Trash Mountain [Paperback]

Ben Shippers doesnt have much use for school, friends, or pretty much anyone except his smartass siser, but he does harbor a secret passion: Trash Mountain, the central feature of the noxious landfill next to his house, the fumes from which have made his sister ill. After a botched attempt to destroy Trash Mountain with a homemade firebomb, Ben begins a years-long infiltration operation that leads him to drop out of school to work alongside homeless trash-pickers, and then, eventually, intern at the very place he meant to destroy. Bens boss there, a charismatic would-be titan of sanitation, shows Ben the intricate moralities of the trash industry, forcing him to choose between monetary stability and his environmental principles. With dark humor,Trash Mountainreflects on life in small southern cities in decline and an adolescents search for fundamental values without responsible adults to lead the way. Winner of the 2015 Red Hen Press Fiction Award, selected by Steve Almond

Title is the author's debut novel

Subject matter of environmentalism and environmental threats is very relevant in today's political climate

Will appeal to fans of coming of age stories, George Saunders, dark humor, social satire; environmentalists; young men; those interested in or from the South, and rural/small town America The novel has an episodic feel, as Ben encounters an array of fellow students, potential employers, and local luminaries. Throughout, Bazzle chronicles the ways in which Bens early idealism erodes under more complex concerns. The novels tone is occasionally uneven: Bazzles observations on questions of race and class feel rooted in a social realism tradition, while other characters, like a long-winded local businessman and his father, a contentious figure nicknamed Donkey Dan, seem imported from a more broadly satirical work. Bazzles novel explores the compromises one makes in life even as it blends the gritty and the extravagant along the way.l³$