People and spirits appear to Lisa – a sort of gift that she isn’t sure she wants or that benefits her. Her relationship with her loving but volatile and mysterious Uncle Mick and her Ma-ma-oo, who teaches Lisa much about their traditional ways but won’t speak about the more recent past of her own life.Įden Robinson blends realism – Jimmy’s Olympic-hopeful dreams, issues with drugs both locally and the issues that follow members of the community to the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver, the brutal reality of sexual assault – with magic realism. While the present action of the story begins directly after Jimmy’s vanishes at sea, most of the story is actually about Lisa’s childhood. There is heavy history, both ancient and modern and Lisa’s life is peopled with ghosts. It’s a general term used to refer to Aboriginal Canadians, other than Inuit or Métis.) is close-knit and intricately connected. The First Nations community (Edited to add: It was brought to my attention that “ First Nations” is a specifically Canadian term that not everyone is familiar with. Set in the tiny Haisla community of Kitamaat, we follow Lisamarie Hill in the aftermath of her brother Jimmy’s disappearance. While Monkey Beach takes place in British Columbia, the same province in which I live, it really is worlds away. Monkey Beach – Eden Robinson (Vintage Canada, 2001)
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