The Glass Collector

by Anna Perera

In Cairo, fifteen-year old Aaron makes a living out of gathering garbage - as a member of the despised Zabbaleen, this is his fate. But Aaron has dreams. Every day he dreams of Rachel, who looks after the ponies who pull the carts piled high with garbage to and from the slum they call home. He dreams that they will make a life together, far away from the smells, cruelty and squalor of their daily existence.

Aaron's skills st sorting glass is the only thing that keeps him alive. His mother is dead, and his stepfather and stepbrother Lijah subject him to an endless regime of bullying and abuse.

Just as it seems he can sink no further, Aaron makes a choice that will change his life.

Genres: Fiction, Young Adult, Realistic Fiction, Contemporary, Survival, Poverty, Adventure

292 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2011

About the author

Anna was born in London to a Sri Lankan, Buddhist father and Irish, Catholic mother and grew up twenty miles away. After teaching English in two secondary schools in London, she ran a unit for teenage boys who were excluded from school and later did an MA in Writing For Children at Winchester University. She lives in London and has a grown-up son.

In 2006, she attended a gig for the charity, Reprieve.org at The Globe Theatre where she learnt children had also been abducted and rendered to Guantanamo Bay. This event was the inspiration for the critically acclaimed novel which has been translated into several languages and nominated for many awards, including shortlisting for The Costa Children’s Book Award.

Reviews

[Jo · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars.

It’s normal in Cairo- the city of magic and ancient mysteries- for rich and poor to stand side by side, to share the same doorways and buildings, the same streets, without ever really seeing each other.

“Nothing can satisfy our minds like the kinds of journeys we are capable of when we use our imaginations. Only then can we discover the truth.

When I visited Cairo a couple of years ago, the thing that struck me the most was how fascinating and incredibly daunting it was seeing two completely different lifestyles living within the same city.
On one hand you have the cool, air conditioned museums, the restaurants, the five star hotels, the tour buses full of tourists who are suffering from incredible cases of sunstroke.
(Well, ok, that may have just been me. My skin can’t even handle a Mancunian summer, I practically combusted in the Sahara.)
But on the other, the side that they don’t cover in the guide books, is something completely different and this is what The Glass Collector is about.
From the first page I could tell how passionate Ms Perera was about telling Aaron’s story. It’s honest without being too preachy. It’s harrowing without being too intense. It’s sweet without being too saccharine. And I really appreciated how Ms Perera portrayed Aaron’s happiness with the same importance as his struggles.
The only problem I had with this book was the style in which it was written (third person, present tense) and I’m not sure whether it’s just because I’m not used to reading books like this or what, but I can’t say I was a fan.

But other than that it was a really fascinating look into a subject which is very rarely addressed in literature, never mind young adult/middle grade books.
I’d really recommend it, especially for readers on the younger side of YA.


I received a copy of this book from the publishers.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not an easy read, for the harrowing living conditions the book depicts. But, as with Guantanamo Boy, Perera focuses on episodes and people most of us don't even know exist. Beautifully written, with vibrant characters, and a moving message about what it means to be part of a community.

[Lily Gabriel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved the representation and recognition this book gave to Coptic people, especially the community of the Zabbaleen. Being Coptic myself, I understood the history of this community and the Christian minority in Egypt, but I felt like the book itself needed to explain the context a little more. Overall pretty good story, but the writing was a bit underdeveloped

[Susan Jones]

No star. Gave up after 25 pages. Repetitive. Not going anywhere

[K. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Trigger warnings: death, animal death, blood, teenage girls being married off to men three times their age, violence, medical waste, constant threat of disease.

Based on other reviews, I have a super unpopular opinion where this book is concerned. But holy wow did I not like this book. Let's bullet point things because it's late and I'm tired.
- It basically has no plot. I get that it's meant to be sort of a slice of life in a particular community, but the blurb very much emphasises the relationship between Aaron and Rachel and that relationship is...almost an afterthought.
- There are way too many characters and they flitted in and out of the story with such frequency that I often had very little idea of who they were.
- None of the threads of the story seemed to connect in any way. Things were introduced only to vanish again with no actual conclusion.
- I didn't particularly enjoy the writing.
- It was really bleak. Like, REALLY fucking bleak. I get that it's based on reality for many people in that community, but nothing about this cover or the blurb gave me the indication that I was going to read about teenagers risking HIV and hepatitis infection by sorting through medical waste for items that could be recycled.
- I felt like there wasn't enough in the story to actually introduce the Zabbaleen community and so I was nearly half way through the book before it was noted that they're a Coptic community which is both why they're hated and why everyone has Christian names in a Muslim country. And, like, that information could have been provided WAY sooner than it was...
- I just...yeah. This wasn't for me.

