Trashlands
by Alison Stine
Pub Date: October 26, 2021
MIRA

From the author of Road Out of Winter, winner of the 2021 Philip K. Dick Award, comes a resonant, visionary novel about the power of art and the sacrifices we are willing to make for the ones we love.
This is a new author for me. I read the write-up on NetGalley and I was drawn to the book. I am glad I got a chance to read it!
Anyway, this book is fantastic. Not a wasted word. Takes place in the not-too-distant future when coastal flooding has eliminated many cities, plastic and chemicals have ruined the earth(although plastic becomes the currency of barter), and the Midwest is the junk capital--Scrappalachia.
Thanks to Mira and NetGalley for the ARC. Anyone who reads this book will probably never look at plastic you see by the road the same again. I recommend this! 5 stars

Imagine a world where the most valuable thing is plastic. The plastic used a currency and a building block for your homes. Imagine a world where things have become so terrible that your children are stolen from you to work in factories until they are too old to be of use. Trashlands is a world that Alison Stine is sharing with us that could very well become our world. Our main character unexpectedly becomes pregnant, and one night, her camp is raided, and her son stolen from her. Now her whole life revolves around getting enough money to get him back. This is a well-thought-out novel, but I wish the ending I wanted to had been more resolved and more petite to figure out yourself because of these characters. I felt for them and the hardships and challenging decisions that they make. The world-building was creative enough. I could imagine this world of trash and plastic and the dangers of living like that—overall, an excellent thought-provoking story.

There is something strangely beautiful about trash: the mystery of what something once was or could become, the hidden treasures buried beneath the rubbish, and the stories that can be told in heaps of refuse. There is also power in trash: how it accumulates and consumes, how it travels and transforms landscapes, how it often outlives those who discard it. But, there is also value in it, and in Trashlands, author Alison Stine’s second novel, the value of trash stands at the forefront of her thought-provoking dystopian vision of the future. When garbage—plastics especially—become more valuable than a human life, what does it even mean to be human?

And that’s how I ended up immersed in the world of Scrappalachia, a region-wide garbage junkyard of the American future, where the Appalachian region has become the dumping ground for the East Coast. The quantities of trash that humans have produced is seemingly endless, polluting and overflowing, to the point where governments banned the production of new plastics. That’s how a place like Scrappalachia becomes valuable: plastic is the new currency of the world. It’s collected, sifted, sorted, with traveling bands of pluckers migrating to different places to make ends meet finding and selling valuable plastics. This is a world of survival, but also community, and Stine had me hooked within the first few chapters.

A lot of my enjoyment and investment in this book came from the characters and their relationships. This is a fascinating, intimate look at a community living within the junkyards, with a grimy strip club called Trashlands serving as a hub for the surrounding area. Like a tidepool, tucked in amongst a rocky coast, the Trashland community is a microcosm of humanity’s future: Coral, the protagonist, is a plucker whose son was taken from her, and she spends her free time making art from unique pieces of trash; Trillium is a tattoo artist and Coral’s romantic partner; Mr. Fall is Coral’s adoptive father and a teacher for the junkyard children; Foxglove is a stripper at Trashlands with a troubling past and a body covered in tattoos; Miami is an investigative journalist come from one of the big cities to report on the junkyard communities, albeit with an ulterior motive; Summer, a hairdresser and Mr. Fall’s partner; Shanghai, Coral’s son and a child slave at a plastic processing plant; Rattlesnake Master, the morally decrepit owner of the Trashlands strip club; and Tahiti, the bouncer of Trashlands with a heart of gold.

