Two things before I kick this off. First, the book is technically not set in Manila, but it’s so clearly based off it (which I’ll describe later) that I’m counting it. Second, the book was the basis for a 2014 film of the same name. That movie is set in Brazil. This is a review/coverage/recommendation for the book, though, so it counts. So there.
Ok, with that – on to the book. This was a fast read – not only because it’s relatively small and well-written, but also because you just keep reading to find out what happens next. The story is primarily centered around three dumpsite boys – Raphael, Gardo, and Rat (Jun-Jun). The boys (aged 11-14) live and work in and among the trash heaps of Behala (a giant landfill). They spend their time rummaging through the garbage trying to find whatever trinkets and plastic they can find to sell. Mucking around knee-deep (or more) in trash, sifting through stuppa (human excrement), and just barely scraping by, these boys are about as poor as they come. Then one day Raphael comes across a bag that contains a wallet with eleven hundred pesos (a lot for them), a map, a key, and some identification for a man named José Angelico who worked as a servant in a rich part of town called Green Hills. When the police come searching for something “important” and offer a reward to whoever finds the lost item, Raphael and Gardo know they have something of even greater value than they realized. When Raphael’s auntie slips that he found something, all police eyes are on him. He lies and says he just found a shoe, but it only diverts their attention temporarily. The two boys turn to a fellow dumpsite boy – an even more outcast kid, Rat – to help them hide the bag until they can figure out what to do.
From there, the trio embark on a treasure hunt encased in political conspiracy and danger. Corruption in the police force and higher ranks of the government threaten the boys at every turn, as they seek allies in kind-hearted missionaries – Father Juilliard, the man who runs the Pascal Aguila Mission School in Behala, and Olivia, a volunteer at the school. The three boys and these two missionaries are the narrators for the story, alternating throughout depending on who “needs” to tell the story at that time. While such flip flops in narrators could be off-putting, it works well for this story.
I don’t want to give too much of the story away, as the real fun of this book is unraveling the mystery alongside the characters. Learning where the key went, deciphering secret codes, and meandering graveyards on Day of the Dead – all while avoiding capture – add up to a fast-paced, entertaining read.
As for the location – as I noted, the setting is technically not Manila. However, the author supposedly based the book on an encounter he had in 2010 in Manila. He was on a school trip with his 11-year-old students and found children living on a landfill, much like the one described in Trash. He was moved by the children he saw working there, as well as children he encountered in other slum-dwelling locations (including Calcutta, East Asia, and Latin America). It was Manila, however, that much of the book appears to emulate. For example, beyond the use of pesos (the currency in Manila is Philippine peso), the Pascal Aguila Mission School was inspired by a charity-run Christian school that stood on site at the landfill in Manila when Mulligan visited. The rich part of town is called Green Hills, and there is an actual area called Greenhills which is a shopping/residential neighborhood where the former President Joseph Estrada once lived. There is also mention of McKinley Hill (“It was put in the trash by mistake. Out on McKinley Hill, somewhere round there.”) – an area that has a man-made replica of the Venice waterways and the famous Ponte Rialto Bridge.
In addition, the book mentions Smoky Mountain, which (when spelled as “Smokey”) was an actual Manila dumpsite that operated from 1969–1995 at which point it was closed by the president at the time, Fidel Ramos. Of note, in the story, Raphael talks about a fatal landslide that had killed dumpsite boys/workers. This actually happened – in 2000 there was a landslide at the Payatas dumpsite (where many residents of Smokey Mountain migrated once it was closed) in Quezon City that resulted in the destruction of over 100 squatters’ homes and the deaths of over 200 scavengers (official estimate is ~200 but other sources and first-hand accounts suggest closer to 700-1000 deaths). Actually, stop for a second and let that sink in. And feel free to lose yourself down a rabbit hole reading about this tragedy, the “Bangkang papel” boys (three survivors of the garbage slide who gained notoriety), and the fact that it wasn’t until 2020 (!) that a court finally found the Quezon City government liable for the collapse and ordered them to pay damages to the legal heirs of (some of) the victims.
The last thing I want to note before I give my recommendation is a fun fact I discovered – namely, the author wrote this book in just 10 days – writing for 10 hours/day while he was living in Manila. [Insert joke about it taking me 10 days just to write this review.] With that – would I recommend this book? Yep. It’s not a glamorous view of the Philippines, no, but it’s a great book and worth your time. If you want to dive in, you can find it online as a PDF here: https://adamerrittk-8center.org/Link%20to%20access%20Trash%20by%20Andy%20Mulligan.pdf