Trash

by Andy Mulligan

ISBN: 978-1-909-53113-0

First published 2010

211 pages

Cover photography : Getty Images

4/5 stars

A fantastic rip-roaring ‘boys-own’ tale, about life at a mile-wide trash site in the Philippines. The smells and sounds of living on a garbage site are given life.

Do you know what a ‘Stupp’ is?

Have you ever thought about the practicalities involved when people without running water and working sewerage need to go to the loo?

No? Well they wrap it up neatly in paper and bin it, and the bin goes out into the trash, and the trash goes….here.

The novel neatly summarizes the pervasive corruption of many developing societies. The Police brutality and cheapness of life is portrayed. but also the strong bonds between families, between communities and between friends. There is hope here even among the trash.

Perhaps the author could have mentioned ‘Tagalog’ the native language spoke before the Spanish and Americans arrived.

Overall, a great thriller which also helps understanding of the developing world, and why inequality is so bad for rich and poor alike.