Money to Burn: Aside from the robbery…

Ricardo Piglia’s “Money to Burn” was a long and chaotic book filled with too many names and nicknames that made it hard to keep track of what was happening. It took a lot of motivation to read this one especially since the last few books I’ve read have been quite short. The content of the story was interesting, particularly because it is based on a true story and an actual robbery, as well as because it is very different from the books we’ve previously read in class that typically surround themes like love and growing up. Aside from the content being interesting, there was also a lot of content related to sex that made the book a bit disturbing, including the underaged prostitute that all the men overly sexualized. Even though the back stories and anecdotes of the gang members were dramatized and fabricated, it was intriguing to read about since it served as a reminder that these were also real people who have had many other experiences besides those related to criminal activity. Moreover, I liked how the story was written from the third person and in a neutral way so that the perspectives of all the parties involved in this case were touched upon, like the gang members, Commissioner Silva, and even the man working at the cash desk at the bank. 

One particular occurrence I noticed was the frequent conflicts that several of the gang members experienced. For example, after the robbery, Malito “felt both satisfied at not having been recognized, and at the same time saddened at not seeing his own photo” (p. 40). He is obviously relieved he hasn’t been identified because of his crimes, but there’s a part of him and his identity where he wants to be known by other people for his exceptional criminal work. Malito’s different identities, desires, and dreams conflict one another which makes it difficult to satisfy everything he wants or needs. Another conflict is experienced by Dorda. It is made known that Dorda believed in God and was a “devout believer” (p. 63) who even wanted to become a priest at one point. After hearing an old man talk about Jesus and the Bible, Dorda felt “at ease and at peace” (p. 80) and felt safe for the first time ever since joining the gang. Dorda’s faith contradicts his criminal actions and behaviour, and similar to Malito, there are different aspects of his identity that conflict each other. 

My light-hearted question for discussion this week is “what is your favourite nickname? Or more specifically, which nickname do you think sounds the coolest?”.