Who’s who again?

Okay I promise I tried my best, but if there’s any questions about who’s which character, I might lose my spot in the goteverythingrightonquizzes club. I was reading for a while thinking there were maybe 6 main guys, not realizing there were nicknames, and also last names, and sometimes all 3 names would be used in the same sentence.

This was a unique book. It read to me like a report and documentary at once, I kept thinking of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and Money Heist while reading it, not sure why. Lots of references to money and the affect of it were made throughout the novel, the way it drove people’s lives, from the mains and the side characters. The role of money changed so much through the book qs well, starting as hope and new beginnings, then rendered useless, they cannot spend it, escape with it, or hide it.

As we learned more about the robbers, I still couldn’t muster up fully feeling bad for them. There was lots of psychological background on them, and I could understand how they got there, but they hurt too many people to be anywhere near innocent. It was funny how they seemed to have specializations and so much of a plan in the beginning, but the story moved so fast and the robbery started right away. How messy it was and things falling to shit. The parts told by police reports, witnesses, and journalists gave the whole thing such a documentary or true crime vibe, even more fitting when we know it’s based on a real story. This would’ve been a good one for an audiobook listen. Overall it all culminated in the symbolism of burning the money, how it drives everything, but as the money burns, it seems so silly.

OH I hated the way the author spoke about female characters though, they all felt purely sexual and objectifying them. Women in the novel are mostly portrayed in sexualized ways and rarely receive the same psychological depth as the male characters. This may reflect the misogynistic attitudes of the criminal world the story depicts, but it also makes the female characters feel underdeveloped compared to the men. Especially every mention of the 15 year old girl. I could definitely tell the book was written by a man.

And I loved our gay lovers soft spot for each other. Despite their violence and instability, they show a genuine loyalty and softness toward each other that humanizes them. It was interesting that the most emotionally sincere relationship in the novel exists between two criminals.

DQ: Did you feel sympathy for the robbers after reading or not so much? Did your opinions change at all from right after the robbery to the end of the book?