A penetrating and unflinching examination of the modern male, Monument is told through the eyes of Seth Wilhelm, a talented young hockey player whose career is cut short by injury, sending him spiralling out of control. A failed stint at college sets the stage for a second fall from grace, a car accident which claims the life of his new girlfriend, leaving Wilhelm himself to blame. Using his undisclosed innocence as the impetus to piece his life back together and move on with his once promising career, albeit in a washed-up senior men’s league, Seth soaks up the Vancouver nightlife—the women, the liquor, the drugs, the fights—all in an effort to mask his survivor’s guilt and early childhood trauma. If there’s hope for this antihero, it must come in the form of something monumental, a communion he’s desperately in search of before he finally loses it all.
Patrick Blennerhassett is a Vancouver-based writer and journalist. He is a Jack Webster Fellowship Award winner and his third novel, The Fatalists, is now available in bookstores and online.
Contact Patrick directly at patblennerhassett@hotmail.com.