storey, Virginia Wesleyan Coll., Norfolk

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