{"id":4923,"date":"2019-04-08T05:00:52","date_gmt":"2019-04-08T12:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/?p=4923"},"modified":"2019-04-07T07:27:34","modified_gmt":"2019-04-07T14:27:34","slug":"mark-reads-making-money-chapter-12","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/2019\/04\/mark-reads-making-money-chapter-12\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Reads &#8216;Making Money&#8217;: Chapter 12"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In the twelfth and penultimate chapter of <i>Making Money<\/i>, Moist tells the truth. 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>I love a good mystery that makes total sense once the reveal comes, and every bit of Mr. Bent\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s history was foreshadowed brilliantly up to this point. But before I get to talking about the one thing I wanted to know more than anything, I wanted to back up and discuss the lead-up to that INCREDIBLE reveal. Because y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all, none of this happens like I thought it would. Even though I totally theorized that Moist could tell the truth to get out of this situation! (Well, I suppose he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not \u00e2\u20ac\u0153out\u00e2\u20ac\u009d of it quite yet.) I just couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t see <i>how<\/i> the truth would work.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>This chapter builds on the already complicated and chaotic story of <i>Making Money<\/i>, and numerous plot lines converge to show us what <i>really<\/i> happened at the bank. The whole thing is, naturally, a public spectacle. And that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an aspect of Moist\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s stories that feels unique to them. Moist <i>has<\/i> to have a crowd to pull off all his best little schemes. The <i>Times<\/i> has aided him in that, but I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m also thinking of his first big moment in the bank when he opened it to everyone. Or Harry King offering his support on the steps of the bank. Or any number of scenes in <i>Going Postal<\/i>! Moist uses crowds to his advantage and knows how to play them, and that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s one reason I believe he relies on humor so much as he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s being interrogated, especially once he starts telling the truth. If he can win people over because they think he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s funny, he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll do it. Of course, Pratchett can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t resist throwing in his own hilarious bits of foreshadowing here:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153The good name of the bank has been called into question, and so we will consider all matters apparently pertaining to it\u00e2\u20ac\u201d\u00e2\u20ac\u0153<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153No matter where they lead?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Indeed, Mr. Cosmo Lavish, no matter where they lead.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hard not to react to Vetinari at every turn by saying, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153OH, HE FUCKING <i>KNEW<\/i>, DIDN\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T HE?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Because this is totally Pratchett winking at the audience, telling us that Cosmo is a victim of his own arrogance. Even if it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not, I like my own interpretation of this because it fits with how misguided Cosmo has been throughout this novel. This man is so <i>certain<\/i> that he will prevail that he says shit like this! He really thought that his family would get away with their theft! That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an obvious statement, though, because the Lavishes have historically gotten away with everything, haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t they?<\/p>\n<p>Not anymore. Oh, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all, reading this chapter over again for this review is a DELIGHT. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not like watching a slow-motion accident: it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s like a million-car pile-up that lasts for half an hour. SO MUCH HAPPENS! As the metaphorical noose tightens around Moist\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s neck (which happens a whole lot to him), the first derailment happens. News of the murders of the assassins who came for Mr. Bent distracts the crowd that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s gathered for the trial. And now I know what this whole bit means:<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Sounds like the other one is Ribcage Jack, who was kicked to death\u00e2\u20ac\u201d\u00e2\u20ac\u0153 there was another whispered briefing, but Commander Vimes tended to raise his voice when he was angry \u00e2\u20ac\u0153\u00e2\u20ac\u201dby a what? On the second floor? Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be daft. So what got Cranberry? Eh? Did you just say what I thought you said?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The strip of rubber. OH MY GOD. A balloon??? Was someone murdered with BALLOON ART????<\/p>\n<p>And then there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Mr. Fusspot, who just walks about the room proudly and happily with a wind-up sex toy in his mouth, and this joke is so damn silly and I DON\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T CARE, I LOVE IT. And this part is particularly delightful:<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m in a world where that just happened, Moist thought. Nothing matters. It was an insight of incredibly wonderful liberation.