The Waste Land

Too many memoirs about class are the products of the upwardly mobile, written by those who peddle tales of growing up poor from their new positions of comfort. While the J. D. Vances of this world exploit their backgrounds cynically, the overall dynamic is hard to avoid. Putting a book together is simply more feasible for someone with a certain amount of education and free time. In this regard, Simon Paré-Poupart’s Ordures! Journal d’un vidangeur (Trash! A garbageman’s notebook) is a rare delight. Really an extended essay on waste disposal, overconsumption, and the lives of trash collectors, it is penned by an actual garbageman.

Paré-Poupart began running behind garbage trucks in his teens, and he’s kept at it, at least part-time, for two decades. Mind you, he also has an advanced degree in sociology, which he uses to create a beautifully hybrid text. Part exposé of the hidden lives of trash collectors, part critique of consumer society, this account mixes...