Olivia's Blog

  I think this is one of the most interesting novels i’ve read so far during this class. It kept the element of true crime/true events throughout the theme and most of the events (and I am a true crime junkie) and the sociologist in me was also able to make inferences about how symbolic it was of them to burn the money and how the act of robbery was an act of resistance against capitalism.  As said in the video too, how “money is one of the most powerful fictions that structure social relations” & “the thieves show it is very easy to burn the stuff, it is just that nobody thinks to do so.”  The first thing that came to my mind when I read this was how, connecting it back to capitalism, of how easy it is to start to oppose the system but no one chooses to do so. And the ending when they burn the money was quite symbolic because money is the very driver of society. And after risking everything they have to steal it and at the end of the day, it ends up going up in flame...

  This book sent a mix of emotions while I was reading it. Although it wasn’t exactly portrayed in the book, the age different between the characters… like can we talk about it? The lover, of whom we don’t even know his name, is in his mid-twenties and she is 15 and a half??? Like that is absurd. I know times were different but this is a whole case of pedophilia. Anyways.  The novel focuses more on the racial aspect of their relationship and how the deterring factor for the lover’s dad was her ethnicity. It really brings to life racial segregation. In a way (ignoring the fact that she is 15 ½ and he is in his mid-twenties), they are both exploiting each other in different ways. She is exploiting him for this money and using his emotional vulnerability to her advantage and he is using her for emotional stability.  There is so much wrong with this situation. First of all, can we talk about her getting in a random man’s car when he asked her? Like did your parents not give y...