All of the characters in the book are interesting in one way or another, but Coral is the heart and soul, her bright red shock of hair and honest personality a sort of candle flame for disparate individuals to get drawn towards. I was immediately invested in her story and how it unfolds, as it’s so painful but also brimming with hope. Her search for her son is relentless, but she’s also flawed, sometimes too stubborn to ask for help from those who love her. Trillium was another captivating character, curious and withdrawn as many tattoo artists are. And, as a former tattoo artist myself, Stine wrote his DIY stick-and-poke approach to tattooing incredibly well, including details about making inks and needles and approaches to designs. Although, I did find myself cringing at the thought of how freakin’ unhygienic getting a tattoo on a bus in the middle of a junkyard in a dystopian future would be.

All that aside, Trashlands is a character story, and the characters were so believable that I found myself empathizing with them constantly. They live in a bleak future, yes, but community still means so much and the relationships between each of them feels realistic and tugged at so many of my emotions. I felt disgust at how Rattlesnake Master runs his strip club and treats his employees; I felt sadness for Miami and the loneliness of this city man searching for memories in trash; I felt love, between Coral and Trillium, Mr. Fall and Summer, Foxglove and Tahiti; and I felt hope, over and over again, through characters who are working towards a better future—however that may look in a literal dump.

That fairly bleak setting was also something I loved about the book. Stine brought this junkyard to life, a place flowing with trash but also teeming with life. Next to rusted husks of cars were makeshift shanty homes, a busted satellite dish served as a drying rack for clothes, and all of the junkyard children gathered around Mr. Fall as he taught them everything he could in his best replication of a classroom. Trashlands itself too was a beacon, one of depravity, calling in lonely, drunken men from the surrounding regions, but also of bright flashing lights, the constant thump of a bass line, and inside a group of people making the best of a shitty situation.

Stine’s writing style and pacing also help to convey the energy and atmosphere of the junkyard, as well as the inner workings and relationships of the characters. She has a style akin to Hemingway’s “Iceberg Theory,” in which subtext is more often implied through interactions and things not said. I loved that. It’s something she used in her previous book, Road Out of Winter, but here it’s clear that she has further honed this approach. Things are told only when they need to be, and mysteries about characters and their histories, thoughts and desires are drip-fed in a way that is ultimately satisfying. I felt like I wanted to know more than was being told, but not in a bad way—rather it ramped up my curiosity, and also spurred my imagination to conjure my own theories, ideas and scenarios. This approach feeds the pacing too, which, while not always perfect, had a good balance between different points-of-view, offered multiple perspectives on shared scenes and provided interesting revelations through slow, well-timed context.

Now, into what didn’t work—for me at least—and I can’t say there was a ton I didn’t like. On the topic of pacing, there were some chapters that focused on a particular character for too long, or a string of chapters that had me aching to get back to someone else’s narrative. There were also a few characters that I wanted to know more about, in terms of backstory and motivations and wants (Trillium and Foxglove in particular), whose story lines felt a bit underdeveloped. Then there’s the ending, which I both liked and didn’t. The ending itself was satisfying, and I enjoy how Stine isn’t afraid to leave things open-ended, but the lead-up to that ending felt rushed. As Coral and Shanghai’s respective worlds collide, it felt good, despite them being a broken mother and child and knowing how their journeys unfolded. But I wish things had a little more breathing room to really hit that ending home.

Few gripes aside, Trashlands was a stellar outing for Alison Stine. Her debut novel Road Out of Winter was a great read, but Trashlands built upon that groundwork and ran with it in mesmerizing ways. In the desolate environs of a junkyard, Stine has evoked raw, honest humanity, the connective tissue of community, love, heartbreak, perseverance and the notion that optimism can exist in a place such as this. Fittingly, Coral’s garbage art acts as the perfect metaphor: in a world of trash, where plastic is more valuable than a human life, there will always be the hope that one can do more and be more.

Trashlands by Alison Stine is a quiet but impactful read. It presents a look at what our world may end up like if we don’t start caring for our planet right now.

Mass flooding and other natural disasters caused by climate change have shrunk North America and completely changed everyone’s way of life. In this new world, nothing is definite, and everything is a struggle. Women are more vulnerable than before the floods; children are often forcibly taken to labour camps; plastic is the new form of currency.

