Premium Members Get 10% Off and Earn Rewards Find Out More

Snapper

Add to Wishlist

Snapper

Paperback

$17.00

View All Available Formats & Editions

Paperback
$17.00

View All Available Formats & Editions

SHIP THIS ITEM

Qualifies for Free Shipping
PICK UP IN STORE
Check Availability at Nearby Stores

Available within 2 business hours

Want it Today?
Check Store Availability

Related collections and offers

Overview

**NPR's Best Books of the Year 2013**

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780345803368
Publisher:	Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Publication date:	03/11/2014
Series:	Vintage Contemporaries
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	5.10(w) x 7.90(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

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.

Read an Excerpt

Some Old Horses
(Continues…)

Excerpted from "Snapper"
by .
Copyright © 2014 Brian Kimberling.
Excerpted by permission of Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“Brian Kimberling’s debut novel, Snapper, captures the high lonesome beauty of a songbird’s canorous call. Nathan Lochmueller, an amateur ornithologist and future falconer, adventures through the Indiana wilds heartsick with Yeatsian love but full of good humor and stumbling grace. As Nathan searches for starlings, he teaches us all to care more deeply about the wonders and dangers of the natural world. Snapper is a brilliant field study, a soulful guide to the humble glories and enduring legacies of the Great Midwest. Brian Kimberling is a writer of serious wit and wisdom.”
—Amber Dermont, author of The Starboard Sea and Damage Control

“Brian Kimberling is an amazingly talented and wise writer. Snapper is filled with sly humor and uncommon grace and some of the most memorable characters to appear in fiction in recent years.”
—Donald Ray Pollock, author of The Devil All the Time

“[A] catchy, well-written debut novel. . . . [An] accomplished, ironic Midwest coming-of-age tale.”
—Publishers Weekly

“In those awkward, drifting, post-college years, when many young men find themselves working behind a counter, Nathan Lochmueller learns he has a gift for tracking songbirds. . . . Told with precise and memorable prose in beautifully rendered, time-shifted vignettes, Snapper richly evokes the emotions of coming to adulthood. Nathan’s fascination with the physical world and with living an authentic and meaningful life, his disdain for jingoistic environmentalism, and his struggle to find balance between the cloistered liberalism of college towns and the conservatism of small towns are thoughtfully explored. All this and it’s funny, too. . . . Kimberling writes gracefully about absurdity, showing a rich feeling for the whole range of human tragicomedy. A delightful debut.”
—Booklist, starred review

Reading Group Guide

The questions contained in this guide are designed to enhance your reading group’s discussion of Snapper. Explore debut author Brian Kimberling’s series of vignettes told about birding, Hoosiers, and love.

1. The book opens with “I got my job by accident.” How does this set the tone of the book? Does it describe the path of Nathan’s life? How does this idea apply to the secondary characters in the book?

2. Snapper revolves around birdwatching. What part do animals play in the book? How do animals help to move the story and define the characters? In what way are they characters themselves?

3. Several of the stories feature Lola. Is Nathan’s infatuation with Lola affected by her unavailability? Does Nathan love Lola? How do Nathan’s other relationships compare to his with Lola?

4. How does Nathan treat his relationships? Does he have trouble committing to anything? To anyone? Is he better on his own or with someone?

5. Does the book portray men and women with mutual respect? Does one gender have more control or power than the other or are they equal?

6. Kimberling references Peter Taylor, a loyal Tennessee native, and Nathan is clearly from Indiana. How much are the main characters defined by their home states? If Dart and Loretta represent Texas, then how do they differ from the characters from Indiana? Is it significant that Nathan’s mother is from Texas and his father is from Indiana?

7. The author also references to Katherine Anne Porter, whose writing deals with topics like justice, betrayal, and the unforgiving nature of humans. How are these topics handled in the story?

8. Uncle Dart squares off with the Klan yet displays his own prejudices. Is this solely to bother Nathan? At what point is a joke to be taken seriously? Or is it simply wrong to joke about certain topics? Where do you believe the boundaries are?

9. Nathan claims to “wax wroth with Darcy” yet seldom speaks with anger or indignity. Does he believe he has stronger convictions than he shows? Does he take an active or passive approach? How does his taste in literature match his ideals and represent his values?

10. This book deals with tolerance on many different levels and on many topics. How much can be overlooked? Lola does not hide the fact that she has multiple lovers. How forgiving are we due to love, or lust? Dart and Loretta return to Texas. How much can we be expected to accept from our family?

11. Nathan parts ways with John at the end of chapter IV. Why do long friendships end or fail to be rekindled? Darren is obviously not an ideal roommate, but is allowed to stay until he hurts Nathan. When does the line get crossed with friends?

12. What can be taken from Nathan’s encounter with Maud and Ernie? Why were they offended? They welcome all to their diner. Are they choosing to turn a blind eye unless forced to do otherwise?

13. Nathan has encounters with veterans. Once in the woods, and another in the vet center. Compare the two encounters with each other and with Nathan's experience in Outward Bound. How do these three experiences complement each other? How do they differ?