[Morven McLeod · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The Glass Collector" focuses on the story of Aaron, an orphan who collects the waste of the city of Cairo to sell to the merchant Faisal. His life is hard; death is a common occurrence in the slum of Mokkatam where his people the Zabbaleen live, and he must work physically in the heat of the day while around him the wealthy citizens ignore him. In the midst of the the hard and dangerous lives that his people lead however, there is a pulsing and irresistible energy, and a hope that can't be extinguished.

There are things that are extremely relatable about the experiences of the Zabbaleen - Aaron's crush on his friend Rachel, Shareen's desire for attention and to be loved, even Jacob's quiet despair at the thought of his own mortality. It is these similarities that makes the differences more striking, and shed light on the inhumanity of the gaping divide between rich and poor. There is a lot to be learned and gained from this book; from Egyptian culture to the increasing problem of excess waste.

In the author's note, Anna Perera describes her own visit to the slums of Cairo, and the "sheer horror of living among thousands of tonnes of stinking, decaying garbage." In "The Glass Collector" she recreates this environment tangibly for the reader, showing her own intimacy with the experiences of the Zabbaleen people. This experience and in-depth personal research lends not only power, but heart to her story, and a truth behind the page that will touch any reader.

[Gillian · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story is about a young boy, Aaron, who collects and sorts rubbish for a living on the streets of Cairo. More than that, it's a story about family and community and finding yourself. It takes a meandering course through the lives of the inhabitants of the Zabbaleen community and shares Aaron's adventures and explorations within this. It certainly made me think about my life, family and community and how many 'first world problems' we spend so much time and energy complaining about.

A good read and a useful reminder to be grateful, regardless of what we have or don't have.

[Jlaski · Rating 2 out of 5]

Plot twists. Abandonment. Marriage. All of these very different events happen in The Glass Collector by Anna Perera. The book takes place in future egypt where the division of classes has sent the lower class into a state where they have to rummage through trash in order to survive. The books main character is Aaron who lost both his parents and lives with his step family. His family, neighbors, and friends are forced to dig through trash to salvage what's good in order to make money and buy food. His job is to pull the glass out and preserve it. But his family gets fed up with Aarons obsession with glass and kicks him out. He then is forced to work with his friend Jacob and do an even worse job, dig through medical waste.The plot of the book revolves around Aaron trying to survive and get Rachel, the girl of his dreams. His crazy neighbor however puts some obstacles in the way. Aaron will do anything to help Rachel, but a lot of people do not agree with the things that he does. With his new job of medical wasting posing serious medical problems and very dangerous situations.

Personally I did not enjoy this book for two simple reasons. First, around the middle of the book it starts to drag and become really boring. But, the author fixes this problem when she puts plot twists in there to spice it up. Secondly there were way too many characters to remember. I ended not not caring about most of them simply because there were so many people to recall when reading. I mean in the first part we meet Aaron’s friends and there were a lot of names in there. Some of them don't even stick around to the end of the book. If they did they had small parts with a few exceptions. However the author combats this with excellent character development, and the characters that I could keep track of and remember were very well written.Overall this book was enjoyable but long and dragged out over a plot that takes too long to kick in which results in a portion of the book where absolutely nothing happens. On the other hand the author is very good at character development in the characters that actually mattered in the book. I would give this book a five out of ten because of that.

[Belinda · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm not sure how to rate this. On the one hand it taught me so much about a terrible world in Egypt as a rubbish sorter. But on the other hand I didn't love the actual story that kind of meandered and didn't always make sense. One thing I loved was the paper this was printed on! Thick and brilliant white. 51 percent!

[Sonja · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good and interesting book. Also kind of sad.

[Steve Robinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bit of an unexpected gem, this! Anyone with teenage kids might want to encourage them to read this book about life and survival in truly awful conditions, and not a vampire in sight!!