In an area renamed Scrappalachia, Coral lives with her partner on a junkyard known as Trashlands. Trashlands is a dance club owned by a vile man called Rattlesnake Master, the self-appointed Mayor of the community.

Rather than work as a dancer, Coral is a plucker, someone who salvages usable plastic from the shore and woods. In her limited spare time, she creates art sculptures from scraps and leaves them in the woods for people to do what they will with them. Several years ago, Coral’s son Shanghai was forcibly taken to a children’s labour camp. Since then, Coral has been trying to save enough plastic to buy his freedom.

A reporter named Miami arrives at Scrappalachia with a vague goal of trying to find something. Miami’s life becomes intertwined with the people of Trashlands, and his presence opens up the possibility of changing some of the lives in the community.

This story has multiple perspectives and a timeline that jumps from the past to the present and vice versa. I found it less jarring as the story progressed. Usually, when reading from multiple POVs, I’ll prefer one perspective over another, but with this book, I found them all engaging.

This novel is paced slowly and is meandering, but it managed to capture my attention entirely. While this book explores some dark themes, there is still a lingering hope that permeates through, signalling that it is not too late to change things.

CW: child abuse/neglect, drug usage.

Thank you to MIRA for the arc via Netgalley in exchange for an unbiased review.

Book: Trashlands
Author: Alison Stine
Rating: 4 Out of 5 Stars

I would like to thank the publisher, Mira Books, for sending me an ARC.

I loved Alison’s first book, Road Out of Winter, so much. It was one of those books that just pulled you in and left you wanting to read more. There is just something about the way she writes that just pulls you in and makes it very difficult to get out. She presents everything in a manner that is so real and it just makes you feel as if you are there. You are in the Trashlands with the characters, experiencing all the horrors and joys of what the characters are going through. Plus, the situations that the characters are put in could actually happen. I think that is the scary about this book.

Everything that happens in this book could actually happen. We are dealing with a world in which society has pretty much broken down and now everyone has to pick up the pieces. We see people out trying to come up with ways to survive. Some of the characters have to do things that they normally would. Coral is the character who comes to mind whenever I think of this. Her son has been taken from her and is now working in the factories. We see her putting herself in situations with the hopes of trying to get him back. We also have young women working at a strip club because, again, they have no other options. So many people are put here because of that reason. There is no choice. The only other choice is to die and many of these people do want to live. They have this desire to keep on going. It really makes you stop and wonder what you would do if you were in their situation. Would you have the will power to keep on going or would you just lie down? I like it whenever books make you think about what you would do if you were in the same situations as the characters.

The characters we meet throughout the course of the book are very complex and developed. Again, this all comes down to the situations that they have been forced into. They are a product of the world again them. However, some have chosen to use what life has thrown at them for good, while others have not. It just depends on what the characters have decided to do with their lives and what to make of them. We do see a lot of people bringing out the good in humanity. We see them come together and try to have a somewhat normal life. We also see a lot of people bring out the not so good aspects of human nature. Again, it all comes down to how you are going to deal with the situation. Once again, it also makes you questions what you would do if you were in the characters’ situation.

Again, I think what I really liked about this book is the fact that it pulls you in and really makes you think about what you would do if the world fell apart. I know it kind of did in 2020, but this is on a whole other level.

If you are looking for a science fiction book that makes you think and seems real, I highly encourage you to pick this one up. You will not be sorry that you did.

This book comes out on October 26, 2021.

Youtube: https://youtu.be/f738VWG_1GI

Trashlands is atmospheric and detailed, transporting you to a world of scarcity. It's like nothing I've ever read. Trashlands details a world so unlike the one I'm familiar with, and yet in some ways so similar. How there has been waves of immense change, of reaping our mistakes, but even then there's this desire to create, to form families, and to find hope. For me, I was enjoying the world building and slow character development, and then all of a sudden I could not put Trashlands down.

