I spent the past week reading both Son of a Trickster and Trickster Drift, books one and two of Eden Robinson’s Trickster trilogy (book three is already out, I just have not bought a copy yet). Last year, I read Robinson’s Monkey Beach, which is serious and melancholy compared to the Trickster books. The Trickster books are surreal and somewhat bizarre (not in a derogatory way), and they are also humorous despite the tragic circumstances of the protagonist’s life. I really enjoyed reading both Son of a Trickster and Trickster Drift, and now Robinson is on my list of writers whose novels I will look out for.

Son of a Trickster is about sixteen-year-old Indigenous teen, Jared, who lives in Kitimat, BC, with his mother, Maggie, and her boyfriend. Maggie is a drug dealer and a drug addict with a scary temper, but she is fiercely protective of her son. For example, when Jared was being abused by her psychotic ex-boyfriend, David, and Maggie caught him in the act, she used a nail gun to pin David to the floor by his hands and his feet and then left him there overnight. Jared’s parents split up when Maggie found out Jared’s father was cheating on her. Jared’s father was injured on the job and became addicted to Oxycontin; he lives with his new wife, who is an alcoholic, and spends his disability money on their addictions rather than paying the rent.

Jared is a good kid living in a shitty situation. He bakes and sells pot cookies to help pay his mom’s mortgage and pay his dad’s rent; he basically takes care of everyone but himself. He is sad and lonely because his beloved pit bull has died. The only person who helps him out is his Nana Sophia (his dad’s mom), but he is not supposed to have a relationship with Nana Sophia or Maggie will flip out if she finds out. Maggie’s mom, his Grandma Anita, does not like Jared because she thinks he is a “Trickster”. Maggie thinks her mother is crazy and does not have anything to do with her, although she mentions to Jared that Grandma Anita’s “craziness” is the result of the way she was treated by “the nuns” and because she was experimented on in hospitals.

Through Son of a Trickster, we experience the intergenerational trauma of Indigenous people that had their lands stolen from them by white people, that were abused by white people through the residential school program, and that continue to suffer the racism of white people today. Jared copes with this trauma by abusing alcohol and drugs, partying so hard that he often blacks out. He also uses his sarcastic, smart-ass sense of humour to deflect when things get tense. Then one day a raven starts talking to Jared, and he starts seeing other weird things. Are they drug-induced hallucinations, or is something supernatural going on? Robinson weaves Indigenous traditions into her modern coming-of-age story, and the affect is that the reader ends up questioning everything they are reading in Son of a Trickster, just as Jared questions his sanity. It is a wild ride.

I am not going to say too much about Trickster Drift because I do not want to spoil either novel for you. Trickster Drift is set about a year after the events that occur in Son of a Trickster and Jared has moved to Vancouver to go to school. Trickster Drift starts out serious and without the humour that makes Son of a Trickster so enjoyable. Jared is on the outs with Maggie; he has very little money and does not know where he is going to live as he waits for his student loan to come through; and he is being stalked by Maggie’s psychotic ex, David. Then Jared meets his Aunt Mave, Maggie’s sister, and the story starts to pick up. Mave is a hilarious and the things that Jared can see are even more surreal and bizarre (and creepier) than in Son of a Trickster. I did not enjoy Trickster Drift quite as much as I enjoyed the first novel, but it is still a good read. I think that if you are interested in expanding your reading and trying out some novels by Indigenous authors, you cannot go wrong with Eden Robinson.