Tag Archives: sex

Money to Burn: the real homosexual agenda

The reading this week, Money to Burn, is one of the longer readings so far in the course (at around 200 pages which is still relatively short if I’m recalling back to Span312 where we once read a 400+ page book). However, because it its style of writing, reading the book felt a lot swifter as it feels a lot more reminiscent of more recent contemporary books. I think that the author having a background in journalism did contribute a lot to how the book came to be (jumping between times and perspectives from witness statements, memories past, or reports from prison), which felt a lot more like piecing together different pieces of the story. In some ways, I feel that it also contributes to a lot more confusion in trying to filter out the truth of the situation (is there even one? I guess that is also a question) especially when most of the time when the gang is talking they are high on some sort of drugs.

I think the other peculiar aspect of this book is the focus of the narrative- I feel like a lot of robbery stories or crime stories focus a lot on the process of actually committing the crime and not have the bulk of the story dedicated to aftermath, that being the police chase down. I feel like this notion is true across similar stories in the genre like in peaky blinders and such. Although, this book did remind me a lot more about the show Narcos, since it also has the story focus on the police chasing down the criminal (Pablo Escobar) in the aftermath of him becoming a drug lord and honestly many elements of that story feel sort of similar in some ways, especially with the focus on the psychological disposition of the criminals.

Commenting on the shitty men category once again, I feel like on paper this book should take the cake for the worst there is so far- the killing of so many people (which included a LOT of innocent people), raping, stealing, like to be honest if we are being fair here they are probably the worst. But I somehow don’t find myself feeling that way. the tone of the book makes me not feel the actions behind them so much, and I guess that might be the authorial intent to some degree- none of the crimes committed really feel that personal- not in the way that makes my BP rise when I read a book about another abusive husband. And maybe just that- it not feeling personal on their end, whether about the violence, the abuse, or burning the money, means that it is the worst crime above all.

Question to all this week: what do you think happened to Malito? in the epilogue they mention different possible endings- do you believe one of them or believe something else entirely?

Agostino – Freud enters the chat

Show of hands who here was ever thirsting after their mother? Hopefully nobody raised their hand, but our main character this week, Agostino, can certainly not say the same.

I can’t believe the start of this book started like it did. I’m actually a little bit traumatized, but I guess obviously not as bad as Agostino was traumatized on the boat ride home with his mom and the young man. I feel like all of us (especially as we grow up) really rebel against imagining our parents as any sort of potential sexual beings- the mere thought of it grosses us out. That’s why it alarmed me so much to see Agostino interact or describe his mom as such. So I don’t really know what to make of his gradual descent from seeing his mom through a more filial lens which gradually turned more and more sexual. Before the whole incest thing really went into 5th gear, I thought that his mother’s actions were quite peculiar, this sort of looseness and unabashed behaviour, but now looking back, its hard to tell if his mother lacked this sort of sense of boundary or that the narration was a bit deceptive to reveal I guess the subconscious thoughts that Agostino didn’t really put a name to just yet.

As hard as it is to move on from talking about potential incest, there’s something else about this book that caught my attention. The rustle and tussle of the male friendships within this book is something that fascinates me and I think I see it sometimes in real life too. I don’t think the relationship between these young boys are representative of all or even most young male friendships, but this sort of crude and tough wrestling into a social hierarchy seems quite common among younger males, especially as I recall my experiences in middle school. The reason why this intrigues me is not only because the female equivalent is LARGELY different, but also the actual psychological effects in my view are quite worth looking into; I feel like this might be how inferiority complexes develop.

In some sense, I think that all of us can relate to Agostino in some ways (obviously not in the incestuous way, hopefully). I personally really connected with his emotions about losing your identity whilst not having acquired a new one just yet, and how lost that makes you feel in the moment to have to be suspended in the air like that, not yet knowing what pieces will fall into place.

This week my question to you all is: What do you think referring to his mother as “Big” means in this novel? What does it signify or how does it serve the author’s purpose?