I think it was the moment that the action exploded like a firework. When all these pieces Stine established, suddenly bloomed and began connecting. The moment these fragments of life, hints to the shrouded past, became clear. And then I couldn't put Trashlands down until I was finished.

I just…. Don’t get it.

This is an odd book, a mixture of The Grapes of Wrath and the (hopefully) distant future. It’s a reflection of humankind, a reflection of what makes us human. It’s the story of Coral, a young woman whose child was kidnapped and forced to work in a factory, but there’s so much more to the story than just that. It’s a story about the lives of people woven together like that plastic quilt Summer made.

But I don’t get it. I don’t understand why the author chose to weave the story together in a haphazard timeline. It was very confusing to read. We could jump from the person to person, and different points of time in a heartbeat. I didn’t understand a good portion of what I read. I think the characters are interesting. I think the setting was gritty and grimy, which was the point. I appreciated the world building.
But it felt like we were thrown into the middle of someone’s life and then vigorously plucked out of it with no real sense of resolution. This feels like a classic book that I was required to read in school, that everyone around me really liked, but I just don’t understand why anyone likes it.

One star.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC of this book.

Thanks to Netgalley for an advance reader’s copy.

This book is simply amazing! It’s an eco-dystopian thriller set in the near future, when the Earth has been ravaged by climate change, rising sea levels and flooding, chemical leakages, and plastic pollution. Much of the land has turned toxic and the few remaining barely-getting-by-cities rely on recycled plastic bricks both as currency and building materials.

in a place called Trashlands located Scrappalachia (a future play on Appalachia, here set vaguely in Southern Ohio), the destitute spend their days hunting through a highly polluted river for recyclable plastic that they can sell, much like panning for gold in bygone days. Plastic has become the new currency. Picking through trash for plastic that has not been recycled before, they barely scrape out an existence as they face hunger, poverty, lack of nutrition, violence, an evil overlord, and scavenging kidnappers coming in randomly to snatch young children for factory work due to their agile fingers ability to pick out small usable plastic pieces. At the center of Trashlands stands a neon-lighted strip club which attracts the worst kind of men, staffed by well-meaning women who turn to sex work to survive. Rattlesnake Master runs not only the club but treats Trashlands as his own fiefdom. He charges residents for food, electricity and basic at jacked up prices much like the factory company stores of old.

At the center of this story stand three strong compassionate women survivors, single mom Coral and club workers Summer and Foxglove, who transcend their abject poverty and the misogyny of the men who come into Trashlands to get intoxicated and laid. By their sides are compassionate men looking out for them: Coral’s surrogate Dad, Summer’s lover and teacher of the children, Mr. Fall; Coral’s older boyfriend Trillium, and a reporter from the city coming to avenge his sister’s death in Trashlands. The action centers on pulling together the resources to rescue Coral’s son who was kidnapped years prior, and who has his own narrative interludes while imprisoned in the plastic brick factory.

It comes together with heart and ferocity, where the instinct to survive and to draw ones you love close transcends into hope and conquers evil. You want these characters to be your best friends if you found yourself in an apocalypse, and you hope that you would have the heart and grit to make it through like they do.

This books also resonates with you long past finishing it- and you’ll never look at the massive plastic trash that our consumer lives generate and pollutes the Earth the same way.

This book is wonderful! It hit all my sweet spots -- environmentalism, sustainability, strong female characters, multiple perspectives -- not to mention the fact that it is incredibly well written.

Trashlands is a sprawling, poetic snapshot of the lives of the plastic pluckers and dancers of Trashlands, Scrappalachia. Following a cataclysmic world climate apocalypse and the theft of her son, Coral and her family are stranded in what used to be a junkyard in Ohio (now a strip club) trying to eke out a life with meaning.

The storytelling, though slow and atmospheric, is compelling. Stine rambles through a number of interesting characters—never quite telling the whole story and leaving plenty to infer and discover along the way. There is very little resolution, but yet the story doesn't feel incomplete. The reader is let go at just the right moment.

