Andy Mulligan's novel Trash, our Sunday Arts Section (SAS) Book Club choice for August, is the story of three friends who make a surprising find in the dump site where they work as scavengers.
Their unexpected find of a key, a map and a wallet turn into an action-packed, tense mystery as police descend upon the ghetto where the boys live and offer a reward to recover the lost treasure Raphael Fern�ndez and his friend Gardo discover in a bag. When Raphael decides to hide the stash by their friend Rat, the story becomes even more complicated, with the issue of trust at the forefront.
Without being preachy or condescending, Mulligan uses Trash to explore the unknown realm of poor children struggling for survival in a world middle- and upper-class people don't even recognise.
People mean well, but don't end up helping the children. Take, for instance, the rubber boots provided by the Mission School. Surely the children need shoes? But Raphael informs readers that they need to work barefoot so that they can feel their way through the dumpsite.
This is the story of how hard life is for some children. Raphael and his friends must support themselves and they do it by recycling and selling people's garbage.
"Your life is the hook you carry, there in your hand, turning the trash," Raphael says, "everyone needs a key...With the right key, you can bust the door wide open. Because nobody's going to open it for you."
Raphael, a sensitive and articulate teenager, is speaking metaphorically. Little does he know that the key they find will open up a can of worms. They must have hope for a better life, but that can be a slippery slope in the environment in which these boys live.
Raphael and his friend Gardo are both 14, but the third boy, 11-year-old Rat, is the boy the two friends turn to for help. Rat also seems to be even more street-wise than Raphael and Gardo.
Tension mounts as the police increase their search for the treasure. The more the police search for the missing items, the more determined the boys are to keep them. Mulligan lays out a conflict between police and local residents through the boys.
Why do the police keep coming to Raphael's neighbourhood? Why do they think the lost "treasure" is there? Why are they offering a substantial cash reward for a key, a wallet with money and a map?
Trash is a high-interest, low-reading-level, young-adult novel that mature students from 12 on up will appreciate, along with reluctant readers who are teenagers. It makes a good read for adults as well. This is really young adult literature at its best.
Discussion questions
1. Are there any similarities between Andy Mulligan's novel Trash and John Steinbeck's famous novel The Pearl?
2. Why does Mulligan make the decision to use multiple narrators in Trash?
3. Why would the boys prefer to keep the items they found and the danger that accompanies them rather than take the $10,000 reward the police are offering? Can the police be trusted to give them the reward?
Join us on the SAS Book Club group on Facebook to discuss Trash. Do you believe that we have boys in Trinidad who live lives like the ones featured in Trash?
Coming in September: You saw her visit to T&T; now join the SAS Book Club to discuss I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up For Education And Was Shot by the Taliban, by Malala Yousafzai and Christina Lamb.