i really enjoyed reading Monkey Beach. it was a good transition from the ever depressing Mercy Among the Children, eventhough i loved that book too. though Monkey Beach was thoroughly depressing in its own right, it still had many uplifting points and had a great sense of humor throughout. we talked about some of the aspects of Haisla culture and native culture in general and humor certainly seems to play a major role in their story telling. it was interesting that the contraversy between natives and whites didn't come in to play that often in the novel. due to living in a native area and the children going to a school for mostly native kids made the contact with other races less prominent, which usually seems to be the main point of contraversy in many native novels. i really liked that there were many stories taking place at different time periods throughout the novel as well. just when i was getting wrapped up in what was happening to Lisa during here middle school years a chapter would end and the novel would switch to a chapter on Lisa's continuing search for her brother on the open sea. it was a good way to wrap together the heritage and different typoes of storytelling on their native culture. i was slightly surprised by the ending of the novel. once i realized i was getting near the end of the book i was curious as to how it would end because much of what i thought might happen hadn't evven come close to occurring yet and there weren't many pages left to fulfill my ideas on. overall it was just a great book because while reading it i was able to take in the knowledge and history of lisa's native roots while also being able to relate to her general anxieties of growing up and attending school and meeting new friends and getting in trouble, so there was a good balance between topics similar to my life that i could relate to and new information on her Haisla heritage. not to mention Lisa was just a really cool character i would have loved to hang out with growing up as a kid.

There are a couple of things that I loved about this book. Number one was the structure. I really enjoyed the fragmented nature of the book and how the different types of sections were written in particular styles (how each section adhered to a certain voice and mood as well as general subject matter and time period).
Number two thing I enjoyed was reading Lisa's teenage experiences. It felt to me to be a real teenager talking, her observations were so right on. As a secondary ed. student this kind of insight in literature is extremely valuable. I feel like it is hard to come by in novels and almost never have I found it in one that is as multi-layered as this one. (can't think of one anyway). I guess I just feel like more voices representing adolescence need to be heard- those that know me know this is my big theme these days, in trying to get to know who these people are that i will be teaching soon. I think this would be an awesome book to bring into a high school classroom because it chronicles the experience of three underrepresented groups in the literature we usually study in high school- Teenagers, modern First Nations peoples and writing from Canada- but whom we really should know more about.

Howdy all,
Monkey Beach is addicting. This may be the first book this semester that I don't mind suggesting to somebody. Actually, that's not true, I lied. It is, however, a great change of pace from Mercy. I haven't yet finished, so I can't say what my favorite part is, or what has surprised me most, but in terms of things to discuss in class: her selectivity of things to describe vs. to leave up to the readers imagination. Why describe a food and not Jimmy? That is all

This is a really great book! Not only is the basic story line extremely interesting, but I'm learning much about the Haisla culture that I had previously not known existed. More specifically, Robinson's skills in describing the environment surrounding Kitamaat really complete and add to the narrative. I feel as if I am able to imagine and see what Lisa is seeing and experiencing. Not to mention the great importance nature plays within the Haisla culture. Ma-ma-oo's resourcefulness and ability to completely live off the land is something I greatly respect.

It took me a while to get going with Monkey Beach, but once I did I couldn't put it down. I thought that the structure of the book was great for pulling you in and forcing you to keep reading because you are so anxious to find out what happens, but have to deal with all these "interruptions" and flashes back in time before you can reach the end. There's a great balance in this book between sadness and humor that seemed to put me through a rather emotional experience while reading - just after I was cracking up at some of Lisa's behavior and thoughts I would be brought almost to tears by the death of someone so close to her or some other tragic event.
I guess I would have to say my favorite part about this book is the mythological (if that's the right word?) aspects. It amazed me that this character was seeing ghosts, and a little man, and sasqutches, and yet it seemed so realistic and natural. To me, that's what gave this book such a Native feel despite its contemporariness. The supernatural is portrayed in such a natural way that it really emphasizes the spirituality and presence of such wonders in the lives of the characters.
So yeah, I thought it was a great book and definitely a nice counter to the suffocating depression of Mercy Among the Children.

