This week’s reading of “Money to Burn” was certainly an interesting one. I can’t say I loved reading it. I personally would not classify this as a thriller, for the scariest part was how vulgar and gross the men were. It was not enjoyable to read because of their disgusting sex lives and their views upon the world. Though I did like the style of narration, like a report of sorts, giving us lots of details about each person and giving each one a time to “shine”. The characters as well very very complex (crazy), but felt individual and unique.
I found myself struggling to finish this book because of how long the stand off between the gunmen and the police went on for. I could predict the ending and it kind of felt pointless to keep reading because I figured they would all die in the end anyway. This did not make for an easy read because I wasn’t hooked or wanting to keep reading to find out what happens.
I was definitely intrigued by the relationship between The Kid and The Blond Gaucho. At first I wondered if they were just friends or potentially lovers, as they were some references and slight mentions of homosexuality and interactions between them. I liked how they appeared to be the complete opposites, but acted as each others balancer. They were intertwined together, The Gaucho relied on The Kid to communicate and The Kid relied on The Gaucho’s mind. It was interesting to see how devoted they were to each other while killing ruthlessly with no regard for anyone else. It helped make them feel more human as they both have immense love for each other.
One quote I wrote down was – “Money is just the same as drugs: what’s fundamental is its possession, knowing it’s there, touching it, checking it’s still in the cupboard,” (pg 30). Like their drugs, they rely on money to live. It is the driving force for the whole thing, the robbery, in the first place. I think that’s why it was so surprising at the end that they burned it. Although it wasn’t that crazy to me that they did such a unexpected thing, given that they were all high out of their mind. I’m pretty sure every line was something about them sorting or injecting cocaine!
On the note of burning the money, I do understand how upset people were about it, but it made me feel kind of yucky for some reason. The money seemed more important than the actual murders that the gunmen did! It wasn’t enough that they brutally killed like 10 people and placed much more in danger to make them “pure evil, but them burning the money made them ‘devils’? I think the killing is much worse than burning the money. While money is extremely important to our society, people and their lives are the whole part! Taking someone’s life away especially for a piece of paper we invented feels so pointless and horrible to me.
What did you all think of the relationship between The Kid and The Gaucho? Did it make you feel more sympathy for them or change your view of them individually?
Grace, sorry to hear such strong negative opinions on the book! Although I agree that it was a long stand-off, I wonder if you think that the fact that this is all written on a real story and not a Hollywood style novel changes your feelings about knowing the predictably of the outcome? You made a GREAT point about how death and violence seem normalized in a bizarre way through the narrative. Maybe made even more shocking by the fact that it’s a real story.
Thanks for your comment!
– Tesi
Hi Grace! You’re blog post was very entertaining and I loved hearing your full, unfiltered thoughts on the novel. I was also very excited for the change of themes and action anticipated for this book but was caught off guard on the violence and vulgarity of the men. There were some interesting aspects of the characters though that made me think a bit and wonder how they ended up the way they are in the present. To answer your question, the relationship between the Kid and the Gaucho did humanize them a bit more for me near the end.
I totally agree with you that the men were so vulgar in the book, which was one of the reasons I disliked it so much. I did not think much about the burning of the money, but your point was very interesting. It was so weird that so many people were brutally murdered but everyone was upset over some money. I think the purpose of this was to show how society values money above almost everything else. I think this lack of response to the violence can also mirror society today, which has become increasingly desensitized to violence in recent years.