[Micki_1989 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unfortunately couldn't really get into the book but I was really looking forward to reading it to. It just didn't hit I gues

[Susan Lane · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Cairo treats the dead better than the living.”

[Wandering Librarians · Rating 3 out of 5]

Aaron is one of the Zabbaleen people of Egypt. The Zabbaleen are the unofficial trash collectors of Egypt. Each day, hundreds of children just like Aaron go out into the streets of Cairo and pick through the piles of garbage looking for recyclables. They haul it home, sort it, and sell it.

Their lives are surrounded by garbage. When Aaron's step family kicks him out, Aaron has few choices. He can steal, beg, die, or take the worst garbage collection job there is - a medical waster.

So, this was pretty horrific. I didn't know. I didn't know there were such people as the Zabbaleen, and that they've been there for a long time, and that they're still there. It really makes me think about all the other terrible things that are going on in the world I don't have any idea about.

There are incredibly vivid descriptions of the squalor Aaron and other people in his village live in. They live with trash, day in and day out. The sleep next to it, they eat next to it. There's the constant horrible smell. Without them, trash would overrun Egypt. They recycle 80% of what they find, where the government run services only recycles 20%. It's incredibly dangerous. As you would guess, disease runs rampant. The most dangerous of all the jobs is being a medical waster, and only the most poor and desperate take that job. These are the people who go through the trash at hospitals or other medical facilities. That means you have people picking through used needles and blood bags with their bare hands. Many of them die from infection.

For me reading this was more learning about a people I didn't even know was out there. The story itself was secondary, and a little disjointed. Aaron's job is collecting glass. He loves glasses, and there a perfume shop he's obsessed with. He loves to look at the beauty of the glass bottles. One day, he goes so far as to steal some. When he's caught, he's shunned by his step family and now must figure out how to survive. He is in love with a girl names Rachel, and has to deal with his abusive stepfather and his very violent stepbrother.

Much like Okay for Now, the end wrapped up in a tidy way that didn't fit with the rest of the story. Aaron's stepbrother undergoes a dramatic character change that comes out of nowhere, and Rachel suddenly decides to marry him. His stepfather dies and now he doesn't have to be a medical waster any more. That was all a little strange.

I don't know if this is a book a kid would just pick up, and it's not one I would recommend for a light read, but for those social justice conscious kids it's a great one.

The Glass Collector will be available March 1, 2012.

Find out more about the Zabbaleen at http://www.zabbaleen.com/.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't know if I am oversensitive or precious, but unless there is something redemptive to keep me reading through it all, I do not enjoy reading about (or watching, for that matter) misery, extreme poverty and abuse. Don't get me wrong, I read a lot of books about India, and sad books that involve a lot of pain and suffering, but I must admit that most of those are written for adults, and it would be harder to write about these topics for a younger audience. I Love the work of Rohinton Mistry and Gregory David Roberts, and Arundati Roy, and they all refuse to turn their own or the reader's face from the misery that they depict. But they are such wonderful writers that the depictions of joy within their worlds are gifts to the reader, and their characterisations so compassionate that we feel we cannot leave the people of that world, and so we stay to learn with them, and eventually be redeemed with them (I do need that promise of hope somewhere, I think).

So why am I writing about all these other books when I am supposed to be talking about The Glass Collector?
Because the contrast is stark between the above group of works and this one. Perera seems to lack the skill to sufficiently draw the reader into this world to make them stay for the journey, and it takes an extraordinary skill to draw us into these places which are unpleasant and stinking and abusive and just sad. I almost think that adolescents are a group that even more dearly need the promise of hope as a shadow beneath their feet as they read a novel such as this one. And there is a promise of hope, on the blurb of the book, but it takes up until the last 50 or so pages of the novel until this hope emerges from the trash and misery to become real.

Whilst we hope for the best for our hero, Aaron, he isn't sufficiently optimistic, unique, inspired, humorous, intelligent or quirky to make us dream with him, and he is downtrodden by the shabbiness of his world into a depression which we can certainly relate to, but never enjoy, like the great writers can encourage us to do.
Interestingly, to go on again about a different book, I've just started my next read, which is tragic and upsetting - The Fault in our Stars, by John Green, and its nothing like this. I already love the character who is to die by the end of the book, and am fully invested in the depressing world of her decline into death from cancer.
Perera gets plenty of brownie points for tackling a challenging subject, and possibly introducing it to our YA readers, but I'm not sure they will stick with it for the whole journey, which is sad.