Monkeey Beach is pretty cool. I expected, after reading the description on the back and the first few pages, that this would be a very sappy "loss and recovery" book. Such is not the case, it is a portrayal of First Nation (?) life indirectly through a narrative. The narrative itself is also interesting because it kind of focuses around Sasquatch and Sasquatches are cool. I like the simple language, it is used well.

Monkey Beach is easy to read, yet fairly complex in structure. What I find most interesting is the sometimes matter-of-fact tone with which many new (to me) aspects of First Nation life are introduced and then seemingly neglected. We learn about AIM and Uncle Mick's involvement with radical activism, yet no mention is made at all concerning the backgrounds or histories of these organizations or social movements. We learn alot about the simple life of the bygone eras of the Haisla past, all seamlessly interjected within the progressive action of the present tense as well as the passages detailing the narrator's history.

The experience of reading Monkey Beach, a book beautiful in both content and form, was awesome because as my mind has been elsewhere lately, this book had me completely enthralled through out it's entirety. Within Eden Robinson's language and pace of each narrative, it was as though she perfected a level of control over my own voice as I read. Her initial description of the Native Indian Reserve, taking the reader through as if they too had to get there by boat, gave me a clear image of the magnitude of difference between this geological location and that which I am used to. Clearly this had me hooked instantaniously. Like the other novels we have read, this book too shows the power and influence of oral history and story. The different versions that Ma-ma-oo and Father tell of the same story, reveal the impact story had on Jimmy and Lisa's future.
I liked Lisa's character immensly and her ability, which is Eden Robinson's ability too, to take us through memory, present day, day dream, and nightmare, all to depict reality perfetly.
See you all Friday,
Lizzie

I enjoyed "Monkey Beach". I kept waiting for LisaMarie to get to Monkey Beach to find out what happened to Jimmy and discovered that the process was the story and not the end result. I also particularly enjoyed the assumption that the reader understands more about Native culture than I do. I found myself wanting to re-read parts when the narrative changed settings. It was like a puzzle - "why did she write it that way?" It made reading this book fun and challenging at the same time. I am interested in discussing the structure - working on solving that puzzle. Also, the last section "The Land of the Dead" is quite intriguing to me. My favorite part of the book is Ma-ma-oo and her stories and her wonderful way of teaching LisaMarie by taking her on adventures. The ending surprised me. I came away saying "what just happened?"

this book was fine up until the last 10-15% of the story. the characters were well drawn, i was able to picture them easily, and to more or less predict their behavior in a given situation. however, once lisa returns home from vancouver, she finds jimmy to have quit swimming, and picked up smoking and partying. he's also discovered girls. i found this hard to buy, especially considering how jimmy was portrayed all the way through the story up until that point. people don't just give up on something that thay've worked so hard for if they have a minor injury, or even a major injury. and to have given up his dream and accepted the path to the darkside, well, it just doesn't float. jimmy was just too level-headed to have become that kind of person, especially without a huge ulterior motive. some might say this motive was karaoke, and this could be possible, but he didn't hook up with her until after he stopped swimming. the other thing, and i go back to jimmy being the kind of wonder-brat that all older siblings hate because they're such good kids, is the whole murder/sinking of the boat plot. horse apples to that. no way would he go through all the trouble of what he did to kill the guy who knocked up the love of his life. yeah it was incestuous, which is foul and really scummy of that guy, but i prefer to believe that jimmy would have been slightly more heroic considering the way he was portrayed throughout the story.
my final gripe is the ending with lisa. what the hell is with her? what a cop-out on robinson's part. it's like the whole end of the book just descends into this murky, gobbly-gook nonsense of dreaming, then being half dead, and then full-dead. i don't quite understand how she couldn't save herself. the littler speedboat- and i hesitate to call it a speedboat if it had a 35 horsepower (or whatever it was) engine on it-would not be enought to knock her out or whatever the hell happened to send her underwater to drown. it seems to me that robinson got bored or tired of her story and just wanted to end it, but in doing so ruined the book as a whole.

