Trash by Mulligan

Book Summary

In an unnamed Third World country, in the not-so-distant future, three "dumpsite boys" make a living picking through the mountains of garbage on the outskirts of a large city.


Andy Mulligan has written a powerful story about unthinkable poverty - and the kind of hope and determination that can transcend it. With twists and turns, unrelenting action, and deep, raw emotion, Trash is a heart-pounding, breath-holding novel.

Review
Trash is a very controversial book, including when Blue Peter axed it from their shortlist for being too inappropriate. I don't really agree, but I still don't like this book.

It tells the tale of 3 dumpsite boys, Raphael, Gardo and Rat, who live on the trash heaps of Behala and sort through it, hoping to find anything they can sell or recycle. Their lives are rugged, poverty stricken, unadventurous. This changes when the boys find something in the trash: a bag, with a key and a wallet. When the police show up to question them, even offer them money, the boys decide to evade the authorities to figure things out for themselves.

I found how the chapters constantly changed narrators very confusing and sometimes really annoying. One time in particular, there were two very different situations and suddenly the narrator and therefore the stories completely changed, which made me put the book down in frustration. I found some scenes very distressing and inappropriate and upsetting. The actual storyline is obviously very well thought-out and created but personally, I found it really confusing and didn't really understand it, because of the way it was written. I thought it was a bit rushed and too fast-paced. I can fully understand why some people would love this book, but I just didn't like it the way I know some people did. You need to read every single letter, you need to understand every single word, in order to fully like this book to the maximum.(http://www.theguardian.com/childrens-books-site/2011/sep/29/trash-andy-mulligan-review)

My Opinion
I listened to the CD and found the book a bit confusing. It is an interesting concept, however, for a large part
of the book, I kept wondering where the story was going and what was the point.


Rating 3 out of 5

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