The Trickster trilogy returns
In Eden Robinson’s followup to the Giller-nominated Son of a Trickster, the story is even better the second time around
The second novel in a trilogy can be difficult.
In part, this is due to contemporary publishing wisdom. Writers embarking on a trilogy are often advised that the first book should stand alone, providing a satisfying and ‘complete’ reading experience, in case there isn’t enough demand to merit the publication of two additional books. As a result, when there are enough sales to continue a trilogy, the second book must connect explicitly to the first, but it must start anew, reframing and rebooting the story.
Such is the situation faced by Haisla/ Heiltsuk writer Eden Robinson’s new novel “Trickster Drift,” the followup to last year’s “Son of a Trickster.” The first book was wildly successful, a long-term bestseller, critically lauded, and shortlisted for the Giller Prize. Readers knew it was part of a trilogy, but it worked — brilliantly — on its own.
So what does Robinson do? She reframes the narrative, changes the terms of the series, and delivers a book which is at least as good as “Son of a Trickster,” and likely better.
As “Trickster Drift” begins, seventeenyear-old Jared is sober and off drugs, attending meetings regularly, and trying to distance himself from the weirdness that comes with being a son of Wee’git, the Trickster. He’s broken up with his girlfriend (and aspiring witch) Sarah, and is struggling to remain on good terms with his mother, who is difficult and violent. And also a witch.
He’s also leaving town. “Trickster Drift” takes Jared away from Kitimat, the only home he’s ever really known, to the crowded streets of Vancouver. Jared has a plan: he’s going to spend a year upgrading at BCIT, then take a diagnostic medical sonography program. It’s not his dream, but “‘It’ll pay the bills.’”
Despite his planning, Jared ends up living with his mother’s estranged sister Mave, a poet and activist who has created a community — a family — around herself , which grows to include Jared.
But Jared can’t shake the magic of his birthright. There’s the ghost that lives in Mave’s apartment, and the heads painted on Jared’s bedroom wall that seem to change expression. There’s also a creature that lives in the wall, which creeps out when no one is looking …
And in a pedestrian though more terrifying development, “Trickster Drift” also sees the return of sadistic and manipulative David, his mother’s ex-boyfriend (whom readers may recall being nailgunned to the floor in “Son of a Trickster” by Jared’s mom, after he attacked Jared), who begins to stalk Jared, and won’t be discouraged.
And that’s just the set-up. Robinson handles the new instalment of Jared’s story with ease and grace, her trademark good humour and often-disturbing imagination in equal display. “Trickster Drift” unfolds with the tempo of a literary realist novel, unfolding to include multiple facets of the urban Indigenous experience while continuing to incorporate mysteries from other worlds. Yes, there are shape-shifters and multiple dimensions, but those elements don’t overshadow Jared, for example, helping a cousin who is struggling with recovery, or coming to the defence of a woman with a young daughter and an abusive, estranged partner.
The great strength of “Trickster Drift” is that humanity and empathy, but let’s be clear: there are monsters here, both human and otherwise. The novel builds to a climax that is simultaneously thrilling and thought-provoking, one which overturns much of what we have come to know. The third novel can’t come soon enough.
Robert J. Wiersema is the author, most recently, of Seven Crow Stories.