Neglect, trauma, abuse: "capitalism is a massacre".

Money to burn by Asta Olivia Nordenhof is the first in a series of seven books that respond to the Scandinavian Star maritime disaster of 1990, where 159 people died on the passenger ferry as a result of arson. The initial investigation concluded that Erik Mørk Andersen – previously convicted for arson – set fire to the ship. This has now been disproved by a 2013 report which found that there were six separate fires and multiple acts of sabotage to the ship's fire safety features. Although the incident hasn't been formerly re-investigated, it is considered that the ship was set on fire as an act of insurance fraud.

Nordenhof details these allegations and the shady dealings of several Danish and offshore investors who were engaged in transferring ownership of the vessel, its inflated value and associated insurance dealings shortly before the disaster. These details are likely as a result of the investigative journalism of Lars Halskov, who wrote the book Branden - Gåden om Scandinavian Star (The fire - The Scandinavian Star riddle), which went on to form the basis of a 6-hour documentary, which was broadcast in Denmark, Sweden and Norway in 2020.

While the Scandinavian Star tragedy is the foundation of the novel, it substantially focuses on the lives of Maggie, Kurt and their daughter Sofie.

In a series of vignettes, Nordenhof reveals the childhood and early adulthood of Maggie and Kurt, who would go on to form a relationship after several previous failed experiences. We learn that both of their early lives were characterised by neglect and abuse, and that they both experienced trauma and significant instability. While their bond had happy and blissful beginnings, it eventually descended into physical and emotional abuse, which was inflicted by Kurt on Maggie, and by Maggie towards herself.

Towards the end of the book, Maggie's collective experiences of men culminate in her barbarous treatment at the hands of Kurt. The reader could at this point conclude that the work exhibits a near one-dimensional view of men – a work with a radical feminist perspective perhaps. However, there are aspects of the work that tackle the failed relationships between men and women in a perceptive and nuanced way; one that acknowledges their inherent complexity.

In one scene, Sophie and Maggie meet for lunch at a period when Sophie has entered university. Sofie asks her mother if she was a feminist when she was younger. Maggie's reaction of embarrassment and anger are the result of her lack of understanding of the term through her own unavailability of opportunity to develop intellectually as a younger person. With subtlety in its treatment and while certainly not condoning his abuse towards Maggie, the work subsequently goes on to reveal the complexity of Kurt's earlier life and an inner world of sensitivity, which has been apparently stunted by earlier neglect and trauma.

The link between Kurt and Maggie's life and the Scandinavian Star is tenuous. However, implicit in the telling of their lives the book explores the victims of capitalism in a northern European developed society in such a way that the complex, interwoven threads of social, cultural and emotional aspects of this economic system are shown for what they are: a barbaric apparatus that cannot distribute resources fairly and distorts and malforms the social relationships of people living within its agenda.

The work is relatively short and its prose is vivacious. While it says what it says directly and potently, much of its power lies in what is not said explicitly. By connecting wider social forces and systemic deficiencies to human relationships, it moves against the stifling spirit of individualism that has characterised much art of recent decades. Its endeavour to deal with the social injustices of the prevailing economic system provide encouragement that a raising of political consciousness that thoroughly tackles the inherently barbarous issues of capitalism is not only possible but under way.

Note

This is review of sorts of a book I recently read. It's not a thorough book review as it leaves many details out. I was more concerned with capturing and conveying my impressions of the overall stated theme of the book and its position as a critique of capitalism.