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Last year I read Perera's Guantanamo Boy and appreciated Perera's skill in tackling such a prominent part of world politics when most YA shies away from that. Thus I was excited to see another work from her, this time looking at the Zabbaleen people in Cairo, Egypt who collect the garbage of the city. This is another timely topic as the book is set just before the Egyptian uprising of last year, overthrowing Hosni Mubarak.

I'm not very familiar with Egypt so most everything that was discussed was brand-new to me. I did not know that the Zabbaleen were a community within Egypt to collect the discarded trash, sorting and recycling what is still usable far beyond the work of Western waste-collecting companies. They are also Coptic Christians in a predominantly Muslim country and incredibly poor, especially in comparison to the wealthy tourists who visit the city. Another important part of their economy is maintaining pigs, a casualty of swine flu fears, which majorly impacted them.

All of these strands are present in the story but not as much as I would have liked. Actually I think I would have enjoyed a non-fiction examination of the Zabbaleen written by someone with the skill of Perera because I loved these themes and would like to be more informed about them.

However there is also a story featuring main character Aaron, the titular glass collector who is drawn to the beauty of the glass. I don't know, I just could not connect with this guy. He dreams of a better world, away from his cruel stepbrother and stepfather and starting a romantic relationship with the girl who tends the horses. But he also steals from a shop-owner, lies, and runs away. I generally felt sympathetic toward him as his situation is awful but I was wondering how the story would go. He was not enough to capture my attention nor did the other characters spark for me. Sometimes there were pages where nothing was really happening and the story just stalled. I did not get the feeling that there was an ending that the story was driving to; it was just meandering.

Overall: The story was not as engaging to me due to flat characters but I loved the evocative writing and the idea of this book; I hope I can find more YA books set in locations beyond the USA, Canada, and the UK.

[Betsy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book had some serious potential that it didn't quite live up to. I read it via an ARC from netgalley, so perhaps there will have been a touch more editing before the book is published? (ranging from simple fixes in typos--"mommies" instead of "mummies" to the more difficult job of both shortening/tightening the plot and helping the ending out some).

In short, the book centers around a teenager named Aaron who is part of the Zabbaleen people (who are Coptic Christians) outside the city of Cairo. Their job is to collect a large part of the city's trash, and they recycle about 80% of what they collect. Only they aren't like our Western garbage men. They pick the trash up with their bare hands, cart it back home, sort it into various piles, live with it in their homes for up to two weeks, and finally sell it a merchant on his biweekly trek to their area. The descriptions of the filth in their lives, of the hardships present all around them, and of their poverty are heart-breaking.

Aaron is a beauty-loving expert at collecting bits of sparkling, colorful glass without hurting himself, but gives into temptation and steals some. That is a serious offense in his community, and he is ousted from his stepfamily. Through the rest of the book, he manages to survive--even collecting medical waste at one point--until, suddenly, things resolve at the end of the book... rather too neatly, in my opinion.

Strong social consciousness elements, strong environmental issues, pointed remarks about the wastefulness of the wealthy, and Aaron's interesting realization that even he--a poor Zabbaleen--has an important role to play in society make this a book for discussion. But the point of view wavered, the ending was too neat, and the plot rambled a bit--making this a book most kids won't suffer through voluntarily unless they're interested in the concepts presented.

[Flint Lockwood · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Glass Collector by Anna Perera takes place in hot and dusty Egypt. This book takes readers into the real life trash cities located in Cairo. A fifteen year old boy named Aaron has a job as a Zabbaleen, or trash collector in Arabic. Every day he leaves his smelly home to go and comb the alley ways of Cairo for pieces of precious glass that can be recycled. The family of four just scrapes by, but when their source of transportation is destroyed life becomes practically unbearable. Being the youngest and most expendable, after Aaron is accused of stealing he is cast out of his house. He must find a way to survive with nothing but his dreams and love.