So far I haven't found Monkey Beach nearly as interesting as the other novels that we have read. Though Robinson's prose is very good I'm having trouble getting engaged with the plot. In general this seems to be a character driven novel, which is fine, but departs from the more interesting plots, like that of The Englishman's Boy. I would like to discuss a little bit about the way of life for the characters in the novel. They seem to be secluded from the world, and this obviously influences them, but the book gives little contact with the outside world. In general though I am really interesting about the history of the people in terms of hunting, fishing and magic. I am surprised by Lisa's parents intentional glossing over of important native history. It seems that they discourage Lisa from asking questions, and this leads into the general themes of the book. I feel that family takes precendence in the novel. Not just nuclear, but extended, and it seems the native people go far beyond our notion of an extended family. Being so secluded these people are forced to interact with their families in a way we are not used to. Which also leads to another theme of the novel, history, and particularly the history of magic. While the generation of Lisa's parents seems to have lost touch with their native history and practices the generation above them seems to still have it. This is where we see the grandmother, Ma Ma ooo teaching Lisa. We see how magic has leaked into Lisa generation when we see Pooch's bedroom, and on page 220 he cites the prayer over the vodoo doll. Also on page 212 there is a short narrative section on contacting the dead which describes how one must concentrate. Magic is a prominent theme throughout the novel and in the native history.

I actually found this book the hardest of all we've read to get into. The beginning is rather slow and the way Robinson jumps around between past & present and between reality & some dreamlike world is confusing. Once I got used to that, I got caught up in the story. The novel is just as tragic as Mercy in some ways, but I think it's packed with so many other things that you don't get dragged down by the horrible deaths and rapes. I think we should discuss the ending of the book - I didn't like it at all, but I think we could talk about why Robinson chose to end it this way. I'd also like to talk about the interwoven sections (like the parts about how the heart functions, how to talk to the dead, and other cultural knowledge) that don't really advance the story but become part of it. And I want to know if Tab is dead! I really liked the parts about native culture and legends, but I also enjoyed watching Lisa and Jimmy grow up, because that's something we can all relate to. I love how Lisa became a total tomboy and started hanging out with the boys who used to beat her up. I think the thing that surprised me the most about this book is that there wasn't really any bitterness toward white people, and very little conflict with outsiders. I guess I was expecting a story about the harsh realities of life on the reservation and about the long struggle with the evil white man, but instead I got an enjoyable, tragic, darkly humorous, informative coming-of-age sort of story.

I really enjoyed reading Monkey Beach. I found it easy to get into and hard to put down. I especially liked looking at the different relationships that were described in the book, and the interconnectedness of the community. As someone mentioned in class, I thought the sections which combined the real with the supernatural were done in a very believable and magical way. The sectioning of the book was well done, and though I had to keep going back to reread the prior sections (i.e. the multiple passages on connecting with the dead), it really added to my understanding of the book. I also liked how the book was not chronological and jumped between time periods, the reader was getting the key background information right when it was important to the plot, not any sooner. Lisa's teenage experiences were fascinating to read about. Her voice was so clear throughout the book, it was easy to step into her mind and see what sort of observations she was making about the world around her. My favorite parts of the book include the descriptions of her family fishing trip, and the passages that include the red-haired evil spirit. I enjoyed reading the cultural passages and seeing how the little spirit would appear to her (and what the consequences of his appearances would be). I was probably most surprised by the ending. Since the rest of the book was such a build up to finding Jimmy, I had no idea what to expect from the end of the book. The conclusion was an interesting combination of modern circumstances and Native storytelling.

I really enjoyed Monkey Beach. Beyond it's being a genuinely entertaining read, I also thought it raised some very interesting questions about identity and how you define yourself and the world around you (much like the other books we've read). As we've mentioned in class, I also feel that the book is a very realistic portrayal of the way someone's mind would work after a tragedy. Clearly the prospect of losing her brother is painful, so instead of focusing on it her mind wanders in a way that's much less painful. Adding to that realism are the portrayals of her family (which i absolutely love - they just seem so incredibly true and alive) and the stylistic changes that accompany the transitions between memory and present reality. I really like that in the sections dealing with memory and cultural knowledge (a kind of memory in itself, I guess) her sentences are longer and seem to flow much more easily, but when Lisa deals with the present, her sentences become short and fragmented before quickly reverting back to memory.

