Just So-So

Trash by Andy Mulligan

Adolescent Fiction

The book centers around three dumpster boys, those who make a living scavenging from huge mountains of trash.  One day, Raphael finds something in the trash-something that might be worth money to his destitute family.  When the police scour his neighborhood looking for it, Raphael hopes to turn this trash into even more treasure.  Gordo and Rat, two other orphans, are his partners in crime as they try to unravel the mystery of these papers and why the police are so interested.  Their adventure takes them from the trash heap to a prison to one of the wealthiest and most powerful men in their city and, finally, to a graveyard where the mystery is finally unravelled.

It is a futuristic novel, but not really dystopian which made it a little confusing for me.  In this future, most of the world is a third-world nation--overdeveloped, poor, corrupt with too many orphaned children.  There is absolutely no explanation of how this came to be.  So, why not just set the novel in a third-world present day setting?  The futuristic setting just didn't make sense and wasn't explained.

I did like a lot of things about this book.  The mystery and story within the story was captivating; the characters were likable and well-developed; the plot was realistic and exciting.  I did like that a variety of people told the story in different chapters.  It added to the depth and was different.  In short, I liked it okay.  I just didn't love it.