Monkey Beach

I had to read the last four pages of this novel two or three times to figure out what actually happened with Jimmy. And because the novel ends on such a mystical note, I'm sort of torn about my verdict on “does this book actually do what it sets out to do?,” since it begins with Jimmy's disappearance.
But: onward. Robinson's writing is lovely. I enjoyed reading the book immensely and finished it in two days on vacation.
Billed as a coming of age story of a Haisla girl, it covers a lot of ground: traditions that are dead or dying, residential schools and the pain they leave behind, AIM and other types of Indigenous activism, violence against Indigenous women by both Indigenous and white men. And all of this takes place in the lives of a “normal” and loving family, with hopes and ambitions for the kids.
The “coming of age” is also a bit of “coming into power” here, because Lisa has a gift. She gets signs from the spirit world, from animals, etc. about disasters to come. She listens to her grandmother's stories in order to make sense of her internal world. Her grandma understands her gift and tells her that her mother has it, too–but mom refuses to acknowledge her own gift or that of her daughter. She had learned young in life that knowing who would be the next person to die was not such an awesome gift to have.
I'm looking forward to discussing this with the book club. I think there is a lot to pull out and look at and put together in interesting ways.