I thought this book did a great job of making the reality of poverty very understandable. I don’t think many people realize that poverty exists in Egypt. Anna Perera did a wonderful job with vivid imagery and I really thought that I was sifting through trash looking for my next meal. This book was certainty very special and I don’t think there is another one that really follows a Zabbaleen’s daily routine.
I love the way Aaron was characterized. Perera did a wonderful job with making his crises so real. He is a hard, unloving boy on the outside, yet so soft and loving on the inside. I like how all of the characters including Aaron’s uncle, brother, best friend, and neighbor all have very different personalities.

The Glass Collector was very engaging and had me continue reading after each chapter. In almost every chapter an event occurred that was critical to the story line. It was not predictable either. I was expecting a very different ending, but was pleasantly surprised because the way Perera wrote it was much more realistic and eye opening.

I would recommend this book for anyone who is looking to explore poverty issues or would just like a good read.

[Stefani · Rating 4 out of 5]

Every time I read a book about some previously unknown atrocity occurring in a developing country, part of my heart shrivels up and blackens a bit more than it already is, causing me to think that the earth is, in fact, on a ruinous path of destruction as predicted by our friends, the Mayans. I'm not sure why I do this to myself.

And, on that happy note, comes the topic of this book, about a class of people, Coptic Christians living in Cairo called Zabaleen (Arabic for garbage collectors). They pick through garbage for a living, separating recyclables and selling it for profit, but without the benefit of gloves or sanitary facilities. As you can imagine, this type of work is extremely hazardous and unsanitary, particularly for the "medical wasters," people who grab bags of used syringes, tubing and bandages and dig through it with their bare hands to find recyclable items. Just the thought of this reduces me to shivers and gags.

Anyway, the book follows a boy who lives in a shantytown full of garbage; his specialty is collecting glass, as the title suggests. He resides with his stepfamily who treat him like Cinderella. Although the plot wasn't incredibly cohesive, I think the purpose of the novel was really to illustrate to adolescents residing in the Western World that their lives are really privileged, comparatively speaking. So, next time you complain about homework, annoying parents or pesky siblings, remember...you could be digging through garbage for a living! Which I definitely think is an important lesson for kids to grasp, even if they roll their eyes and pretend not to care.

[Kayla · Rating 2 out of 5]

Friendships and family are important, more so sometimes than your standing in life. This is obviously what Aaron believes. Born a Zabbaleen, Aaron is forced to work with the rest of the men to scavenge rubbish off the busy streets of Cairo. Living with his abusive stepfamily and with the low price of recyclable goods scraping a living is much harder than it once was.
Aaron did always have a special way with the glass; only his practiced fingers could gather so much broken glass without cutting himself. Aaron knows more about glass than anyone he knew, the colours, the lights and beauty that is and can be made from glass. Caught with a stolen perfume bottle it seems that the delights of being a glass collector are now denied him. An outcast with nowhere to go Aaron must learn the error of his ways and repent for his sins to be allowed back into the community and to have any chance at being with the girl he loves.
A book full of complications, desperation and passion, The Glass Collector was short listed for two awards; The Costa Childrens Book Awards and The Branford Boase Award. I think that Anna Perera has captured the thoughts and feelings of the characters brilliantly. The class Collector is written in both present tense and first person. This does well to display the thoughts and feelings of life in a poor village. This sensational novel confronts several difficult topics and life ideas including desperation, faith, social standards and wealth.

[Iain Coggins · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is tough! Because of its obvious social importance, particularly from a teaching point of view, I want to give The Glass Collector four points. But I find that I cannot. Being a teacher myself, I can see what Perera is trying to do. This seems to be a novel intended for instruction, and that's fine, but it often feels too instructional. Perera continually qualifies what is happening in the scenes, especially those concerning Aaron; she does too much telling at the expense of showing. If she were to just let scenes and situations explain themselves without overt commentary the story would be tighter and move more smoothly. In another review of this new title a reader noted that the characters were "flat". I would say that only Aaron, the main character is flat, and this is particularly because of Perera's narrative overlay. Other characters, especially Shareen stand out quite strongly because they are allowed to be themselves without author interference. Aaron, on the other hand, can never develop himself as a character because Perera's voice comments on his thoughts and feelings throughout. Despite the entire story being Aaron's story, I found myself unable to really connect with him. With a tighter edit this could be a much stronger novel, and I would encourage Ms. Perera to shorten the work considerably.It reads at a good pace, yet I felt like I could never get through it. Again, this is the result of too much author commentary on the playing out of events.

