For fans of Miriam Toews, an absorbing, darkly funny story of family, addiction, and survival.
The summer Bria Powers turns 16 is sinister. Waves of insects plague her hometown of Beauchamp, where fentanyl has recently infiltrated the drug stream. Forest fires muddy the normally wide-open skies, and everything smells like a barbecue all the time. It's also the summer Bria goes from having saved a life to ruining her own.
Since her drug-dealing father disappeared and his girlfriend overdosed, Bria has lived with her aunt Tash and best friend/cousin Ains. By day, Bria and Ains babysit Ains's younger siblings and sling fast food at Burger Shack. But at night, Bria has her own secret world, sneaking out to see Someboy, an older guy who captivates her sometimes. Other times, he angers-insults-upends her, and that has a certain charm too.
But trouble comes for Beauchamp and for Bria in the form of bears that wander into town, dick pics texted from a mystery number, and a creeping dependence on what Bria should hate most of all.
Steeped in tragicomedy and written in starkly observed prose, “What's Not Mine” explores inheritance, addiction, and survival when the odds are against you. A heartbreaking portrait of Bria, a teenage girl slipping into addiction despite loathing what the same drugs have done to her family. In the middle of a heat wave, Bria must deal with a bear that wanders into town, unsolicited dick pics texted from a mystery number, and a creeping dependence on what Bria should hate most of all.
