Money to Burn Reflection

Hello again everyone, I’m back to discuss this week’s book: Money to Burn by Ricardo Piglia. This book is without a doubt my favourite so far in the course. The fact that it is based on a true story makes it even more interesting to me. The events that take place are so gruesome and extreme that at times I forgot this. But the seemingly non-stop action kept me engaged throughout.

The book was fairly easy to follow and understand. The narrator is particularly helpful at guiding the reader, and I really appreciated the way he laid things out, especially at the beginning of the novel. This was a breath of fresh air compared to the novel I read last week: The Trenchcoat by Norman Manea, which kind of just dives right in and leaves it up to the reader to put all the pieces together.

The showdown at the end was fantastic. Again, the fact that this part is based on a true story, and a group of three guys was able to hold off hundreds of police officers that had them cornered in an apartment building for 15 hours is absolutely remarkable. As soon as I got to the part when the group learns that the police have found their hideout, I knew that their demise was inevitable. They hold on to hope for some time, hoping that Malito, the leader of the group, will rescue them. However, this seems increasingly more implausible as time goes on.

The last topic I want to discuss about this book is simply the tragic mistreatment and waste of human life throughout. The group’s disregard for the sanctity of human life is quite shocking. Various rapes and murders they have committed are described throughout, and they have no remorse for these actions whatsoever, often laughing afterwards. At one point, Malito even criticizes the way that the media reported how they shot a six year-old in the face leaving a “bloody cavity” (p.40), as if they are portraying the killing of an innocent child too harshly or overly dramatic. The group also turns on Yamandu, the guy who is tasked with guiding them through Uruguay, after he gets injured and can’t continue onward, since they are worried that he will talk to the police if they leave him behind. They see people simply as obstacles they have to get around to get away with their crimes, or tools for them to use to their advantage.

Thanks for reading my post, and I’ll be back again next week to give my thoughts on Jose Samarago’s Death with Interruptions.

Question: What did you think about the amount of action/killing in the story? At times, it felt like deaths were described constantly. I like action so this made it more interesting, but the fact the death reports are real makes it more sickening and disturbing to read in my opinion.