Snapper

Kimberling has a quirky slant on life and on life in Indiana in particular. He gently satirises his home state with one-liners that are laugh-out-loud funny. 

Sometimes this reads more like biography, or a short story collection, but Snapper is an ideal title. It refers to the turtle which snapped a character's thumb off, but also hints at Kimberling taking snapshots of life in this mid-west state he knows so well.

Nathan is the son of a university lecturer. He and his friends are bright, well-raised boys, but he doesn't have his foot hard on the gas in his drive for career success, or any other. All Nathan's interested in is Lola. Lola's had five step-dads. She knows how to please. The trouble is, she can't stay true to anyone, least of all Nathan. She keeps coming back to him, but never long term.

Meanwhile, Nathan drifts into a job bird-watching for a survey of endangered species and habitats. Wandering the woods, he's happiest. In his spare time, he coasts through mishaps and adventures. He even joins the residents of Santa Claus, answering children's letters. Years later, when he takes his pregnant wife on a trip back through his past and his home state, he glimpses just how much of an endangered species and habitat these have become, too.