[Bdalton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Aaron, a young Christian living in Cairo, is a member of the Zabaleen cast. The Zabaleen are garbage collectors and recycle tons of Cairo's trash. They live in smelly, filthy conditions but have a strong community. While the Zabaleen are outcasts, there is a sub-class that is the lowest of low. These are the medical wasters who sort through bags of medical waste looking for recyclable materials. Aaron struggles to retain his position within the Zabaleen and not to have to become a medical waster.

Perera tells an important story that includes many teachable themes. A few of these themes include poverty, recycling, societies within societies, gender roles and expectations, and access to services like education and health care. The unique setting and characters had the promise of a good book, but the writing was not compelling. This book, with its depressing themes, was too easy to put aside.

While some well intentioned adults, push their young children to read young-adult and adult books, because their young children can read at higher reading levels, I would not encourage that in this case, without an adult reading along with a child. There are references to drug abuse, thiefing, children dieing of disease, mothers dieing of disease, arranged marriges of young girls to old men, etc. All of these references fit with the authors purpose of explaining the life of the Zabaleen, but may overwhelm the younger reader.

[Sylvie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This young-adult novel is beautiful and, for me, it was also educational because it describes the life of Egypt’s Zabbaleen. The Zabbaleen are Coptic Christians who pick up Cairo’s trash and then sell it for a pittance to companies who then recycle it and sell it for a lot more money. Without the service provided by the Zabbaleen, much of the city’s trash would remain on the streets.

Aaron is a Zabbaleen teenager who picks up street trash then transports it back to his neighborhood where it is then sorted by the women. Aaron is a beautiful soul. He loves glass, he “sees” beautiful things through the glass, and this is pretty much the only beauty in his life since his home is a hovel full of the stinking garbage that he and his stepbrother have picked up on their rounds.

There are wonderful minor characters in this story; one of my favorites is Omar the perfume vendor. Aaron is in awe of Omar, who is somewhat of a shaman. “He brought my missing soul back to me!” exclaims a customer, referring to Omar’s powers. “Nothing can satisfy our minds like the kinds of journeys we are capable of when we use our imaginations. Only then can we discover the truth,” Omar said. I love this Omar! He’s a mystic AND a purveyor of fragrance! Now, there’s a man after my heart!

Read The Glass Collector by Anna Perera. It’s pure magic,and I perhaps you'll love it.

[Clare · Rating 4 out of 5]

You don't get to choose where you are born. Aaron, the main character of this book, was born at Mokattam. This is a tenement region of Cairo where the people subsist by collecting the garbage of the city, then taking it home to sort into recyclable categories. They then sell these to merchants who take it to recycling plants. In this hardscrabble life Aaron's job is to gather and sort glass. He has become very proficient at this, managing to never get cut. He likes the shards of glass for the way looking through them makes the world seem different. He also likes to look in the windows of Omar's perfume shop at the many glass bottles displayed in the window. One day, upon arriving at the shop, Aaron realizes the back door is not locked and no one is around. He takes the chance to steal a few items. Taking these items home he tries to hide them, but is found out. This causes him to be thrown out of the home he shares with his stepfather and stepbrothers and to be ostracized by the community. Now he is faced with the problem of how to survive.

This book is based on the lives of the real people of Mokattam who live the same type of existence as portrayed in the story. Themes of right and wrong, being part of a community, finding love and dreaming of a better future run throughout the novel, while also touching on the excess of waste in modern society.

[Kristina · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I saw The Glass Collector on Netgalley, I requested it right away. I read Anna Perera's other work, Guantanamo Boy, which was a heartbreaking, but very real story, and I knew The Glass Collector was going to be the same.

Aaron is a 15 year old boy who lives with his abusive step family. With no one on his side, he spends his days collecting garbage, mainly glass, so that his stepfather could sell it. He dreams of an education and a better life but no there is no way out of his situation. He's hungry, dirty and lonely. It is a very sad situation, and to think that there are young boys and girls in Cairo dealing with the same things is horrific. We don't realize how much we take for granted until we read something like this.

