Better than Laughter

A weird and depressing book. (Spoilers abound, don't read this if you don't want to know the story) It starts with two boys, neglected (or at least feeling neglected) by their workaholic father and the mother supporting him, who decide to run away from home. A long bike-ride away, they come to a

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dump managed, and harvested, by an old man who has spent his life rescuing stuff - things from the years of his childhood. A whole bunch of weird interactions later (the man has been ignoring and warding off everyone for years; the younger boy has always been less courageous than his brother; the older boy has always been the strong and sensible one...and their interactions begin to change these. For no particular reason I can see), the man convinces them to call their parents and go back home. Where their parents can't handle and won't hear what the boys have to say. Then it turns out the father (a contractor) is actually working to clear the dump - except the old man is still there, and ready to ward off intruders. The boys are brought to convince him to go, but instead go in to help him, and then are caught in tear gas as the police clear out the defenders...which for some reason (after they're extracted) makes the father change his mind, he "quits" (what, this contract? His whole business? I have no idea what happened there, that was the end of the book). I'm sure this made sense to the author but I see a lot of action and no sense or underlying continuity to it.

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