Though I haven't finished it, I'm really enjoying the book thus far, and can't wait to read the rest.
It's beautifully written, and I like that it goes back and forth between present and past.
I really enjoy seeing the difference between Lisa and her brother's relationship when they were younger, and her reaction to him being missing now. It's interesting to see the irony between not wanting to spend any time with him when she was young, and only wanting to do that now that she is older.
I can't think of anything that has really surprised me so far, except for the lack of anger from the characters in the book. Lisa for the abuse she suffered from the boys, Ma-ma-oo for her abuse from her husband, and the Haisla in general. You'd think there'd be any kind of sentiment about their situations.

I think I can easily say, this will be the best book we read in this class. The way the story is woven together with so many different segments really fleshes out the plot. It gives the impression that while that main conflict presently is Jimmy lost at sea, Lisa is still struggeling with the past and she hasn't made peace with it. There's also the sections about how to talk to the dead and how the heart works, that really complicates the main plot fabulously. I think Jimmy getting lost is the spark that forces Lisa to look really hard at her own past. My only beef with the story is the part where Lisa gets raped. There's no connect to the other charctors in the story about that moment. The only other time it comes up even a little is in her spiritual world. I was expecting Ma-ma-oo to jump in there. Lisa's seems to be at her best when she's wit Ma-ma-oo and seems to trust her the most so I was a little amazed that it didn't come up between them.

i really enjoyed reading this book. it went so quick, and i found myself not being able to put it down.
i enjoyed the structuring of it in particular. the four sections being divided as they were, along with the short scenes which made them up made the reading of it very easy. you never felt as though it was too much to get through a chapter, as you could put it down whenever you wished, however that meant that i just didn't put it down, a bit of reverse psychology.
another thing that appealed to me was just the simple prosodic style of Robinson. it was as if she were sitting right there with, telling me bits of her childhood and things her grandmother had taught her. i seemed very informal, very welcoming.
those are a few things to name. there's much to dicuss with this novel.

i really enjoyed reading this book. it went so quick, and i found myself not being able to put it down.
i enjoyed the structuring of it in particular. the four sections being divided as they were, along with the short scenes which made them up made the reading of it very easy. you never felt as though it was too much to get through a chapter, as you could put it down whenever you wished, however that meant that i just didn't put it down, a bit of reverse psychology.
another thing that appealed to me was just the simple prosodic style of Robinson. it was as if she were sitting right there with, telling me bits of her childhood and things her grandmother had taught her. i seemed very informal, very welcoming.
those are a few things to name. there's much to dicuss with this novel.

Monkey Beach is a great book. I really liked how the author gave step by step instructions/details of her culture's traditions. It was so cleary done that if i ever feel the need to make fish grease I bet I could by following her directions. This book was also so great because it wasn't predictable or depressing ( mercy among children). This book should stay as core lit for this class.

Monkey Beach was a great novel and as others have said, it was a great switch from Mercy. I really enjoyed the novel's deep connection with nature, adventure's with ma-ma-oo looking for berries and spending time at the winter camp. And LisaMarie's connection with spirits and magic, when she sees the B'gwus on the way to Pooch's funeral and her many sightings of Mick, Ma-ma-oo, and Tab in Vancouver.
Monkey beach also dealt with death but in a lot less of a depressing and disheartening manner. The opportunity at insight into the lives and culture of First nations citizens was a great experience. Their culture is not something that is talked about much in schools nor have I come into contact with it at all in my home region.
I really enjoy learning from literature. I value Monkey Beach for it's ability to open my eyes to something new, a culture I have not yet learned about in some detail, and it's ability to entertain, making me laugh or wince at various parts. It is a great novel and a good choice to go along with the rest of the literature we have read thus far.

