There’s an old phrase in need of a comeback: “to dree one’s weird.” It means to endure your fate, but it also means to accept your quirks and oddities.

It came to mind while I was reading Simon Paré-Poupart’s slim, raffish and spirited memoir, “Trash!: A Garbageman’s Story.” Paré-Poupart, who’s in his early 40s, has hauled garbage in and around Montreal for more than 20 years. He’s a French speaker, and his book has been translated by Pablo Strauss with unprintable modifiers intact. Swearing is important to garbagemen. Strauss attends to its glory.

“Trash!” has been compared to “Kitchen Confidential” (2000), Anthony Bourdain’s restaurant kitchen exposé. Usually, comparisons to Bourdain are fatuous. This time it’s accurate.

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Dwight Garner, The New York Times, 8 juin 2026.

Photo: Patrice Hugo