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Everyone knows a guy like Jared: the burnout kid in high school who sells weed cookies and has a scary mom who's often wasted and wielding some kind of weapon. Jared does smoke and drink too much, and he does make the best cookies in town, and his mom is a mess, but he's also a kid who has an immense capacity for compassion and an impulse to watch over people more than twice his age, and he can't rely on anyone for consistent love and support, except for his flatulent pit bull, Baby Killer (he calls her Baby)--and now she's dead. Jared can't count on his mom to stay sober and stick around to take care of him. He can't rely on his dad to pay the bills and support his new wife and step-daughter. Jared is only sixteen but feels like he is the one who must stabilize his family's life, even look out for his elderly neighbours. But he struggles to keep everything afloat ... and sometimes he blacks out. And he puzzles over why his maternal grandmother has never liked him, why she says he's the son of a trickster, that he isn't human. Mind you, ravens speak to him--even when he's not stoned. You think you know Jared, but you don't.… (more)
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Jared is a fifteen year-old First Nations youth living with his mother, Maggie and her boyfriend in a small town in northern British Columbia.
To say Jared's family is dysfunctional would be an understatement. His
Jared's a smart kid with a smarter mouth and struggles to maintain some normalcy in his life despite his role models. This becomes increasingly difficult since it's not only his family but all his peers who indulge in similar destructive lifestyles.
Indeed, author Eden Robinson has included almost every type of self-destructive and anti-social behavior you can imagine including domestic violence, bullying, promiscuity, self-mutilation, S&M and, of course drugs, more drugs all topped off with binge drinking.
As Jared's life lurches from crisis to crisis he copes by staying stoned or inebriated or both. Soon he can't tell what is real and what isn't. When he reaches out to some elders for help, including his paternal grandmother, he discovers they have an entirely different agenda for him.
Yet despite the magical power of the cultural mythic creatures that align themselves with Jared in his time of need his salvation comes in a very conventional form, which unfortunately makes for an anti-climatic ending.
Son of a Trickster by Eden Robinson is a page turner for sure. The author does a remarkable job of defining her characters through authentic dialogue and dramatic action. The story in some places is laugh out loud funny and in others almost too painful to read. Her portrayal of Jared's young life as a First Nations youth is brutal and honest though never didactic.
In this era of "Idle No More", mainstream media has come under criticism for it's coverage of First Nations people and their issues suggesting they are always depicted by the three "Ds" - drumming, drunk or dead.
As a journalist and an author I agree with the criticism and am attempting to understand more about the issues and the people so it can be reflected with honest and empathy in my writing.
Though an entertaining book, Son of a Trickster is an extremely negative representation of First Nations people. It's a good thing Robinson is a First Nations person herself, otherwise it's unlikely her book would have been short-listed for the Giller Prize, one of the most prestigious literary awards in Canada.
Three things to know going into this book: One, it helps if you know a bit about the role of the Trickster in Indigenous culture, and specifically about the Haisla people of Northern BC. Two, this is a trilogy, so don’t expect all your questions to be answered, things are just getting started here. And three, if you have the paperback version with the sparkly purple otter who looks like she’s headed for a play date with Rainbow Fish, be warned, the ghosts of the Otter People in this story will tear you to shreds in a dark cave. (Pick up the hardcover with the beautiful raven feathers and fireflies on it instead)
I’m glad I waited until now to read Son of a Trickster, as the second one, Trickster Drift, is coming out this fall – and the cover artwork is stunning!
The novels tell the story of Jared, a burned-out kid of mid-adolescence, living on the west coast of Canada in an
The novels can easily slide into magic realism, even dark urban fantasy. They are relentless in pace and emotional tension, with tight, spare writing that mirrors the desperation of Jared’s life. Certainly, the novels are award-worthy. Not easy to read because of the brutality and hopelessness of the narrative. But most definitely brilliantly written. You could say they are a modern, dark take on J.D. Salinger’s now legendary Catcher in the Rye.
What has given me pause, however—and please understand this in no way is a reflection of the author’s skill—is the classification of these novels. That is to say, they are marketed as YA.
When my daughter-in-law informed me of that, I was, to put it mildly, gobsmacked. What follows in this review-come-commentary, contains many spoilers, so be advised.
Perhaps my problem with the novels is a sign of my own ageing, of carrying with me what is perhaps an outdated compass more suited to senior citizens than current societal standards. But having read these novels I have to wonder about what kind of standards and messages we’re cementing in society, let alone for our youth, particularly First Nations youth, with the promulgation of literature so egregiously violent and lacking in hope.
As a first example I give you Maggie, Jared’s mother. She is a bad-ass junkie of a mother, with a reputation of a witch in the Haisla tradition, whose expertise, besides being able to cast curses and wardings, is to ally herself to a drug-dealing man who has about as much interest in carving out a safe, secure environment for Jared let alone Maggie, as finding a legitimate way to make his way in the world. Maggie swings between fierce love, casual neglect, and outright violence toward her son. The worldview she imparts to Jared is that in order to get by you have to be tougher, stronger, more violent than anyone who opposes you, no boundaries, anything goes. She helps him to deal. She obtains for him a handgun and teaches him how to use it.
As illustration of her complete lack of parenting skills, when she discovers a previous boyfriend, David, was in the act of sadistic, violent torture of her son (kneeling on Jared’s chest so that he could slowly, casually, break the boy’s ribs), her response is to nail David’s feet to the floor with a power-nailer. (I won’t get into the implausibility of sneaking up on someone with a power-nailer.) When she drags Jared out from under David, she then, in a rage and without regard for Jared’s serious injury, commands Jared to nail David’s armpits to the floor. Only after Jared refuses is an EMS team summoned and the boy’s injuries addressed. He then spends his recovery couch-surfing with an elderly neighbour.
