Week 10: “Money to Burn” by Ricardo Piglia

Hey everyone! This week, we’re reading “Money to Burn” by Ricardo Piglia. Finally, nothing super weird with love interests happened, and what really got me to enjoy this book was its mystery/crime aspect. I really liked Piglia’s style of writing as he was able to blend different genres and narrative styles seamlessly. Throughout the novel, he combined elements of crime fiction, political thriller, and philosophical inquiry, creating a narrative with challenging categorization. Yet, it was still relatively easy and fun to read.

To give a bit of a summary, Money to Burn is a crime novel set in Argentina during the 1960s. After reading this novel, I had a couple of thoughts, one of which is regarding how Piglia portrays these criminals. I feel like he almost writes them in a way where he wants us to sympathize with them, although they’re committing such heinous acts? Piglia delves into their backgrounds and experiences, revealing the socioeconomic factors and systemic injustices that have influenced their life paths. While I agree that people aren’t born evil and that their surroundings may affect how they grow up, I don’t think their backgrounds make up or excuse any of their crimes. I also want to mention the way the men in this novel spoke about women throughout this book was ridiculous?? Calling women all sorts of derogatory names, normalizing sex work and objectifying them. I kinda get that during the time this novel was set, men viewed women as inferior to them and were way more misogynistic, but I feel like that level of portrayal of women was a bit extreme. Especially when Piglia was trying to have us sympathize with those men, the same men who say all those things about women?? Make it make sense.

Overall, while there were definitely some things I was not too fond of reading (e.g., how Piglia portrayed women), I enjoyed his writing style. Finding out this was based on actual events made me feel more connected to the novel. The novel explored themes such as power, corruption, justice, and the complexities of human nature. It portrays Argentine society and history during a pivotal moment.

Discussion Question: How did you feel about Piglia’s attempt to make us sympathize with the criminals? Also, do you think the characters’ political beliefs influenced their actions and relationships?