Money to Burn by Ricardo Piglia.
This week’s novel was completely different than all the other ones I have read so far, I think it’s my first time reading a criminal book not watching a show about it. With heists and gun battles, social commentary and the criminal system as well as the complexity and sexuality of the characters, it was unique and different than the ones we’ve been reading, which had less actions, more streams of consciousness and repeated themes of growing up or Freudian concepts. Anyways, it was easier to read so I was less likely to get distracted or lose focus like I did for some of the other books.
I was very surprised to read that it was based on a true story, but was a bit disappointed to hear that the money burning bit was fictional. I think it would’ve been much more popular in the papers if it was true, in terms of the powerful message the action would convey. Probably the climax of the whole story and the idea of the title, the money burning scene caught my attention. It made me wonder about how money is such an integral part of our society that it even hurt me as a reader to see it burn and fall off to grounds, and it’s funny to think about how such a small, fragile piece of paper holds so much worth. I mean it’s understandable that the criminals burnt their money, it was no use for them as they knew they were going to die sooner or later, and it was their last act of rebellion, some sort of a last ‘fuck you’ to the cops who were part of the system. The citizens complain that they should’ve given the money to the poor, those living in need of basic necessities, but I doubt that’s how it would’ve played out if they did try to do that. It manifests a more complex message about the corrupt system that is of criminal justice. This may be unrelated but I, just today learnt about the disproportionate rates of indigenous people in prisons, and that around one third of the population of female inmates were indigenous, which is a clear overrepresentation. That astounded me! The people and the journals say that they are ‘crazed killers and immoral beasts’, but we can see that they are just as sentimental and complex humans that come from difficult backgrounds, which almost made me empathize with these people, except they probably really are what the people say, ‘pure evil’. It made me think about innocence and culpability, if money is separate from its owners or how it’s used as, and if it itself is innocent, guilty, or ‘neutral’, as it says in the book.
“Burning innocent money is an act of cannibalism”.
I also really enjoyed the style of the narration, it was written in mixture of telling the story as a third person narrator but also how they were written as in journals, which adds to the realistic, almost non-fictional? element. I kept imagining a sick thriller show like ‘Money Heist’ when I was reading the book.
My question is:
Did you empathize with the characters or would you hate them for their criminal acts? Why?
In a way, the novel takes an extremely interesting turn: it raises the question of the moral burden not only on the criminals, but also on the spectators of the events. By the time they burn the money, the people have already died. The anger is not even remotely the same… the neighbors feel robbed of something, even something that did not belong to them.
Hi Indra,
Yes, that was what I always thought about money — how does this fragile piece of paper have its own worth? — and your post refreshed me in some ways. I think it has more than just blaming or hating the criminals in the book, but thinking about how we value the money. Although it was just a printed paper, we are giving “it” a morality. What can make the money innocent? A person who uses it, and how they use it? Although they are criminals on the surface, we never know their backgrounds. Of course, they did bad things to society — and that’s why they are called evil — but the book and your post made me think again about how to think about them, and the criminal justice system in general.
Honestly, just from reading the title of your blog itself, I agree, I also blame money. Money is like the centre of everything and unfortunately, our world revolves around it. The means of survival also comes with the means of having enough money to lie off of.
oops, spelling error. I meant to say live off of.
Did you empathize with the characters or would you hate them for their criminal acts? Why?
I also concur that it’s astonishing to ponder the role of money and our dependence on it. It’s regrettable, indeed, but it’s also true that many people are frustrated by its central place in our lives. However, money emerged as a system to value and organize our world. Just like social media and other concepts whose significance is determined by human valuation, if our understanding or use of money becomes extreme or we lose sight of its real purpose, it’s truly unfortunate how it shapes our perception. Yet, I wouldn’t want to imagine a world without something that economically motivates and drives us.
Hi, really enjoyed reading your blog this week! In answer to your question, I don’t believe that I can empathize with any of the characters, mostly because of the fact that there is such longevity to the descriptions of their characters being bad people. However, I definitely agree that money is a huge aspect of our society that changes people, often for the worst.
Hi Indra,
Great blog post! I loved hearing your perspective 🙂
To answer your question, I think I empathize with the characters. Money is such a difficult topic, and people have such different views towards money and things with monetary value. For example, money is known to make people go crazy and drive families/relationships apart. So yeah I agree, money is to blame
Hi Indra, loved your blog post! I think I partially empathize with the characters. I mean its difficult considering criminal acts don’t necessarily warrant forgiveness but I also agree that Money causes a lot of issues. For example, a lot of people around the world steal for basic needs, is that a personal unethical crime to commit to get clothes and water? Very interesting discussion for sure and makes for a great discussion!
I think your comments on the value of money in our society is so important. It’s funny, we put so much meaning and value on something that is literally just a piece of paper, like cash in of itself is worthless based on its material. But the meaning we assign to that material is what gives it value. I too was disappointed to hear that the money burning was not real, but still believe that the meaning of that money burning is vital to the importance of the story.
Great blog post!
Rhys