Relationships – RMST Blog Avery

Money to Burn by Ricardo Piglia has been my favourite book we have read in this class. To be honest I wasn’t expecting to like an Argentina-based gang robbery as much as I did but for whatever reason I found this book a much easier read than any others. Most of the time I can read books quick when I enjoy them and I find myself reading for a long time w
A part of it I didn’t enjoy however were the random unhinged lines. They were random in terms of context, the only thing about them that was out of place was the graphicness of them. The very first line I noted that caught me off guard was on page 9 which says “He forced him to his knees, plunged his face in the mud, and it’s said he pulled down his trousers and raped him while the cop struggled to try to free himself with his head under water.” I would argue, however, that maybe these early-on lines were put in to reflect the intensity of these characters, what they’ve seen and what they’ve done. It prepares us for scenes we get further into the novel like when we find out about the back story of Dorda or the Kid. I found their stories really crazy, like Dorda and the voices he hears in his head and the Kid and his story about r*ping girls, which was really messed up. I also found the two’s (Dorda and the Kid) relationship very interesting, I almost felt bad for them, how they cared for eachother (seceret lovers?). I especially felt bad when the Kid died in the final scene, the standoff with the police,”dead at his (Dordas) feet, the only man who had ever loved him, and who’d treated him as a person, better than a brother, that Kid Brignone had treated him like a woman” (188-189pg), But just when I want to feel bad for the characters they say something that reminds me that they are infact (pretty messed up) crminals. Also the amount of character at first, and honestly sometimes as they were randomly brought up, confused me at times. I found myself having to go back and try and remember who is who. Even when people died (like twisty ((?)) spoiler) I found myself saying “oh no!…wait who was that again?”
This to me felt like a gang version (and a much more brutal version) of Oceans 11. This happens to be one of my favourite movies (I’d recommend to anyone who enjoys the quick-paced heist genre), I like seeing the thought process when people who really want things that are below the law and how they think, it’s a different kind of smarts.

My question is what was your final opinion on the characters? Did you still feel some sympathy or was not a fan of the criminal minded robbers?

If you read my last blog post you may remember that I found The Shrouded Women quite anxiety inducing, for this weeks story I read Agostino by Alberto Moravia but if I thought last weeks story was “bad” (in the sense of feeling, not content, I quite enjoyed The Shrouded Women!) then this weeks story was worse. There was a discomfort that engulfed me throughout this story from start to finish. When I read that a theme in this book was sexuality I certainly did not expect it to be portrayed in this way. Although I must say it was interesting to read of it from this young innocent boy perspective, I feel like it’s quite “taboo” in a way for society and therefore an untapped subtopic within sexuality. I hesitate to say I enjoyed it (it was an interesting read but I didn’t quite enjoy it) just because of the fact that its sexual acts and concept through the lens of a young boy (A MINOR AS WELL), so to me it just feels wrong.

I noticed that throughout the story a word was changed in relation to his mother. Throughout the first part of the book Agostino’s mother is referred to as “his mother”, but I noticed that on page 44 she’s referred to as “The mother”. I thought this was more interesting as it takes away Agostino’s personal relationship with his mother as he learns more about the world and her, just by using one word. This happens throughout the book whenever his is upset/disgusted with his mother, it changes to “the” mother.

Again I feel as though this story objectifies women, it puts women’s sexuality almost as a thing to be ashamed of, through the way Agostino is in such disgust with his mother. On the other hand a bunch of young boys are running around naked having fun while their old man leader watches! It’s hard to say because it is literally his mother and we are only getting Agostinos sexually confused perspective. However I feel like this book really put women’s sexuality to shame.

I don’t think that there was ever a mention of Agostino’s father and I can’t help but wonder the effect of having a loving father figure would have on this story. Maybe Agostino wouldn’t be so surprised or repulsed about intimacy and sexuality if he has seen his mother with his father being affectionate. Maybe he wouldn’t have this strange thoughts of interest in his mother sexuality or maybe he would want to kill his father and have his mother for himself (a very Freudian concept)…who knows! I do feel like having the father present would change the trajectory of this story quite a bit. I even wonder what would happen if roles were reverse and his father was the only one present with no mention of his mother. Would Agostino be so horrified if he saw his father naked and on boats with women?

Question: How do you think a father figure would have changed this story?

RMST Blog Avery

Tag Archives: Relationships

maybe money should be fireproof…?

Agostino – Mommy AND Daddy Issues?