14. Have you tried, à la Ernest Hemingway, to write a story in six words? How long does a story need to be? Is this a story collection or a novel? What is the difference? How important is a plotline in telling a story? Is it more satisfying to have one or more enjoyable to be free of the bounds of the structure?

15. Lola has clearly changed in Nathan’s eyes later in the story. How has Lola changed? How has Nathan changed? Do they have the same values now as in their youth?

16. Nathan compares headlights and traffic lights to his patch of woods. He laments, “Oh, people. My people” (page 210). Would Nathan and Shane as young men stop to pick up an older Nathan waving his arms in the middle of the road?

17. How do these stories follow the tradition of American folk tales? How do they not?

18. The last chapter is titled “Elegy.” To whom or what does this refer?

19. Why is the book entitled Snapper?

From the B&N Reads Blog

Page 1 of

Editorial Reviews

NPR's Best Books of the Year 2013
ELLE'S LETTRES READERS' PRIZE 2013
O, the Oprah Magazine: 10 Titles to Pick Up Now
Vogue: “Strongest Debut Fictions of the Spring”
Vanity Fair: “Hot Type”

“Reading Brian Kimberling’s debut novel, Snapper, is a fascinating and disorienting experience. The protagonist is Nathan Lochmueller, a southern Indiana native, who makes a meager living observing the effect of climate change on the region’s songbirds. The single square mile of woods that composes his domain is really a metaphor for the region as a whole, and Lochmueller moves through it with a mixture of familiarity and bewilderment. . . . Like Indiana’s leaves, the colors of Kimberling’s book are vivid, often startling.” —The Washington Post

“Poignant as well as thought-provoking—a delightful departure from the ordinary. . . . It’s quite a feat, to keep readers reading on the strength of laughter. Kimberling . . . turns the trick effortlessly.” —The Seattle Times

“Mr. Kimberling grew up in the Hoosier state, and the book captures the place with wry humor, affection for its woodlands and exasperation with its provincialism.” —The New York Times

“Excellent debut novel . . . a delightful, wry story of a young ornithologist romping around the Indiana backcountry in a glitter-encrusted truck called the Gypsy Moth. There’s no doubting Kimberling’s own expertise in (or obsession with) birding after reading either the book.” —Flavorwire

“Funny+adroit fiction.” —Margaret Atwood, via Twitter

“Brian Kimberling’s Snapper is a phenomenal book, quietly profound and as entertaining as any book I’ve read in the past five years. . . . Kimberling articulates, better than anyone I’ve read, the sorrow that arises from trying to find the magic of one’s youth with the original ingredients.” —Weston Cutter, Minneapolis Star Tribune

“This kind of small-town adolescence is uniquely American, and it’s a lifestyle that’s rapidly vanishing. Brian Kimberling perfectly captures this experience in his debut novel, Snapper. . . . Kimberling writes about all of this in a voice part John Audubon, part Holden Caulfield but uniquely his own. The book’s pace is leisurely, the mood is sometimes melancholy, and readers will finish the final page feeling thoroughly satisfied.” —CNN.com

“[A] hilarious debut novel.” —O, the Oprah Magazine: 10 Titles to Pick Up Now

“Brian Kimberling's debut novel, Snapper, is a lovely, loose-limbed collection of stories about an aimless ornithologist.” —NPR.org, First Reads

“Brian Kimberling’s debut novel, Snapper, captures the high lonesome beauty of a songbird’s canorous call. Nathan Lochmueller, an amateur ornithologist and future falconer, adventures through the Indiana wilds heartsick with Yeatsian love but full of good humor and stumbling grace. As Nathan searches for starlings, he teaches us all to care more deeply about the wonders and dangers of the natural world. Snapper is a brilliant field study, a soulful guide to the humble glories and enduring legacies of the Great Midwest. Brian Kimberling is a writer of serious wit and wisdom.” —Amber Dermont, author of The Starboard Sea and Damage Control

“Brian Kimberling is an amazingly talented and wise writer. Snapper is filled with sly humor and uncommon grace and some of the most memorable characters to appear in fiction in recent years.” —Donald Ray Pollock, author of The Devil All the Time

“[A] catchy, well-written debut novel. . . . [An] accomplished, ironic Midwest coming-of-age tale.” —Publishers Weekly

“In those awkward, drifting, post-college years, when many young men find themselves working behind a counter, Nathan Lochmueller learns he has a gift for tracking songbirds. . . . Told with precise and memorable prose in beautifully rendered, time-shifted vignettes, Snapper richly evokes the emotions of coming to adulthood. Nathan’s fascination with the physical world and with living an authentic and meaningful life, his disdain for jingoistic environmentalism, and his struggle to find balance between the cloistered liberalism of college towns and the conservatism of small towns are thoughtfully explored. All this and it’s funny, too. . . . Kimberling writes gracefully about absurdity, showing a rich feeling for the whole range of human tragicomedy. A delightful debut.” —Booklist, starred review

From the Publisher

Reading Brian Kimberling's debut novel, Snapper, is a fascinating and disorienting experience…Like Indiana's leaves, the colors of Kimberling's book are vivid, often startling, and so myriad that it's sometimes difficult to focus on all of them…[Nathan] Lochmueller is a wanderer at heart, and his tales of southern Indiana flit from event to event and character to character like the songbirds he studies.

