Mad Toy
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Mad Toy (Spanish: El Juguete Rabioso) is Argentine author Roberto Arlt's first novel, published in 1926.
[edit] Plot summary
Silvio Astier is a 14-year-old school dropout living in a poor barrio in Buenos Aires. In Chapter One, "The Band of Thieves", he forms a romantic gang with two other dropouts, called the Club de los Caballeros de la Media Noche (The Club of the Midnight Knights). Instead of stealing money, however, they choose to steal books from the school library.
Silvio is constantly reading and dreaming of fame and glory. The gang breaks up, and in successive chapters, Silvio experiences a series of adventures as he tries to "be somebody". He is often treated like a toy, enjoyed, then tossed out. The novel, loosely based on the life of its author, Roberto Arlt, is a fascinating mix of humor and pathos, poetry and slang.
[edit] References
Aynesworth, Michele Mckay. Mad Toy, a translation of Roberto Arlt's El juguete rabioso, with Introduction and Notes. Duke UP, 2002. ISBN 0-8223-2940-9.
