Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published Apr 2013
224 pages
Genre: Literary Fiction
Publication Information
A great, hilarious new voice in fiction: the poignant, all-too-human recollections of an affable bird researcher in the Indiana backwater as he goes through a disastrous yet heartening love affair with the place and its people.
Nathan Lochmueller studies birds, earning just enough money to live on. He drives a glitter-festooned truck, the Gypsy Moth, and he is in love with Lola, a woman so free-spirited and mysterious she can break a man's heart with a sigh or a shrug. Around them swirls a remarkable cast of characters: the proprietor of Fast Eddie's Burgers & Beer, the genius behind "Thong Thursdays"; Uncle Dart, a Texan who brings his swagger to Indiana with profound and nearly devastating results; a snapping turtle with a taste for thumbs; a German shepherd who howls backup vocals; and the very charismatic state of Indiana itself. And at the center of it all is Nathan, creeping through the forest to observe the birds he loves and coming to terms with the accidental turns his life has taken.
"Snapper is well-written in a technical sense, and a worthy debut but there were times when I found the coming of age theme overstated and somewhat pedantic, and the humor to be both trite and grating. I expect good things from this author in the future once he has fine-tuned his writing sensibility." - Heather Phillips, BookBrowse
"[A] catchy, well-written debut novel.... [An] accomplished, ironic Midwest coming-of-age tale." - Publishers Weekly
"Starred Review. Kimberling writes gracefully about absurdity, showing a rich feeling for the whole range of human tragicomedy. A delightful debut." - Booklist
"Sharp dialog (well, maybe not from the turtle), also to be expected from a playwright; a big promotional push." - Library Journal
"A well-turned debut that airdrops its characters into an appealingly offbeat milieu." - Kirkus
This information about Snapper was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Brian Kimberling grew up in southern Indiana and spent two years working as a professional birdwatcher before living in the Czech Republic, Turkey, Mexico, and now England. He received an MA in creative writing from Bath Spa University in 2010.
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