Book review: Snapper's characters are meticulously crafted in this ode to Indiana



Snapper
Brian Kimberling
Tinder Press

Snapper comes across as Brian Kimberling's love-hate letter to his home state of Indiana. The story of Nathan Lochmueller, a field researcher or "professional bird watcher", is peppered with colourful characters, historical accounts, travel directions, recipes, mathematical equations, jokes and improbable anecdotes.

Nathan's tepid life includes trudging off to the forest six days a week to record and calculate details of every millimetre of southern Indiana. He entertains himself by giving human names to recognisable birds, writing embellished documentation of his observations and giving bad directions to hunters. Finding himself wedged between a career he struggles to be proud of and want of a life larger than his surroundings, Nathan sees his life in Indiana as something he was afflicted with at birth. Thanks to his unrequited love of a free-spirited woman named Lola, Nathan just can't let go.

The rather plotless story comes across as a bit disjointed as the vignettes are not presented chronologically. The characters, however, even those only briefly touched upon, are carved meticulously and offer insight into who Nathan is and to the place he calls home.

* Ellen Fortini

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Contracted list

Ashton Agar, Alex Carey, Pat Cummins, Aaron Finch, Peter Handscomb, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, Glenn Maxwell, Shaun Marsh, Mitchell Marsh, Tim Paine, Matt Renshaw, Jhye Richardson, Kane Richardson, Billy Stanlake, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Andrew Tye.

Company%20Profile
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COMPANY PROFILE

Company: Bidzi

● Started: 2024

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● No of employees: Nine

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Tree of Hell

Starring: Raed Zeno, Hadi Awada, Dr Mohammad Abdalla

Director: Raed Zeno

Rating: 4/5

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Company%20Profile
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Joker: Folie a Deux

Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga, Brendan Gleeson

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Rating: 2/5

While you're here ...

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Earth under attack: Cosmic impacts throughout history

4.5 billion years ago: Mars-sized object smashes into the newly-formed Earth, creating debris that coalesces to form the Moon

- 66 million years ago: 10km-wide asteroid crashes into the Gulf of Mexico, wiping out over 70 per cent of living species – including the dinosaurs.

50,000 years ago: 50m-wide iron meteor crashes in Arizona with the violence of 10 megatonne hydrogen bomb, creating the famous 1.2km-wide Barringer Crater

1490: Meteor storm over Shansi Province, north-east China when large stones “fell like rain”, reportedly leading to thousands of deaths.  

1908: 100-metre meteor from the Taurid Complex explodes near the Tunguska river in Siberia with the force of 1,000 Hiroshima-type bombs, devastating 2,000 square kilometres of forest.

1998: Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 breaks apart and crashes into Jupiter in series of impacts that would have annihilated life on Earth.

-2013: 10,000-tonne meteor burns up over the southern Urals region of Russia, releasing a pressure blast and flash that left over 1600 people injured.