BOOK REVIEW - Hope for Garbage

 

Author: Alex Tully - http://www.alextullywriter.com

Format: Kindle eBook (free at the time on amazon) 

Did it feel like a full novel: yes

Cliffhanger: no

Genre: young adult

Dates Read: July 16-18, 2015

Official Blurb: Welcome to the cruel world of Trevor McNulty. No matter how hard he tries, this seventeen year-old just can’t get a break. Through no fault of his own, he finds himself living with his alcoholic uncle on the outskirts of Cleveland. His days are filled with garbage-picking and hanging out with his seventy year-old neighbor, who also happens to be his best friend.

One early morning while scanning the streets in a posh suburb, he meets Bea, a rebellious rich girl with problems of her own. She’s smart, cute, and a glimmer of light in his dark world.

But in the midst of their budding romance, Bea’s beautiful mother enters the picture with an agenda of her own. She sets off a chain of events so shocking and destructive, Trevor's crazy life soon becomes more than he can handle. While he is desperate to save his relationship with Bea, he learns that nothing in his world can be saved unless he first saves himself.

Hope for Garbage is a story about resilience-about overcoming adversity under the most extraordinary circumstances-about never, ever, giving up hope.

Because sooner or later, everybody gets a break

Blurb really made me curious. Perhaps it was not as pathetic a situation for Trevor as I imagined, but he sill has a really hard life, and it gets worse the more you read. The dialogue felt a bit plastic and fake until about a third of the way through for some reason, but then picked up well. Characters like Trevor, Mr. T, and Lorene were well written. I could see who they were, and their reasons for doing what they did. Mr. T’s relationship with Trevor is a beautiful one, which I thought was well-done in spite of their age differences. Or because of them?

I don’t want to spoil something, but I could not see why a certain character does something to hurt Trevor pretty badly. I didn’t see the reasoning for the way it was handled, even if it did make sense for why it happened. I guess it’s nice to have a happy ending that feels a bit more like real life, not everything working out perfectly. 

This was easy to breeze through once the dialogue leveled out, and the plot climax isn’t crazy cliffhanger style, but realistically intense. Trevor is a wonderful character who’s good hearted but isn’t an exaggerated phony. You can really feel he’s a conscientious person without having to be told. Finding out the details of his difficult past make your heart ache as they compound with the crappy stuff in his present.  

There is a wee bit of romance, but it feels like more of a coming-of-age story. I really enjoyed it and though part of me wants another novel continuing the story, I feel satisfied stopping here. Another novel would undoubtedly cause Trevor more pain, so I can live quite well without that, thank you very much. Rather different from the common YA storylines, and all the better for it. Can’t wait to read another book by this author!

Rating: 4 stars