“Mr. Mulligan, I read your book and it’s ‘Trash’,” joked British author Andy Mulligan during the launch of his latest book titled “Trash” in National Bookstore Glorietta 5.
The book is far from trash. In fact, it is what Mulligan described it to be: gripping and a page-turner. “Trash” is noticeably set in the Philippines with places like Smoky Mountain and Central Terminal.
“It’s a book that picks you up and takes you to new and interesting places,” Mulligan said.
“Trash” talks about three dumpsite boys who stumbled upon something important in the mountain of trash where they live. A few days later after the discovery, police came and looked for the bag. Fear led to more fear which takes the boys to places.
Mulligan is a teacher at the British School of Manila. In one of the school’s visits in depressed areas, he stumbled upon this dumpsite which he vividly described in the book. He calls it Behala. “The piles stack up, you could climb for ever, and many people do…up and down, into the valleys. The mountains go right from the docks to the marshes, one whole long world of steaming trash,” states a passage in the book.
“I think it is socially realistic and certainly not fantasy,” Mulligan said. “I think the world that I described is a real one;the boys and the events are real. I was confronted by the dumpsite and it’s not something that I can get out of my imagination.”
While the setting is obviously in the Philippines, it was not specifically mentioned in the book, because Mulligan believes that: “The problems that Manila or even the Philippines has, like poverty, corruption, and child exploitation, those problems are in every city and probably in every country in the world.”
“I didn’t ever sit down to write a book that commented on the culture or politics of the Philippines,” he explained. “I sat down to write a book that was about issues that affect the entire developing world very acutely.” Mulligan added that he doesn’t want people to be distracted by thinking about the book being specific to Manila.
Mulligan was brought up in London. He was a theater director for 10 years. His travels to Asia prompted him to retrain as a teacher. He taught English and drama in Britain, Brazil, India, and the Philippines.
“Once the idea gets to your brain, you don’t know what to do with it,” he said. “My imagination is inclined to write about areas where there are going to be issues and difficulties.”
While one of the protagonists is based very firmly on a boy Mulligan met in the dumpsite, the other one is loosely based on a child he met in Calcutta.
“I wanted the story to be universal,” Mulligan added.
“I steal inspiration from those I meet. Likewise, the landscape of the novels—the rich areas, the poor areas, the dumpsite, the graveyard, the island—are all landscapes I’ve stolen from the country that I happen to be living in,” he added.
Mulligan just wanted to tell a story. If something good comes out of it or if the government takes notice, that is not something he intended to do, he said. “I’m actually nervous how people will receive my book and the story,” he shared.
Mulligan has also written the children’s book “Ribblestrop.” It’s about a completely dysfunctional boarding school and is more fun and less serious stuff.
The departure from something light and going to a heavier subject did not create any trouble for Mulligan. “Transition is quite easy,” he said.
Mulligan confesses to “hating” boring books which probably helped in writing “Trash.” Every page reveals a secret which makes it a real page-turner. “I write something that is enjoyable.”
Published in the Philippine Daily Inquirer in October 2010.
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