Monkey Beach

 

I just finished reading the book Monkey Beach which I enjoyed.
It had to do with a young Haisla Indian woman, Lisa, who went back home,
 because her brother was lost at sea.
The story went back and forth as she remembered her life
 living in Kitimaat with family and friends.

 

I liked it because it let you into another culture and familiarized you with their beliefs,
way of life and a  territory many of us will never enter.
After looking up the Kitimat area on the map, I was aghast that this was where
they want to bring the oil pipe line.
In the book, the Indians used to sit on the beach and see whales sleeping off shore.
Now how would a pipe line and ships be good for the whales?

 

MAP OF BRITISH COLUMBIA


Lisa had a hard time going home from places like Terrace Prince George and Williams LAke
She spoke about living in Vancouver, on the East side, the home of drug addicts and homeless people.
She spoke of how she became a part of this scene for a while although her grama left her a nice
inheritance.


The story hit home in more than one area as we rediscover this province and
 so many wonderful things about it we never knew.

I remember a while back, they were selling beach homes on the Charlotte Islands for 19 thousand dollars.
The Indians say this place came up from the sea and will go back down one day into the sea.

The inlet into Kitimat is full of seals, fish, clams, mussels etc... which the people and animals live off of.
She mentions it is also the land of the infamous Sasquatch.
The Sasquatch, according to Indian legend, used to steal people but then
they got their sicknesses so they learned to stay away.

I think this is a fabulous book to read as many treasures can be found in it
and it would definitely make you want to take a boat and sail up the coast to these areas
to see feel and understand how the people here, feel about their land, full of mysticism and legend.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo