Seemingly, each time I open a book for this class, I think, “This one will be better than the last!” And each time, I am severely wrong and confused. It is a talent, the way our books keep growing in their unhinged behaviour and storytelling. This may be because I read If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler prior to this week, or maybe because these authors are breaking my stereotypical and confined standards on novels. What is more frustrating is that I can never truly hate the books. They are encapturing in their own unique, messed-up way, and I can only put the book down if I know how it ends.
This week’s Money to Burn by Ricardo Piglia was preciously like that. It was so chaotic, hard to read and decipher at times, and crude. I kept thinking to myself, am I high? Is the writer high writing this? Is cocaine really a drug worthwhile? Which character is high right now? And literally, who isn’t high at this point? I literally had a dream about buying a massive cartoon-sized bag of cocaine to sell in between the days of reading this. It was wild.
(My fever dream of being in the mafia with them)
Evidently, this is not what kept me interested in the story. Notably, the action-packed writing, character-building, and unique relationships were intriguing enough to push through to the end (even if it did seem like I was reading a fanfiction on AO3 at times…). Albeit, most of the were DEFINITELY flawed…I always think it is interesting when characters are not perfect and completely moral individuals. It highlights the dark side of humanity, that unfortunately always lives on even if we, as readers, do not want to admit it.
Empathy is a large part of this because we can see bits of ourselves in characters, but once they make a mistake, and it snowballs into something worse and worse, we do not want to imagine that for ourselves. It might be a stretch to have this mindset, especially with the context of this book (drug, sex, MURDER), but little things like Fontán singing or the apparent love between Gaucho and The Kid can spark our conflict of empathy.
Especially the scene when the kid was dying, and Gaucho held him and called him sweetheart; it truly broke my heart. Even if that endearment was followed up from the question of killing a cop.
“Then the Kid raised himself up ever so slightly, leaning on one elbow, and murmured something into his ear which no one could hear, a few words of love, no doubt, uttered under his breath or perhaps left unuttered, but sensed by the Gaucho who kissed the Kid as he departed.”
(STOMP ON MY HEART MORE, WHY DON’T YOU? CAN WE PLEASE STOP KILLING GAY COUPLES IN FICTION)
Backtracking on humanity, it truly shocked me that the act of burning all the money was the main enticement of anger. A dozen individuals were killed, yet we hold those lives below literal pieces of paper. It is a literal system made by humans; those papers would not mean anything otherwise. But lives? They have been the constant, not money. It shows how money can make us lack empathy as well; being blindsided to gain capital, a sense of power or a quick fix of happiness.
Questions: Did you find yourself conflicted about empathizing with the characters? Could you see yourself in any of them?
The AO3 comparison was honestly what I was thinking at times while reading it since the writing style and tropes were so similar. To answer your question, at times I felt conflicted about empathizing due to their actions but in certain moments I definitely could. I really enjoyed reading your post for this week!
Fran, I’m sorry you haven’t found a book you like in the class so far. I think that regardless of what we read and whether we agree or not with the behaviours displayed, everything we consume offers a chance to critically analyze ourselves and the world we live in. I hope you are able to at least grow in those reflections!
What made you feel like the narrative was chaotic and hard to decipher? Was it the timeline? The shifting of narrative voice? The movement of locations? The backstories? I’d like to hear more on that! Empathy is definitely at the center! And I can tell that you were able to piece out how the narrative pushes us into those grey areas.
Thanks for your comment!
– Tesi
Ps. Nice depiction of your fever dream haha
To answer your question I felt I could empathize with the characters as we get their side of the story. Obviously, we are aware that what they are doing is wrong but when we read about the squad of robbers I felt remorse for them.
Great Post! For your question, I don’t think I could empathize with anyone of the characters. I couldn’t picture myself in their shoes even when we get their backgrounds and understanding how they turned out that way.
Hello!
To answer your question I found myself empathetic to a lot of the characters. yes they’re breaking the law, and yes they’re horrible, but the last moment between the Kid and Gaucho actually got me in the gut. I think the grey area of empathy is what made me keep wanting to read the book.
– Maya Berrached