Money to Burn by Ricardo Piglia, is a fictional novel blending crime and social commentary. The story follows the events of a real life bank robbery that took place in Buenos Aires, Argentina, by a group of thieves looking to change their lives. We follow them and witness the aftermath of their crime, how they navigate life in a new city and with newfound riches, as the police catch up to them, as does their past. I expected a stereotypical, thrilling, yet predictable crime drama, and although in part it was, Piglia’s enthralling characterization and the themes of liberation, capitalist critic, and especially the poignant discussion it creates on the role of money in our society and the hold it can have on us, really encaptivated me. Furthermore, exploring the ideas of the duality of morality, with how he blurs the lines between the criminals and the police, in their brutality and selfishness. He shows us the idea that, firstly, morality can be so subjective. We see this with the torturous tactics employed while interrogating prisoners, where the police see this is as justified and normalizes, as they believe they are dealing with criminals who deserve to be treated as such. Moreover, the other side of this is the continuous hardship these criminals have faced their entire lives, such as with Dora, known for being troubled since he was a child. It’s obvious there would be resentment built against the system and the police force that are all seemingly antagonistic, and therefore it would feel it justified to disrespect the system. This duality, where both sides believe they are justified, is an extremely important concept that perpetuates these systems of violence and oppression. Additionally, I believe this also raises an important discussion about the identity and labelling of criminals, and criminality, and how criminality is a cyclical systemic problem. Piglia also explores the extremely important topic of the value of money and essentially one of the greatest pitfalls of capitalism. Most explicitly, we see this towards the end when the group burns the loot from the heist. This act was supremely metaphorical in the sense it was as if they were liberating themselves from the shackles of capitalist society, so dependant and driven by the chains of money. The themes explored in this book are some of my favourite. I’m usually not the biggest fan of crime thrillers, but I enjoyed this book especially for its exploration of the ramifications of socioeconomic differences in life and how reality and morality can be supremely subjective based heavily on context.
Question: What is your perspective on the topic of criminality being a systemic problem? Did this book evoke the same thoughts for you?
“El Gaucho Dorda” led a tragic life, as you point out. And speaking of systemic injustices, the novel also tells us about mental health problems and the lack of empathy in certain sectors of Latin American society. Unfortunately, that is a reality. Instead of talking about them as a group, it would be interesting to delve into who specifically burns the money and why. What do you think of Dordal’s final actions?
I discussed the role of the police in my blog. I think the author seems to have some opinions on the police. He feels that the police are not fair. They rely on torture to extract confessions instead of pursuing the purpose of the truth.