I really enjoyed reading Monkey Beach. It has been my favorite book of the year. Two aspects of the book really bothered me. I really did not like the ending. I thought that everything was going to end happily. I thought Lisa would find Jimmy. I was dissapointed to find out this never happens. Also, I didn't feel like Lisa's parents supported her. When she tells her mom that she saw a man in her room, her mom ignores her. Her parents don't teach her anything. It's Lisa grandmother who helps Lisa. Lisa's grandmother helps her understand her power and teaches her about the plant medicine, tradtions and communicating with the dead. I felt Lisa's parents were more concerned with Jimmy and his swimming. Also, why is the book called Monkey Beach?? I understand that was the name of the island. I just don't understand why it's called money and not raven or something else.

So far i enjoy monkey beach because its not as dark and depressing as the other novels we have been reading but one thing i would like clearing up in class is what really happens to Jimmy and and whether Tabitha is really dead or alive when she talks to Lisa Marie and tells her to go home when she is in Vancouver. My thought are that both were dead because of the end of the book she sees Jimmy but you can never be too sure and i think it would be interesting to see hear other peoples thoughts and feelings towards this matter.

in all i found monkey beach really interesting. i really liked the relationship between lisa and her brother jimmy. the way she acted when they were younger about not wanting him around and then growing apart as they became older. it seems like the normal sibling relationship. my favorite part of the book was when lisa discussed her experiences as a teenager. i enjoyed reading about her relationship with the boys frank, cheese, and pooch. i was glad to see that she finally had friends and was happy. what surprised me most about monkey beach was how it ended. i didnt really get it at first. i reread it and still didnt understand the whole cutting her wrist thing and going to the dead world to have her grandma send her back. it was all kind of a haze to me..

This novel was one of my favorite books this semester. I really liked how the whole book was a flashback of Lisa's life. In this novel she is basically trying to interprete her life by recording events. When I first started reading the novel I though it was going to be a completely different type of novel. I thought it was going to be about Lisa and her adventure searching for Jimmy. This kind of upset me. I was all read to read about this and then a few pages later found out this was not the case. But once I got into reading about Lisa's past I became captivated by her story.
My favorite aspect of the novel was learning about the Haisla tradititons. The explanation of making oolichan grease, collecting food, and using medicines was really interesting. I'm really glad Lisa had Ma-ma-oo because her parents don't seem to care about Haisla tradtions. Without Ma-ma-oo the tradtion would have been lost. I think it's so im[portant to keep traditions alive. This kind of reminds me of my grandmother. My grandmother has taught me a lot about my family tradtitons. Overall, I really enjoyed this novel and would reccomend it to others.

Monkey Beach was an interesting book. It kept me every engaged in every page wondering what is going to happen next. Another thing that made it great was that the relationship between Lisa and Jimmy. Their relationship was one of regular teenage siblings, they would not stand to be around each other but in the end when Jimmy was feared dead we saw how much she really cared about him. I also like how the story was told through Lisa'a flashback to the teenage years and also through her dreams and her spirtual world encounters. It add an edge to the story on a whole.

I found Monkey Beach to be one of my favorite books that I've read this semester. I really liked the writing style, and the way the Haisla culture was interwoven throughout the story. It was easy to read, and had a good pace to it, which was very helpful, considering it's not short! My favorite parts in the novel are when Lisa is remembering special moments with her family, specifically, Ma-ma-oo, Uncle Mick, and her adventure to Monkey Beach with Jimmy. I felt that I was able to learn a lot about a completely different culture, yet, I could also relate quite closly (it was even scary at times) to Lisa's situation one minute, and then not relate at all the next minute. I think Monkey Beach, was a wonderful mix of great story, and style...plus there were sasquatches, and that's tough to beat.

For me, I appreciated the narrative style of Monkey Beach, which was nonlinear yet still well-flowing and clear. The way Lisa was able to jump around from past events seamlessly to her present situation
produced a gripping read from start to finish. While I admit I found the subject of the novel less intense or gripping as Mercy Among the Children or A Sunday at the Pool in Kigali, the inclusion of native culture and a memorable setting made it one of my favorite books this semester.