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Pratchett set up this joke so that Moist could finally feel free to just tell the goddamn truth. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s BRILLIANT. What follows felt electric. Thrilling. Impossible. <i>Relieving<\/i>. Because Moist tells the whole room that he used to be a crook, knowing full well that it ruins the plans that Cosmo, Cribbins, and Mr. Slant had for him. The derailment is so good that no one ever recovers! Because none of those men expected Moist to admit this, but it works. It works because Moist gets to control the story. Well, inasmuch as Vetinari lets him. I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t ignore that Vetinari twists the facts just a smidge when he says that Moist \u00e2\u20ac\u0153survived\u00e2\u20ac\u009d his hanging. But otherwise? Everything else is true, and suddenly, guess who has to defend himself? Cosmo Lavish. The dynamic changes, at least right up until Cosmo figures out a decent rebuttal: Did Vetinari put a known bank robber in charge of the bank?<\/p>\n<p>It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s at this point, though, that Pratchett introduces the NEXT derailment, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a doozy. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m still reeling from the reveal that Mr. Bent USED TO BE A CLOWN. A clown!!! Oh my god, no wonder he hates silliness! And humor! HE WALKS FUNNY, HOLY SHIT, THAT WAS A CLUE. But apparently, he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not just a clown, but transformed into the most violent clown of all time??? (In the <i>Discworld<\/i> universe, I mean. I can think of another one in a different fictional universe.) How is he so good at throwing pies? And the ladder trick? It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s kind of terrifying, no? He killed two people already!!!<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>So, I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have all the information to fully understand Mr. Bent. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know why he gave this all up or how that came to be. But here, in that room, I understood that Mr. Bent had finally revealed a part of himself that he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d kept repressed for a long, long time. He went a little overboard, but Moist saved him from a far worse fate by taking a pineapple custard pie to the face for Vetinari. (That whole sequence is amazing, too.) And once that happens and Mr. Bent calms down, the penultimate derailment arrives. Seriously, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s like a giant wrestling match and Miss Drapes is the final tag team challenger. Because HOLY SHIT does she drop a bomb: the ledgers in Mr. Bent\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s wardrobe are the <i>actual<\/i> numbers for the bank, which prove that the Lavishes SOLD OFF ALL THE GOLD THEY ACCUSED MOIST OF STEALING. The projection! The misplacement of blame! Because <i>OF COURSE<\/i> this is what the Lavishes actually did!!!<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Which is yet another reason why the final scene resonates as much as it does: the Lavishes did this to themselves. Literally and figuratively! It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Pucci who spills all the family secrets because she can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t seem to <i>not<\/i> talk; it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the Lavish family\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s treatment of Mr. Bent that eventually backfires; it was Cosmo\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s insistence that Vetinari follow the truth no matter where it lead; and it was Cosmo\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s incredibly creepy obsession with Vetinari that leads to his near death. ALSO WOW, that scene is so, so gross??? I truly hate the phrase \u00e2\u20ac\u0153suppurating mass\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and did not need to know that, but will also NOT forget it, either.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>There is one last thing. The final line of this chapter has a poetic meaning that I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t get until I was writing this review. Moist says that the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153sunshine\u00e2\u20ac\u009d will do Cosmo\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hand good. And yes, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a direct reference to the stygium and its affects. But Moist is likely referring to something else: the truth. While he can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t claim credit for everything here, Moist helped bring the truth to light, too. In the long run, this light will be good for them. For the bank. For the city of Ankh-Morpork.<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/youtu.be\/2CcCW7xbpyI<\/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 twelfth and penultimate chapter of Making Money, Moist tells the truth. 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-4923","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\/4923","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=4923"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4923\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4923"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4923"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4923"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<!-- WP Super Cache is installed but broken. 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