This week’s reading is Money to Burn by Piglia. The themes uncover crime, corruption, and gang wars in Argentina. My first impression of this book was that it reminded me of the video game, Grand Theft Auto, hence the reason behind the name of the title for my blog. From the acquisition of illegal drugs to the large sums of money, it was like this was the original game but ‘played’ with you reading it. If you don’t know what Grand Theft Auto is or in short, GTA, it is a game where you can participate in various heists and commit crimes. That is just a simple explanation as there are more than just petty theft and crimes you can do in the game, which can be detailed similarity to some of the events that occur in this book.

Interestingly, this book is based on a true story which takes place. It also uncovers the danger of being in a gang and participating in criminal activities. From what I noticed in the book, many of the characters are young people, and some with ambitious backgrounds. For example, Twisty is only 20 years old, yet made the unwise choice of participating in gang activities, resulting in death. On the other hand, Malito, the leader of the gang, went to school and was formerly an engineer. Despite having achieved an engineering degree which in itself is prestigious, he chooses to live a life where the shortcut to money derives from bloody wars and robberies. It is what makes me want to know more about Malito and why he chose this path.

It is notable that this is a book based on real events (as mentioned in the Epilogue). I assume that the author illustrates his own version of the story based on true crime, and as a result, there is a large emphasis on detailing the gang’s plans. However, I felt like this made it feel like I could not know more about the characters other than brief details such as age, and the fact that they’re a criminal. Thus, I did not really indulge into this book as much as I would like to this week, but that could also be explained by my skimming for the reading. It was also difficult to read into the characters because there were simply so many, although many were just gang associates. Nonetheless, I liked how this book was based on real events, and it makes me wonder what the readings for the next few weeks will be about.

Question:

How do you feel about the characters in this book?