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Monkey Beach
- A Novel
- Narrated by: Noelle Kayser
- Length: 10 hrs and 7 mins
- Categories: Literature & Fiction, World Literature
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Poor narration,mediocre plot
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Mandatory listening for all Canadians
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As a botanist and professor of plant ecology, Robin Wall Kimmerer has spent a career learning how to ask questions of nature using the tools of science. As a Potawatomi woman, she learned from elders, family, and history that the Potawatomi, as well as a majority of other cultures indigenous to this land, consider plants and animals to be our oldest teachers.
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Fabulous wise, informative, inspiring, beautifully written book!
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Publisher's Summary
A young Native American woman remembers her volatile childhood as she searches for her lost brother in the Canadian wilds in an extraordinary, critically acclaimed debut novel.
As she races along Canada's Douglas Channel in her speedboat - heading toward the place where her younger brother Jimmy, presumed drowned, was last seen - 20-year-old Lisamarie Hill recalls her younger days. A volatile and precocious Native girl growing up in Kitamaat, the Haisla Indian reservation located 500 miles north of Vancouver, Lisa came of age standing with her feet firmly planted in two different worlds: the spiritual realm of the Haisla and the sobering "real" world with its dangerous temptations of violence, drugs, and despair. From her beloved grandmother, Ma-ma-oo, she learned of tradition and magic; from her adored, Elvis-loving uncle Mick, a Native rights activist on a perilous course, she learned to see clearly, to speak her mind, and never to bow down. But the tragedies that have scarred her life and ultimately led her to these frigid waters cannot destroy her indomitable spirit, even though the ghosts that speak to her in the night warn her that the worst may be yet to come.
Easily one of the most admired debut novels to appear in many a decade, Eden Robinson's Monkey Beach was immediately greeted with universal acclaim - called "gripping" by the San Diego Union-Tribune, "wonderful" by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, and "glorious" by the Globe and Mail, earning nominations for numerous literary awards before receiving the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize. Evocative, moving, haunting, and devastatingly funny, it is an extraordinary listen from a brilliant literary voice that must be heard.
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What listeners say about Monkey Beach
Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Krow Fischer
- 2018-08-14
Lived inside the story
I love books that take you right into the story and hold you captive like this one did. I could not wait to be doing something that allowed me to just listen. i could see, smell, taste the story and lost track of where I was in this world so caught up in the world she writes. It haunts, this one.. and I love it.
1 person found this helpful
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- Julia
- 2018-03-14
I really enjoyed this book
I loved this book because it's not only Canadian but also a Native book. this is truly how us Natives and culture is. I am from Vancouver and it was nice listening to places near me and in B.C. I will definitely listen to this book again. I hope there are more books like this one for me to read and feel a contacting.
1 person found this helpful
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- Roxie Gallinger
- 2018-03-06
great story
first time for this Author and it was a superb story with great character's that you learn to love and enjoy
1 person found this helpful
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- Utilisateur anonyme
- 2020-08-04
Wow
Loved this story and the narrator was great too! I would definitely recommend this book.
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- Budb
- 2020-02-21
Best story of the year so far!!
I can't say exactly why I love this book so much other than Eden Robinson is simply a masterful story teller. I thoroughly enjoyed the story from beginning to end!! And the narrator was fantastic and made the story even more enjoyable!!
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- Samah Fadil
- 2020-02-02
Lovely and bittersweet story
I loved the narration here. the story is grounded in magical realism, and I appreciated the subtle approach.
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- Utilisateur anonyme
- 2019-07-25
Waste of Time
Though it was written well and at times, funny- it was incredibly confusing and annoying. It kept jumping from one thing to another and there were far too many characters. Waste of my time.
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- CheChePooks
- 2019-03-01
amazing connection to a traditional story
I found myself hooked onto the story of Lisa Marie. love the connection of traditional stories and language. Contecting to the teaching from her Ma-Ma-Oo. I also found how much I count relate to her
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- DrZaius
- 2018-09-13
Good story, but doesn't quite measure up...
to Son of a Trickster. I enjoyed this book, but it was not as compelling a story as Son of a Trickster. The biggest problem I had was with the way the book shifted from present to past. There were no apparent clues that the time frame had shifted until a couple of minutes later. Then I'd realize I was lost & go back thinking I'd missed something, but no. I'm sure the author intended some effect, but for me it just pulled me out of the story. Maybe the printed book handles that differently? I did love the story of the character's lives and portrayal of indigenous culture. For a guy like me, who was raised in a Canadian society that didn't really show us much about our native people's, except for the bad stuff, it's important to experience more indigenous writers' work. Eden Robinson (among others) is doing a great job of telling stories that I need to hear. #Audible1
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- Stefany Mathias
- 2018-12-27
Great read/listen
This is a wonderful representation of life on a rural reserve on the northern west coast of Canada. Eden is a fantastic story teller.
1 person found this helpful
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- A. Henry
- 2018-06-24
So many great stories.
Eden Robinson is such a fantastic writer. This book is alternately hilarious and devastating. A sprawling family tale is told from the point of view of Lisa Marie. Devastating and intense and so so good.
1 person found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 2020-09-24
a mind trip
Loved this book's story but found I struggled a little at the end and had to re listen to the beginning to find out where I was.