After reading Mad Toy I was left with feelings of awe, like I had been transported to another world, but also a deeper connection of what it means to be human. Unlike many of the stories I have read, Mad Toy did not need grand events or life-changing trauma to evoke a feeling of significance in its story. Through the beautiful yet realistic illustrations of Buenos Aires, I was able to get a true glimpse of what an impoverished life meant for someone with larger ideas and dreams than the world around him could handle.
As someone who has never experienced the life of crime or poverty, I enjoyed the perspective the book gave me from the first-person view of Silvio. The various moments of Silvio’s childhood and later life served a different purpose than those in Combray, and allowed me to understand the main character by experiencing his life rather than just being hit with random moments. I appreciated the smaller details like Silvio’s inability to not steal light fixtures and I feel it was moments like these that allowed me to empathize more with the character and perhaps understand him like a friend would. The story’s pacing of slow then fast then slow again felt like I was truly being swept by life’s unpredictable nature, as I was truly in the mind of Silvio Astier.
I liked reading about the emotional struggle that Silvio went through as someone who always had larger ambitions than his surroundings and circumstances would allow. I think even the fact that he wanted to create a criminal gang as a teenager and emulate those he read in many books was a sign that he wanted more for himself and he wanted to like those in the books. Seeing him journey into many different environments like the army and the bookstore and seeing his different thoughts combat these places and the effect of this conflict on him over time was intriguing as well.
Overall, I feel that this book allowed me to rekindle some of my love for reading like I had hoped from this class and many of its included literature. Unlike Combray, I felt that this book was a much easier read and was much easier to understand and connect to. Many of the elements of this book felt like they had intention and I could understand why the author decided to even include the little moments that do not provide great significance to the plot, it was to allow you to understand Silvio. 4/5.
If you were in an abandoned house, would you first take the lamp, the book, or the watch?