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The Man Who Quit Money arrives at a time fertile for a discussion of capitalism and consumerism as well as a growing mind-money connection in the West - a condition characterized by a fixation on money and the sense of anxiety or depression that may ensue. The cover of the book reads “In 2000, Daniel Suelo gave away his life savings. And began to live.” Coupled with the title of the work, one expects a forthcoming discussion and examination of capitalism and its injustices upon the individual, which culminate in the story of an individual who triumphs morally over the vicissitudes of such structural violence. The individual is Daniel Suelo who “quits money,” travels the world, and meets peculiar and intriguing characters - a narrative that evokes stimulating and necessary questions such as: For whom are public spaces? What is the nature of exchange and debt? Can religion accommodate money? and Can money accommodate religion? Throughout the piece, there is a concern for ethics that pervades both Suelo's actions and the heavy critiques of capitalism, greed, and consumerism. Although the non-fiction piece evokes such intriguing questions, it ultimately undercuts the credibility of its ethical examination of money for two reasons: (1) it presents an inaccurate and privileged conceptualization of what poverty is and (2) subsequently misinterprets the etiology of the purported anxiety and suffering associated with money. What is ultimately produced is a narrative that exoticizes and glamorizes poverty and; therefore, trivializes the plight of those who truly suffer from economic struggle and disparity.
The book is organized into three parts, which are overtly associated with the seminal narratological concept of the “hero's journey” that author, Joseph Conrad, coined in 1949, which consists of the hero who embarks on adventure, encounters and overcomes an obstacle, and returns home victorious and changed. The “hero” in this piece is Daniel Suelo who at a young age begins t