As lovely as it is, Trashlands doesn't quite deliver on its apocalypse. The world is vibrant and works for these characters, but there is never a satisfying explanation of what happened, why they have to live this way, or, in a literary sense, what the apocalypse has to do with the story. This would only be a negative for readers interested in political/economic apocalyptica over human interest pieces.

In it's worst moments, there's an awkward bluntness to the comparison between the fictional pluckers and real life Appalachian miners that is at odds with the usually deliciously subtle writing, and Stine's brand of "feminism" leaves a lot to be desired. But over all, I am very glad I read this book.

I would recommend to: Fans of Station Eleven and other stories about humanity.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for providing this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

An adventure in a destroyed world, where survival is only for the strong. What sacrifices would you make to survive.coral is stuck in Trashlands. Her child has been taken away from her. An enjoyable tale with different perspectives and courage. Well worth reading

This was a well-imagined world, I liked the characters, and I enjoyed the story. I wish there were a little bit more resolution at the ending, I also felt like it was a very possible near term future for us, the way things are going.
Thanks to NetGalley for this review copy!

Trashlands is a pretty dismal look into what could be the not so distant future. Some areas of the country have intermittent power while other places like "Scrapappalachia" have none. Currency is now mostly plastic that "pluckers" salvage from rivers etc. and are exchanged for food and supplies.
Coral has grown up with her adoptive father leading a life as a plucker. They traveled in an old school bus and followed the plastic tide with the seasons. Flooding has destroyed most of the coastlines and they've settled in an area that used to be known as the Appalachian Mountains. Her father teaches the children that are left from an old set of Encyclopedia Britannica's and Coral collects plastic from the rivers.
The area they've settled in is a graveyard of old rusted out cars that people live in and the main draw to this area is a strip club called Trashlands. It brings in men who want to spend plastic and forget. It's the only place that has electricity from solar panels that lights up a neon sign with the name of the club. It also has "chillers" to keep the air cool for the clients.
The book has quite a few characters that you grow on but most are sad in this place they call home. Overall a pretty depressing yet interesting read. I was not sold on how the book ended, felt a little rushed to wrap up the story at that point.

This story depicts a (hopefully alternate) near future that is post-climate apocalypse, where manufacturing and society as we know it is a thing of the past and plastic is currency, life … all that is left. The characters that populate “Scrappalachia” are struggling with conditions we can hardly imagine and versions of the patriarchy and capitalism that we sadly can. This is a different and interesting story well worth the read.

This is one of my favorite books to read in a long time, and I read a lot of books. The whole world has gone to hell and about the only jobs left are scavenging for used plastic or dancing in a dump of a joint called Trashlands. Everybody has gone through something traumatic in their lives and yet they still bond and care about whoever and whatever they can make into a family life. Scavenging for food, for garbage, for acceptance. Trying to protect children (who are kidnapped to work in factories sorting plastic) protect themselves, protect what little freedom and family life they have. Despite all the problems, the good people are people readers will care for and relate to, and the bad people are bad in all the bad ways and if you relate to them then that's icky.

The residents of Scrappalachia are so isolated that they don't know that cities still exist, that there are jobs in the world that aren't scavenging or dancing in dives. All strangers are to be distrusted until one day a kindly reporter arrives from a big city, looking for his sister who has gone missing. And you know what happens when an outsider arrives. Their world turns up-side-down. (Actually, there are a lot of outsiders, but most are men drunk of alcohol made from rot, there for nothing other than ogling dancers.

Will the kidnapped child ever return? Will the characters get out of their grueling lives? Will the main character bite her lip until she tastes blood? (Yes, but only once so my bite-o-meter did not even wiggle.) This is one heck of an exciting ride, even if few of the cars of the world still run.

Thanks to Netgalley and Harlequin (who knew Harlequin printed horror?) for allowing me to read this post-apocalyptic ARC ebook.