Review: One-Go reader
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 12 10, 2012
They say no two homes are ever similar and cultural ideas change every few feet...After reading This is Bishkek, Baby, I began to think that maybe there really is something to all the global tensions arising from cultural gaps and ideology clashes. What I mean to say is that no matter how tolerant you are to someone, whose ways of living and thinking are completely alien to those of yours, there's always a chance of strife ensuing, and picturing that on a global scale: you have the reality of the 21st century, people, a global village with too many cultural borders and infinitesimal common ground.Wells has written a piece of fiction, but the facts contained in it cannot be regarded as so, since everything revealed in the book regarding mail-order brides, and then their kidnapping, are all very much a part of Kyrgyz and some other notable cultures of the region. What makes this book an interesting read is the fact that the author has entwined the serious and somewhat grotesque plot of the novel with the wittiness and straightforwardness of the characters, especially the protagonist, Sheamus Rissler. It's eye-popping, mouth-gaping horrifyingly amusing how he lands himself in the middle of a raging political scenario from a simple job, for a security officer, of finding a missing American citizen lost in the vicinity of Bishkek.It was a good experience reading Fogarty Wells' This is Bishkek, Baby, I certainly hope Wells doesn't stop at this book, and produces more stories like this one. It was good knowing the Nazis, KGB and SIS from writers like Forsyth, but todays the age of post Afghan war and the cultural changes after 9/11, and I believe Wells can be the man for the job.