"Money to Burn" - Ricardo Piglia
Hi everyone, this week’s book is Ricardo Piglia’s “Money to Burn”. Despite the description sounding interesting, I couldn’t really get into this book. The descriptions violence happening to random innocent people and the various drugs Dorda uses just didn’t hold my attention. I think this book would make a better movie (which I see it has been made into one) but as a book I got lost in all the details and trying to keep track of the different names of people associated with the gang.
The only part I slightly cared about was the relationship between Dorda and the Kid but even that followed the predictable ‘bury your gays’ trope. I was expecting it but still thought “Nooooo…” when the Kid died. But for this book you could say that all three criminals eventually died so it wasn’t necessarily ‘bury your gays’. I just found it tragic that the last thoughts on Dorda’s mind were about being reunited with the Kid in the countryside, away from all the crime.
But even then the male characters were all pretty horrible people. The only characters I felt bad for in this book were the women and bystanders who were injured. The girls who appeared in this book were often half naked which irked me, for example Dorda killing the Polish girl with no name when she was naked especially weirded me out. For someone who is referred to as a homosexual he is seemingly obsessed with women. Thinking about “Agostino” from a while back, the characters in this book also had problematic views of women but I felt some sympathy for them and enjoyed the book. I think the difference is that the characters in “Agostino” are young boys whereas the characters in this book are grown men. Professor Jon asked during one of the classes why books often are about young people growing up; I think one reason is that it is easier to look at adolescents making bad choices or having misguided views with sympathy because they are easily influenced and have less knowledge than adults.
My question is: this book shows the criminals in a very human light, but can their actions be justified? Personally, I can see that the criminals were fighting against the corrupt justice system and perhaps the very concept of wealth which in itself is understandable but the way they treated women in particular makes me lean towards no.
Hi, Thanks for your sharing. You mentioned Dorda killing the Polish girl with no name, I think this may have nothing to do with whether he was gay or not, maybe it was because of his inner distortion.
ReplyDelete¨Personally, I can see that the criminals were fighting against the corrupt justice system...¨ Well, maybe... but I see them more fighting for their survival. Thanks to the flashbacks we realize that in the terrible lumpen world there were possibilities for compassion and tenderness. Brief, sometimes difficult to discern, the characters seemed to seek spaces outside the social system that oppresses them.
ReplyDeleteHi Arisa, great post. I also couldn't really get into this novel very much. I also agree that the half-naked women trope was just uncomfortable. I had a difficult time getting into it for mostly that reason. Because of this, I'd also agree with you about whether their actions can be justified. In some ways, yes, but how they treated the women blinded me to carrying honestly.
ReplyDeleteHey! I totally get where you're coming from. It's always a challenge when a book tries to humanize characters who engage in pretty questionable behaviors, especially when their actions are hard to justify, regardless of their motives.
ReplyDeleteNow that you mention it, It's interesting how the book contrasts with “Agostino” in terms of character sympathy, highlighting how age and maturity can influence our perceptions of characters' actions.
Whether the criminals' actions can be justified is a tough one. While their fight against a corrupt system and the critique of wealth are themes worth exploring, their ways of doing so, in addition to their treatment of others, especially women, leaves a lot to be desired. It does open up a conversation about how far is too far when fighting against injustice, and whether certain actions can ever be excused.
I like your question to this weeks' reading. I think this book teaches more about the lesson about what extent people will go for when it comes to money. As we know that in a capitalistic world, money practically means everything, including survival. It sounds almost comical because a basic necessity such as water being a commodity is the norm of our society. The authors painting the criminals as humans does not sound anything out of the blue to me, after all, they are humans to. This is not to say I justify their actions, as I very much condemn violence and the horrific acts they have done in the book. Rather, this perhaps could tell us that each individual has a story and have a persona outside of being a criminal. In terms of how they treat women, it is quite appalling, and unfortunately has some elements of reality of our society attached to it.
ReplyDeleteHi Arissa, I also couldn't get into the book like you, It was too disturbing for me as I am a sensitive reader, I didn't enjoy about the naked women getting killed or the un consensual sex scenes. Overall I think the women in this novel were treated like trash and that definitely affected me while and how I was reading this book.
ReplyDeleteHi Arissa, I struggled getting through this book and was particularly bothered by how they spoke about women. Although this book explains the backgrounds of the criminals lives and the reasons they ended up where they are, I don't think it justifies their crimes. I don't care too much about them stealing money, but more about the amount of people that were killed/hurt.
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