{"id":4915,"date":"2019-03-25T05:00:15","date_gmt":"2019-03-25T12:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/?p=4915"},"modified":"2019-03-24T15:40:20","modified_gmt":"2019-03-24T22:40:20","slug":"mark-reads-making-money-chapter-7-part-ii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/2019\/03\/mark-reads-making-money-chapter-7-part-ii\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Reads &#8216;Making Money&#8217;: Chapter 7, Part II"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In the second half of the seventh chapter of <i>Making Money<\/i>, Adora Belle makes some progress, and Mr. Bent makes a mistake. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read <i>Discworld<\/i>.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>OH NO. Oh no!!! I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t figure out what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s going on with the golden golems; I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know what information Professor Flead is going to come back with; and I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know WHO THE HELL MR. BENT ACTUALLY IS.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Time for me to discuss.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Postmortem Communications<\/b><\/p>\n<p>So, Professor Flead is pretty gross, and Pratchett writes him both as a lecherous old man (the letch\/lych wordplay is GREAT) and as someone who has lust for the world of the Umnian golems. It <i>is<\/i> the only thing that gets him to stop hitting on Adora, after all. And while I feel like Pratchett wrote Flead this way just for the wordplay joke, there are two big things I picked up from this scene. First of all, I really do love how you can feel the pure joy emitting from both Flead and Adora Belle as they talk about this subject. Here are two people who have approached the concept of golems from an anthropological and intellectual standpoint (Flead) and from a liberation standpoint (Adora Belle). Which isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t to say there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not crossover, either. Like, I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t Flead is interested in golem liberation, but Adora is clearly interested in the history of golems, their thought processes, their society, etc. Anyway, the point being: reading this was a delight, and it made me even more excited to see the golems succeed in making it to Ankh-Morpork. I mean, yes, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s also going to be a disaster because:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153But we think they are&#8230; unusual golems.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Golden, probably,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Flead, the words leaving a thoughtful silence in their wake.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Then Adora Belle said: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Oh.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>Moist shut his eyes; on the inside of the lids, the gold reserves of Ankh-Morpork walked up and down, gleaming.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Still: that chaos is most likely going to result in something very, <i>very<\/i>interesting, and I want to know what it is.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>The other big thing: Adora Belle calling out Moist about flirting. SHE IS 100% RIGHT. He flirts with people all the time!!! It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s literally part of so many of his cons, but until her, he never <i>thought<\/i> of what he did as flirting. So, of course it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hypocritical of him to try to come for Adora Belle for flirting with Professor Flead. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the literal only source of the information she needs, so why shouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t she make that situation easier on both parties? It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s insecurity that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s cropping up here, or at least that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s my reading of the situation. Moist feels insecure about his relationship with Adora Belle, and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m guessing he felt threatened in that scene, even though he didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have to be.<\/p>\n<p><b>The Mistake<\/b><\/p>\n<p>There are two things here that I took away, both of which I commented on during the video reading. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an inherent comedic absurdity in this scenario because&#8230; well, mathematical mistakes are so COMMON. Yes, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s important in the banking industry that these mistakes NOT happen, but is it the end of the world? Well, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the joke. Or at least <i>partially<\/i> a joke. Mr. Bent is such a perfectionist that the staff around him goes to unreal lengths to insulate Mr. Bent until they no longer can because&#8230; the unthinkable happens.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>But at the same time, I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t ignore the more toxic element at work here. Have any of y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all had a boss who creates an environment around them where criticism is impossible? Where the potential for a slightest mistake can compel people to feel such terror that the break out into hysterics when a mistake is discovered? Hell, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve experienced this outside of a work scenario, and off the top of my head, I can think of two close relationships I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve had where this atmosphere existed. And it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s truly frightening!!! You know something is wrong or has been done wrong, but you cannot bring yourself to even mention it because you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re afraid of the terrible reaction you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll get. THIS IS NOT A HEALTHY DYNAMIC FOR ANYTHING. A work environment, a romantic relationship, a friendship, none of the above. But then this got me thinking: what if <i>this<\/i> is how Mr. Bent changes? What if this is the moment where he begins to realize that this whole thing of his is unsustainable? Because I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t see him winning out and Moist giving up the bank without changing it. So\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 does Mr. Bent change, or does something worse happen?<\/p>\n<p><b>Cribbins<\/b><\/p>\n<p>So, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve now got absolute confirmation that Cribbins\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s goal is to basically get as much money and favor out of Moist for as long as he can, or at least long enough to secure a massive payout. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s thinking of his future, and he knows that Moist is probably the quickest and surest route to some sense of security. But how the hell is he going to use Berenice\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s god-of-the-month club to achieve this? What about this club could get him closer to Moist? Or maybe it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a different kind of strategic positioning? He seemed pleased that Berenice wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t using her married name, so\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6. something about that?<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Clamp<\/b><\/p>\n<p>This is a weird subplot, no? Not the fact that Clamp exists or that Moist has recruited him to use for making money, but the whole thing with Igor replacing his brain with a turnip. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s one of those things that I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m hesitant to say much about because I could get the context I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m missing in the next chapter. THIS HAS HAPPENED SO MANY TIMES AT THIS POINT. But there is this:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153That is an interesting and philosophical point,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said, once again looking at Clamp\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s happy yet somewhat unfocused expression. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153But it seems to me that all those nasty little details were what made him, well, him.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Yes! And the evidence is there in Clamp\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s drawings, though part of me wants to see the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153nursery school\u00e2\u20ac\u009d version of the bills. PUT GOOGLY EYES ON THEM. Anyway: I assume Igor fetching the wires means that they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re fixing him, yes? If that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the case, how is Clamp going to feel about what was done to him? Or his new name? Or what he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s being asked to do?<\/p>\n<p><b>Mrs. Cake\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s<\/b><\/p>\n<p>WE\u00e2\u20ac\u2122RE GONNA FIND OUT THE TRUTH NOW, AREN\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T WE. NOOOOOOOO, THIS CHAPTER ENDING IS SO UNFAIR, WHY DO I READ BOOKS LIKE THIS!!!!<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/youtu.be\/MsgJ8_iaL8Q<\/p>\n<p><b>Mark Links Stuff<\/b><\/p>\n<p>&#8211; <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.markoshiro.com\/blog\/2018\/12\/19\/the-anger-is-a-gift-paperback-edition-is-out-may-7-2019\">The paperback edition of my debut, ANGER IS A GIFT, is now up for pre-order!<\/a> It comes out on May 7, 2019.\u00c2\u00a0<\/strong><strong>If you&#8217;d like to stay up-to-date on all announcements regarding my books, <a href=\"http:\/\/eepurl.com\/ey636\">sign up for my newsletter<\/a>! DO IT.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the second half of the seventh chapter of Making Money, Adora Belle makes some progress, and Mr. Bent makes a mistake. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read Discworld.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[451],"tags":[558,463,248],"class_list":["post-4915","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-discworld","tag-making-money","tag-mark-reads-discworld","tag-terry-pratchett"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4915","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4915"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4915\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4915"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4915"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4915"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<!-- WP Super Cache is installed but broken. 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