Trash

The story about the dumpsite boys begins with Raphael, a voice that I found inviting. He was upbeat, fun, and adventurous--a definite clash when you consider he's among the many of poverty-stricken who depend on garbage as a way of survival.

The voices switch as Gardo, Raphael's best friend, steps in to tell part of the story. He's the wiser of the two and though I didn't like the change in voice, I warmed up to Gardo before the next character took over.

Their adventure began on a normal day while the two were sifting through trash when a small leather bag fell into Raphael's hand. Inside was a wallet full of money, a folded-up map and a key. When the police showed up offering a huge reward for its return, the boys knew something was wrong. They didn't believe the government wouldn't pay and that the key must lead to something better. Finding out would put them in danger, but how much more dangerous can life get when you are a dumpsite kid?

The story loses momentum when the voices change, and not just from Gardo to Raphael and back again, but to other characters like Father Julliard who runs Pascal Aguila Mission School. There's also Rat, another boy who helps them on this adventure. If Raphael provided the voice from beginning to end, this story would have been more intense and hard to put down.

This book is amazingly well written. it is a completeltly new idea. The plot is extremely creative. The book has everything a great book should have.the book really gives you a connection to the characters. Trash is a book that will give you an entirely diffrent perspective of life.

The story is told from several different characters' viewpoints, which at first might slow the story for some readers. But not for long. The vivid writing is stellar, pulling the reader into a foreign dumpsite world, like when Raphael explains, ". . . the trash comes alive at night. That's when the rats come out strong." It's a great read full of action, mystery, courage and a view of unthinkable poverty. Kidsmysteryreviews.com

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.

Just finished really liked this book. Loved the plot and intensity of the book. I don't know if it was just me but I found the middle section a little hard to follow. Other than that would recommend this book to a person of any age!

Unfortunately, I found myself very bored with this book. I thought, perhaps I was the problem, so I convinced several of my seventh grade students to read and review the book for me. Only one of the ten students (7 boys and 3 girls) stated that he liked it. The rest stated that it was "okay" or "not my type of book".