Despite everything that Aaron has been through and experienced, he is still such a sweet kid. All you want is for his situation to get better, but as the story progresses, it just keeps getting worse.

I love that Perera isn't afraid to speak the truth. She writes about real subjects and doesn't sugar coat anything. She is passionate about what she does, and you can see that in her writing.

[Mrs. S · Rating 3 out of 5]

**This is a book I got for free, in advance through Netgalley.** I read The Glass Collector in two halves a few months apart. The story itself, and the detail with which Perera described the life of the Zabbaleen, were fascinating. The Zabbaleen are a community of people who live in a village just outside of Cairo, and who collect and recycle much of the city's trash. Clearly, Perera has done her research, and it shows in the strongest parts of the book, which depict life in the Zabbaleen village of Mokattam. Most of the book focuses on Aaron, a young man whose obsession with glass makes him both a skilled trash collector and, later, an outcast in his own village. Aaron's story held my attention, but occasionally the third-person narration would shift to give the perspective of a different character, and that jarred me out of the story a bit. Overall, though, I would recommend this book simply based on the chance to read about a community I had never heard of--it almost feels invented, like I want to praise Perera's world-building--but it's very real and essential to the functioning of a major city.

[Sarah Sammis · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Glass Collector by Anna Perera follows Aaron, a Zabbaleen (Coptic Christian) teen. The Zabbaleens are the garbage collectors of Egypt. They collect it in horse drawn carriages and recycle it and feed the food scraps to their live stock (pigs).

The book opens with Aaron believing he sees the Virgin Mary in in the glass of one of the tourist hotels. That strong opening with a hint of magical realism set up expectations for the direction this novel was going to take. But after that initial sighting, the book settles into a far more mundane routine of collecting garbage, talking about family (the good and bad of it) and thinking about girls.

Aaron begins to steel perfume instead of collecting the empty bottles. Of course his thievery (while completely understandable given his situation) has consequences.

While the descriptions working with garbage and living in extreme poverty are well done, the tone of the book remains flat. There's no ebb and flow to the emotional impact. Aaron does his thing but he never truly comes alive.

Read via NetGalley

[Richard · Rating 2 out of 5]

All in all this is an interesting look at a particular community in the slums of Cairo. The Zabbaleen, Coptic Christians who have chosen garbage picking as their profession, a necessary service in a third world capital city. Fifteen year old Aaron's speciality is collecting broken glass, hence the title. Aaron is also looking for a better life, but author Anna Perera won't let him out of the slums, won't let him into the good graces of the perfume maker, and (spiler alert) pulls what I think must be a YA fiction trope, has him married and about to live happily ever after at the end of the book. Spoiler #2: (The only other YA fiction I've read in the past year was The Hunger Games - same deal.) I don't get it. Married? Happily ever after? The worst slum you can imagine and the best Ms. Perera can do is reconcile Aaron to his squalid existence? At least is doesn't end as abruptly as The Hunger Games, but the message is the same, make the best of your very bad lot. Ach!

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's hard to find socially conscious YA titles that actually teach something in a provocative way and this novel manages to do so. The characters are brilliantly drawn and the atmosphere and setting are so well crafted that your heart can't help but break for these people. It will be hard for some readers to get into the writing style - the first person pov, although popular with publishers, is not popular with the readers at my library. They complain about every such title that they are faced with. But, if able to stick with it, they will be rewarded. The author has managed to write a beautiful piece of work about a dark, grim and deadly side of Cairo that most never knew existed. It will be especially helpful for civics and world studies students who can immerse themselves in culture they would otherwise only be able to read about in news article. Highly recommended for school libraries and public libraries that serve a larger, urban area.

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[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brilliantly vibrant setting and a heartwarming yet grittily realistic story. I did, however, find Perera heavy-handed at times, especially in the way she felt the need to switch perspectives. For the overwhelming majority of the book, we follow Aaron's third-person perspective, but in tiny snippets, Perera inserts in paragraphs from other people's perspective - saying things that the reader should be left to infer.
The ending was also a bit sketchy and I wasn't quite sure everything turned out how I hoped it would turn out - it was maybe dragged out for just a bit, and yet there were a few things left un-dealt with.
Overall, though, this book was wonderful. I would definitely recommend it.