Son of a Trickster
"Trickster Series" series #1
by Eden RobinsonSon of a Trickster combines aboriginal belief systems and wacky family dynamics with fantasy, horror, and edgy, mordant humour in an unorthodox coming-of-age story.
One of seventeen-year-old Jared Martin’s grandmothers insists that he is the son of Wee’git the Trickster, that dangerous shape-shifter who looks innocent but wreaks havoc. His other grandmother insists that “If you weren’t your dad’s and your momma tried to pass you off as his, I’d have slit her throat and left her in a ditch to die like a dog.”Jared’s far-northern west-coast Native community is closing in on him: his mom’s psycho ex-boyfriend, Death Threat, tries to kill him; Jared is beaten senseless for his weed, essential to the cookie business with which he supports his father, who plays him for all he is worth; his mom takes up with a biker who moves in along with his pit bull, Baby Killer. When he starts seeing purple men following him everywhere he goes, fireflies who wax philosophical about the universe, and river otters who look like people he knows, at first he thinks it has to be the weed.
But Jared is about to find out some hard truths about himself and his family: these supernatural creatures are hell-bent on revenge against them.
Contributors
Eden Robinson, author
Haisla/Heiltsuk novelist Eden Robinson has won both the Writers’ Trust Engel/Findley Award and the B.C. Book Prize for Fiction, was a finalist for the 2000 Giller Prize and the Governor General's Award, and was longlisted for the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. Her collection of stories, Traplines, was awarded the Winifred Holtby Prize for the best first work of fiction by a Commonwealth writer. Her two previous novels, Monkey Beach (now in its 27th printing in paperback) and Blood Sports, were written before she discovered she’s gluten-intolerant and tends to be quite grim, the latter being especially gruesome because half-way through writing Son of a Trickster, Robinson gave up a two-pack-a-day cigarette habit and the more she suffered, the more her characters suffered. Son of a Trickster returns to the territory of Monkey Beach — the angst of contemporary aboriginal adolescents — with a much lighter (and wackier) and totally original touch.
Reviews
- What this novel does for the non-indigenous reader is to make totem poles, masks, and legends come alive. This remarkable novel takes indigenous writing to a new level. - David Stouck, BC Bookworld
- “Son of a Trickster", is a unique, genuinely surprising novel from one of Canada’s finest writers, a blend of hardscrabble coming-of-age story with mythic fiction at its most powerfully subversive. It’s exactly as slippery as a trickster tale should be, changing direction and shape even as you convince yourself you know what’s going on, and what will likely happen next.… This is Robinson at her best. - The National Post
- The first in a trilogy, "Son of a Trickster" is an incredibly engaging, coming-of-age story of an indigenous teen in northern British Columbia. Eden Robinson’s almost magical ability to blend wry humor, magical realism and teenage reality will have you holding your breath for the next in the series. - The New York Times, “Summer Reads from Canada”
Awards
- Winner, 2018 Copper Cylinder Adult Award
- Finalist, 2018 BC Book Prize
- Shortlisted, Scotiabank Giller Prize
Rights Holder
Rights Holder: The Bukowski Agency
email: info@bukowskiagency.com
website: http://www.bukowskiagency.com/index.html
rights sold: Canada (Knopf), World English Audio (Audible), TV (Sienna Films)
rights available: World, excl. Canada
Additional Information
number of pages: 336
publication date: 03/13/2018
Original language of pub: English
Materials Available: finished book
Additional Materials: More on Son of a Trickster