Hello everyone, I hope you all are doing well. I really enjoyed this week’s reading: “Money to Burn” by Ricardo Pigilia. To be entirely honest, it probably was because the genre of the book was more exciting than other books, especially considering that the book is based on a true crime that happened in Argentina. There was constantly a lot happening and the book was thoroughly engaging. Piglia is very committed to accurately presenting the facts of a crime and it is shown in a lot of references he makes to sources derived from his own research. However, the blending of facts with fictional elements is definitely what adds depth to the novel. I think the addition of background stories(which are fictional) is crucial for character development in the novel. Through the detailed character development, Piglia adds personalities, backgrounds, and motivations to these real-life figures, making them more than just participants in crime. These fictional elements not only make the characters more human but also add complexity to the story and prevent the book from being just accounts of a crime. These background stories show struggles such as discrimination or lost love that are behind criminal actions. The fictional elements not only make the characters more human but also add complexity to the story and prevent the book from being just accounts of a crime. While these background stories are fictional, they feel real in the sense that they add emotional weight to the character’s actions and decisions. This mixture of truth and fiction reminded me of the movie “House of Gucci” that I recently watched. The movie is based on the true murder of Maurizio Gucci by his wife but I believe much of the dialogues and little stories within the movie are entirely fictional. I think it is super creative to produce something by blending the elements of truth and fiction, and it is a different kind of complexity and creativity that cannot be recreated by an entirely fictional thing. I believe the rigorous research Piglia went through and the creative process of adding stories/personalities was a lot harder than embellishing some stories about the Gucci family.
Discussion Question: did those background stories make it easier for you to empathize with the characters?
Hello, thanks for your comment. I also really liked the truth & fiction aspect and thought it made for a really thrilling plot that made me more invested on the story. It was really hard to empathize with any of the characters for me, as they all do horrible things in their past and throughout the book
Hello! Replying after our lecture today! I think it did make it easier to empathize with them – hearing their backstories – and I think that this was the goal. Had it not been for the backstories, it would have been difficult to equate this story to a greek tragedy
Thanks for this, Ren. But at only 375 words, it’s a little short. Perhaps you could add more specific details about how, say “discrimination or lost love that are behind criminal action” of some of the characters. I’m not sure which ones you are referring to. In fact, you almost provide more detail on The House of Gucci than you do on Piglia’s book.
did those background stories make it easier for you to empathize with the characters?
I agree that the author shows stories behind the crime/the villains. To answer your question, the background stories did make it easier for me to emphasize with the characters. I definitely blurred the line of who’s side I was on, and even tried justifying committed actions to some extent given their backgrounds. It for sure makes them more “humans” and less of distant criminals.
Hi Ren! Nice blog btw 🙂
To answer your question, I think it definitely did make it easier to empathize with the characters. Pigilia was so good at making his characters feel real that sometimes I found my self hoping they would succeed. I had to remind myself that they where terrible people and even if they underwent a lot of trauma, they did get what they deserved I guess
Hi Ren,
The backstory for Dorda kinda made me empathize with him a bit more, some of the others felt sort of unredeemable. But from his backstory, the fact that he suffers from mental illness and is forced to take drugs to cope with voices in his head telling him to kill people made me a lot more sympathetic towards him and the unfortunate path he has been led to.
Hi Ren,
Thanks for sharing your thoughts this week. To answer your question, I personally think that background stories often are required for me to connect with characters. Knowing where they come from and how they became the way they are is very important to storybuilding and making complete characters in my eyes.
Hey Ren! I enjoyed the blog post!
I agree that the topic of this novel was something I too really enjoyed! I love the true crime aspects. The mix between fictional and real events that Piglia seems capable of swirling together made the book all the more enjoyable. The background stories definitely made the characters easier to empathize with. Knowing their intentions and motivations helped me understand that they are more than just bank robbers, but people with their own stories, traumas, and life history.