Monkey Beach was an extremely entertaining book. The way it described Lisa's journey to find her brother, and the journey to find herself was artistically done. It was realistic the way Eden Robinson explained memories Lisa was remembering while riding in a small boat in search of her brother. In her memories Lisa not only describes herself growing older, but her friends and family as well. After reading Queen of the North and reading some of the events in monkey beach from Karaoke's perspective, I realized how much was going on in this book and now want to read other short stories from Eden Robinson. The depiction of the emotional rollercoaster many of the charactors were on allowed the reader to relate to many of the characters. Not much was sugar coated in the book and the realism was very affective.

Monkey Beach was an extremely entertaining book. The way it described Lisa's journey to find her brother, and the journey to find herself was artistically done. It was realistic the way Eden Robinson explained memories Lisa was remembering while riding in a small boat in search of her brother. In her memories Lisa not only describes herself growing older, but her friends and family as well. After reading Queen of the North and reading some of the events in monkey beach from Karaoke's perspective, I realized how much was going on in this book and now want to read other short stories from Eden Robinson. The depiction of the emotional rollercoaster many of the charactors were on allowed the reader to relate to many of the characters. Not much was sugar coated in the book and the realism was very affective.

I would like to know more about the walks in the woods with Ma-ma-oo; what exactly were the plants/etc. that they collected, and how did they prepare them? It is interesting to see that even cultures with so much knowledge of how to be healthy, and even of the medicinal properties of plants, are so stubborn, and don't always have healthy lifestyles. This is another example of how we do things that are against what we know is right. Ma-ma-oo and Lisa were so rich with other-worldly knowledge; this was their medicine, the determinant of their well-being. This shows the way spirituality can overpower a dietary choice and cause health or sickness. The mental, historical, and physical are super-entwined.

I didn't take this class but I found this website because I am struggling with the ending of Monkey Beach and thought I'd check things out online. Can anyone tell me WHAT HAPPENED??? Did Jimmy die? It seems that he might have, but then if that's the case, how did it happen? The last tangible thing that I can understand is that he was swimming to shore after killing Josh with the oar and letting their boat sink.
My next question is: what happened to Lisa? Is she dead? Is she alive? I need closure! Please help! -Kate.

Hi Kate,

Thanks for checking out the blog. I loved the ending for this book in part because it was so ambiguous. I think Jimmy does die and that Lisa is alive in the end. She does seem ready to move on, with some sense of closure, I think. It's been a while since I have read it and I don't have the book or my notes in front of me, so that's only the short answer for now. A great book, though, don't you think?

Paul

I think this book was riveting coming of age story it is tragic yet it has lots of heart to it.I loved learning about the Haisla culture. I never knew about the atrocities of the residential schools in Canada until recently when the government apologised in the media this summer , seen in this book how affected Mick & Trudy were from attending one.A horrible black eye in Canadian history.

The spiritual aspect and Lisa's connection to the old power I found to be the core of the story but in the end this all confused me. Was Jimmy in the water near Monkey Beach? Why did Jimmy try to kill Josh? Why did Lisa cut herself and what happened to her? I really wanna know!

I think this book was riveting coming of age story it is tragic yet it has lots of heart to it.I loved learning about the Haisla culture. I never knew about the atrocities of the residential schools in Canada until recently when the government apologised in the media this summer , seen in this book how affected Mick & Trudy were from attending one.A horrible black eye in Canadian history.

The spiritual aspect and Lisa's connection to the old power I found to be the core of the story but in the end this all confused me. Was Jimmy in the water near Monkey Beach? Why did Jimmy try to kill Josh? Why did Lisa cut herself and what happened to her? I really wanna know!

Jimmy killed Josh because Josh raped and impregnated Adeline, his niece (Jimmy's girlfriend). The part about the picture and the pasted faces should have made it clear... the raped becomes the rapist. the irony.

I haven't read the book yet but it sounds compelling