The level of egregious violence and written detail regarding this encounter put me in mind of Stieg Larsson’s Millennium Trilogy.
And this is only one example of the relentless onslaught of graphic violence in both novels.
Now, understand, I have no difficulty whatever with this level of violence and darkness in novels for adults. Certainly, I’ve published fiction for adults by authors who write this sort of dark literature. However, I do have a great deal of difficulty with novels of such an explicit and hopeless nature for young adults. I have to ask myself, perhaps in a typically senior fashion, what kind of message does this send to our youth? It’s hard enough finding your way as a young person, particularly today, without creating a normalized view of this sort of violence. And then what about First Nations youth who are, of course, going to want to read work by a First Nations author, particularly literature targeted for exactly their demographic?
That suicide rates, alcohol and substance abuse are rife among our First Nations youth is a national crisis. And then we’re going to introduce this kind of literature to them, let them know it’s okay to read because it’s been cleared by the publishing gatekeepers for them? And then we’re going to expect them to be able to find some sense of hope? That there’s a way out? That there’s maybe something more hopeful in their society and their lives than violence, drug abuse and the endless repetition of that? That they’re told they need to educate themselves, but then read about a young person who is desperately trying to do just that, and who is constantly dragged down not only by drugs and violence, but by the magic of his own culture? That there’s no way out but through violence?
That’s the message in these two books. It’s very clear. As an adult, I can discern, navigate, discuss. But as a young person? Sure, I’m not saying young people aren’t capable of rational thought. But I am saying if you continue to disseminate a message of violence and hopelessness, that’s what you get.
So, at the heart of this categorization of the Trickster Trilogy as YA, I cannot help but feel this is no more than a marketing ploy by the publishers to capitalize on a soaring trend in literature. Ride the YA train to financial gain. The hell with any kind of societal responsibility, particularly to First Nations youth.
Would I recommend the Trickster Trilogy? Most definitely. To adults. But I will never recommend these novels as reading for YA.
Jared lives in Kitimat, British Columbia with his mother and her drug-dealer boyfriend. His mother was very young when she had Jared and she never seems to have figured out that she is his parent and not his good buddy. At sixteen, Jared is in grade 10 and getting pretty good grades even though he drinks to excess and does drugs often. Mostly he smokes weed but he is also known as the Cookie Dude because he makes cookies with marijuana in them. Jared's dad lives in nearby Terrace and can't work due to a workplace injury. Jared uses the money from his cookie sales to pay the back rent on his dad's apartment. When Jared's mom finds out about this she throws a fit and then disappears with her boyfriend for weeks. Then Jared uses his money to pay the electricity bill which is in arrears. He is basically a good kid and he helps out his elderly neighbours often. When their granddaughter comes to live with them Jared is very attracted to her. Pretty soon they are hanging out together and then having sex. Could things be turning around for Jaren? Not in the slightest; he starts seeing things and imagining his dog has come back to life and seeing a monster under the skin of an old woman who offers him a ride. And then there are the cannibalistic river otters. That scene pretty much did the book in for me.
This book is on the shortlist for the 2017 Giller Prize. It will be interesting to see if the jury picks this book over the other contenders.
Eden Robinson brings Jared and his friends entirely to life in this novel. That’s no small feat since Jared’s life will be outside the experience zone of most readers, I think. He’s funny and sensitive and sweet but life for him is especially hard. It probably doesn’t help that there are rumours that he’s not entirely human, that he’s really the offspring of the Trickster god, Wee’git. And just like that, Robinson is able to weave the mythic into her gritty realism in such a way that the reader just takes it as one more of the many things weighing down Jared’s life.
That has a double edge. Because life is hard enough without also learning that you and your mom and others are at the mercy of not-so-friendly gods and witches. If this mythic world is real — and certainly it is consistently taken as real in the novel — then it seems very unfair. Yet one hesitates to think what all this means if the mythic here is not real.
As the novel develops, Jared’s interactions with the spirit-world increase with numerous consequences. Alas, just as things are taking a turn, this novel ends. Just one of the dangers of reading something that turns out to be a trilogy. Now I’ll definitely have to track down the next two books in the series. And all of Eden Robinson’s other writings as well.
Easily recommended.
I was with the 1 star reviews for the longest time here (some of those may have been dnf's who gave up too early). The first 200 pages or so seemed like an endless cycle of drinking, drugging, sexing and txting with only the occasional hint of the spirit world elements that
It becomes more understandable when you read elsewhere that "Son of a Trickster" is only the first part of a trilogy and thus only about 1/3rd of a 1,000 page manuscript. Having Jared's initial teenage years compressed into only a few chapters probably would not have given the right sense of balance and shock that comes from the magic world that eventually reveals itself. It may not feel like the main plot has been earned enough if it is revealed too early. But the challenge to the reader is to plod through the early parts which may become tedious and repetitive. Thankfully, Jared is smart and sharp-tongued and often very entertaining with his quips which hopefully will get you through the dismal parts. It does take off in the end so just hang in there. Books 2 and 3 should be even more compelling.
Then, the magic sets in. Mom is a witch. Jared's father is a mythical trickster. Animals start talking. And more. I lost interest because, to me, this detracted from my ability to view Jared as a real person.
A big fat thank you to whatever publisher it was who sent me this free copy for review.