Carrie Kellenberger's Reviews > Monkey Beach

This was a beautiful book to read, and one that I will read again. Eden Robinson does a wonderful job of capturing the essence of Northern British Columbia's indigenous people, the Haisla. The story, which is narrated by 19-year-old Lisamarie Hill, opens with the news that Lisa's 18-year-old brother has gone missing. Her brother's disappearance triggers Lisa's memories of the deaths of her uncle and grandmother. As the present story develops, Lisa relives those moments in her childhood and reveals how she deals with death, grief, drug and alcohol abuse, and sexuality. She carries on living with her anger and uses her rage as a way of coping with life. During these revelations, we learn that Lisa has inherited spiritual powers from both sides of her family, and her visions and sightings of supernatural beings such as ghosts and sasquatches lend a thrilling psychological edge to the novel.