Son of a Trickster

Son of a Trickster is a 2017 young adult realistic fantasy novel by Eden Robinson. The first book in Robinson’s Trickster trilogy, it was shortlisted for various Canadian awards and was a Canadian bestseller. Set in Robinson’s hometown of Kitimat, British Columbia, the story is informed by the author’s Haisla and Heiltsuk heritage. The novel contains mature themes including addiction, abuse, and self-harm.

Plot Summary

The protagonist is 16-year-old Jared, a Native boy who lives with his volatile, violent mother Maggie and a string of dangerous, enabling boyfriends. When he is not avoiding his mother’s rage or helping her recover from a hangover, Jared is usually getting drunk himself or selling marijuana-laced cookies to help his father, Phil, pay rent for his new family. Jared seeks stability and love from his paternal grandmother, Nana Sophia; his elderly neighbors, the Jakses; and their eccentric granddaughter, Sarah. Jared often indulges in the thought of moving in with Sophia and abandoning his troubles, but he knows this decision would mean cutting ties with his mother and that his father would likely end up homeless without his continued help. 

Jared’s big heart and sense of responsibility set him apart from his immediate family members but often allow people to take advantage of him. To cope, he relies on marijuana and alcohol, continuing the cycle of addiction started by his parents. Throughout the school year, he has various visions, dreams, and bizarre encounters, which he initially dismisses as a result of too much partying, but as they become more vivid and persistent, he starts to worry about his sanity. Only after he admits to his mother what he has seen does Maggie explain that she is a witch and that Jared must be seeing spirits. Robinson grounds these supernatural encounters in Jared’s everyday, realistic experiences, but supplements them with an unknown narrator philosophizing about the nature of magic and the universe with occasional interjecting chapters. 

Following the violent climax of the novel in a cave of cannibalistic river otter spirits, the voice in Jared’s head—and a raven who has spoken to him several times—reveals himself to be Wee’git, Jared’s real father. Wee’git is the Trickster spirit in Northwestern Coastal Indigenous cultures who maliciously intervenes in humans’ lives and has been tormenting Maggie’s family for years. The truth of Wee’git and of Jared’s new powers shatters his understanding of reality, and of his family members. Through lenses of addiction, family, and Native identity, Robinson creates a world for the novel’s characters that is brutal and unforgiving, and made no less easy for Jared with the discovery of his supernatural powers.