Monkey Beach combines both joy and tragedy in a
harrowing yet restrained story of grief and survival, and of a
family on the edge of heartbreak. In the first English-language
novel to be published by a Haisla writer, Eden Robinson offers a
rich celebration of life in the Native settlement of Kitamaat, on
the coast of British Columbia.
The story grips the reader from the beginning. It is the morning
after the narrator's brother has gone missing at sea; the mood is
tense in the family house, as speculations remain unspoken. Jimmy
is a prospective Olympic swimmer, seventeen years old and on the
edge of proposing to his beautiful girlfriend Karaoke. As his elder
sister, Lisa, faces possible disaster, she chain-smokes and drifts
into thoughts of their lives so far. She recalls the time when she
and Jimmy saw the sasquatch, or b'gwus - and this sighting
introduces the novel''s fascinating undercurrent of characters from
the spirit world. These ghostly presences may strike the reader as
mysterious or frightening, but they provide Lisa with guidance
through a difficult coming of age.
In and out of the emergency room as a child, Lisa is a fighter. Her
smart mouth and temper constantly threaten to land her in serious
trouble. Those who have the most influence on her are her
stubbornly traditional, machete-wielding grandmother, and her wild,
passionate, political Uncle Mick, who teaches her to make moose
calls. When they empty fishing nets together, she pretends she
doesn't feel the jellyfish stinging her young hands - she's Uncle
Mick's "little warrior."
We watch Lisa leave her teenage years behind as she waits for news
of her younger brother. She reflects on the many rich episodes of
their lives - so many of which take place around the water,
reminding us of the news she fears, and revealing the menacing
power of nature. But Lisa has a special recourse - a "gift" that
enables her to see and hear spirits, and ask for their help.
Monkey Beach, Eden Robinson's first
novel, was nominated for Canada's two largest literary prizes: the
Giller Prize and the Governor General's Literary Award. The book
was also published in Great Britain, the United States and Germany,
and was a Canadian bestseller for many weeks. Monkey
Beach is beautifully written, in prose that is
simple and subtle, bold and vivid, and pervaded by humour.
Robinson fills her novel with details of Haisla culture and the
rich wildlife surrounding Kitamaat. She uses traditional elements
of storytelling - such as dreams, and people's ties to nature - but
also demystifies Native beliefs, simultaneously peeling away and
intensifying the mystery surrounding spirits. Ancient rituals are
shown as part of the reality of a modern Native community, along
with Kraft Dinner and TV soaps and the legacy of residential
schools. Robinson's previous book of stories,
Traplines, was remarked upon for being brutally
honest, featuring rapists and drunks and drug dealers, psychopaths
and sadists - proving to The New York Times that
"Canadians are as weird and violent as anyone else." Monkey
Beach is just as honest, but only hints at the darker
elements. In the words of the author, "None of the characters are
bad. They're just reacting like anyone else to situations of loss
and death."
