I really wanted to like this book, but I did not. In fact, I hated it. First of all, why were there so many nicknames?! I may be the only one who feels this way but I kept getting so confused with the amount of nicknames the characters had.  And the never ending chapters, it made it so hard to get through the book. Also, this book just reminded me of why I hate men. The vile way in which they talked about women and sex was so disgusting I just could not get past it. I probably would have enjoyed the book more if the description of women hadn’t been so repulsive. The representation of women as sexual objects was completely unnecessary, it did nothing for the plot or enrichment of the book. Like this novel would have been so much shorter if all paragraphs in which women were objectified were removed.

At first, I was intrigued by Malito. The way they described him as a genius made me want to learn more about this character. But then, reading about his reaction to the 6 year old who died as a casualty of gunfire, I immediately started hating every single character in this book. I had no empathy for them.  “because in reading about what he himself had done, he felt both satisfied at not having been recognized, and at the same time saddened at not seeing his own photo” (p.40), he wanted to be recognized for the death of that little girl. He was proud for getting away with it, but he also wanted recognition for his accomplishment. He was as proud of his violence as I was disgusted. It felt like money made him blind to his morals. He was too high on cash to care about the innocent life he took.

The only time I was sympathetic towards the characters in the book was when the Kid died. The Blond Gaucho holding him affectionately had me in tears and him calling the Kid sweetheart??? Absolutely broke my heart. I literally got flashbacks from when I read the Iliad or when I read The Song of Achilles. Patroclus dying and Achilles’ reaction? Why is it that it’s always the brawn of the duo that has to see the brains die?? And then we see the soft side of the muscle and that always gets me emotional.

Question of the week:

What are your thoughts on the relationship between the Kid and the Blond Gaucho?