The Washington Post - Jennifer Miller

Kimberling, formerly a professional birdwatcher, grew up in southern Indiana, the setting of his catchy, well-written debut novel. Nathan Lochmueller, a recent philosophy graduate, takes a low-paying job as a songbird researcher at his alma mater, Indiana University, during the mid-1990s. He spends all his time tramping through the forest, where he gives songbirds pet names and encounters eccentrics like a Vietnam veteran scrounging for morel mushrooms. When he’s not bird-watching, Nathan maintains a puzzling “complicated” friendship with the “lovely” Lola who refuses to marry him until it’s too late. The immature, often humorous Nathan and his equally clueless best friend Shane try smoking dried banana peels, and drunken Nathan gets arrested for destroying parking meters with a different friend. His uncouth brother, Darren, also a college graduate, is assaulted by his knife-wielding coke fiend roommate and recuperates at Nathan’s digs. They quarrel over Darren’s dope dealing; he attacks Nathan; and the resulting ear damage ends Nathan’s songbird researcher career. Nathan, past 30 and still aimless, pins his hopes on a lead to work at a Vermont raptor hospital, but his love-hate relationship with Indiana makes it difficult to move away in Kimberling’s accomplished, ironic Midwest coming-of-age tale. Agent: Will Francis, Janklow & Nesbit. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

When a publicist says that a book is punch-in-the-gut-affecting and she wants to scream it from the rooftops, I sit up and listen. Now I'm sold on this debut. The topic might seem improbable—Nathan Lochmueller is a bird researcher in southern Indiana—but (as might be expected of playwright Kimberling) the characters immediately attract: there's seductive Lola, a Fast Eddie Burgers proprietor (he thought up "Thong Thursdays"), vainglorious Uncle Dart, a German Shepherd that howls/growls backup, and a snapping turtle. Sharp dialog (well, maybe not from the turtle), also to be expected from a playwright; a big promotional push.

Library Journal

Brian Kimberling’s debut novel is a quirky love song to the state of Indiana, with some interesting bird facts thrown in. Even as he shines a light on the state’s most cliched characteristics, his affection for the Hoosier State makes Indiana the star of the book. MacLeod Andrews is the voice of Nathan Lochmueller as he reminisces about his adventures as a professional bird tracker and observer of the idiosyncrasies of his home state and its people. Andrews handles the cast of unique characters with humor and an obvious appreciation for their eccentricities. Those who are looking for a complex, character-driven story will be disappointed, but those who enjoy observations of flawed people delivered with humor and affection will find this their cup of tea. N.E.M. © AudioFile 2013, Portland, Maine

JULY 2013 - AudioFile

Brian Kimberling’s debut novel is a quirky love song to the state of Indiana, with some interesting bird facts thrown in. Even as he shines a light on the state’s most cliched characteristics, his affection for the Hoosier State makes Indiana the star of the book. MacLeod Andrews is the voice of Nathan Lochmueller as he reminisces about his adventures as a professional bird tracker and observer of the idiosyncrasies of his home state and its people. Andrews handles the cast of unique characters with humor and an obvious appreciation for their eccentricities. Those who are looking for a complex, character-driven story will be disappointed, but those who enjoy observations of flawed people delivered with humor and affection will find this their cup of tea. N.E.M. © AudioFile 2013, Portland, Maine

JULY 2013 - AudioFile

A sad-sack ornithologist navigates the wilds of southern Indiana and its quirky denizens. Kimberling's debut is a collection of linked stories narrated by Nathan Lochmueller, a smart but mostly luckless man who stumbles into a job monitoring bird patterns. The pay is awful, and Nathan is conflicted about how his unfaithful girlfriend, Lola, helped him get the gig. But at least the job introduces him to a colorful, if occasionally scarifying, array of characters: He meets diner patrons who reply to kids' letters to Santa Claus, would-be mushroom-hunters, ersatz Klansmen and dimwitted bureaucrats who legislate on the environment without knowing the first thing about it. As Nathan notes, southern Indiana is an odd mix of levelheaded Midwest culture and oddball Southern folkways, and Kimberling's prose nicely evokes this culture clash: His unusual scenarios are rendered with a wry, self-deprecating wit. Violence abounds on Nathan's turf--a snapping turtle takes off a friend's thumb (hence the title), a drunk friend takes a two-by-four to a few parking meters, a stoner pal is stabbed, and Nathan himself gets pushed down a flight of stairs--but more as evidence of life's absurdity than of its tragedy. Kimberling's stories have depth, but he never forces a message on them; a chapter in which Nathan comes across a human bone in a graveyard is handled with easy humor instead of ponderous metaphor. This book has enough of a story arc that the fact that it's not a full-fledged novel is somewhat frustrating: We learn about Lola's romantic wanderings but not enough to suggest their full impact on Nathan, and while Nathan's emotional evolution in the closing story is a pleasant surprise, it's a jarring one--a more intricately structured tale could give his character more resonance. A well-turned debut that airdrops its characters into an appealingly offbeat milieu.

Kirkus Reviews