Rusty Young

COLOMBIANO is one of those huge (689 pages huge) sweeping saga styled novels that has enough story to fill those pages, although this is raw, gut-wrenching, frequently shocking stuff. Especially if you know there are aspects of somebody's true story built into a fictional telling.

Not for the light-hearted, or weak of arm if you're going to be reading a paperback / hardback copy COLOMBIANO starts out with an author prologue which is well worth reading as it tells the background to the story, show more then moves into Part One - Little Pedro commencing with the line:



They did indeed execute Pedro's father, after a few chapters that describe the lead up to the execution, the reasons, and then into the aftermath. Switching rapidly backwards and forwards between events and timelines, Pedro's father's death is sadly just another pointless execution in a long line of guerrilla warfare - rebels versus government / right versus wrong (hard to decide which is which) and violence. Loss, violence, deprivation, cruelty, sadness, inter-generational hatred, revenge, bitterness, dark humour... it's all here in spades.

Whilst the book itself is a thumping big undertaking COLOMBIANO is told in a series of short, sharp chapters, switching the focus and timelines around all the time, keeping the reader from having to concentrate too hard on just the worst aspects, sprinkling in a little bit of coming-of-age story, trying to balance the descent into madness with love as an uplifting counter-point.

Hard going, with an authentic voice that makes it emotionally challenging and confronting, COLOMBIANO is well worth pursuing - even if the size is off-putting. This reads, feels and is telegraphed in the prologue as something this author was passionately driven to produce.

https://www.austcrimefiction.org/review/colombiano-rusty-young show less

If you were to ask me what I feel like reading, I can't imagine I'd ever point to a historical novel. No, not even now, following the roller-coaster excitement that reading Colombiano has given me.

This book was definitely written in a riveting manner, and I was seriously hard-pressed to put it down, quite a feat, given my short attention span. That said, I was also living in constant anxiety during the reading experience, so I can't say I'll be re-reading it very soon.

When it comes to show more impressing me, patriotism is never a good idea to rely on. Don't get me wrong, I'm not some Soviet spy plotting to sell out my country, nor do I condone the national sport of badmouthing it to foreigners. Nevertheless, in my experience, even the smallest whiff of patriotism has a tendency to degenerate into serious bouts of xenophobia. So as an ethnic minority, you'll just have to forgive me for not brimming with the most melodramatic of patriotic sentiments.

Of course getting singled out (alongside a few hundred people) to express my opinion on a genre I wouldn't normally read, is quite a heady feeling. So I accepted the publisher's request, and then proceeded to spend several hours quietly panicking over said decision. But that's OK, I need my daily dose of anxiety to function normally.

At this point, I can honestly say that nobody was more surprised than I for not only liking the book, but getting veritably addicted to it. I may have mentioned this before, but I am not a fast reader. As matter of fact I'm probably closer to being a very slow one. But I got so hooked on Colombiano, that I would use every single one of my free moments to read.

How would Pedro get over his grueling training? Would he ever get caught by the Guerrilla? What horrors would his increasingly radical views cause? Would he ever manage to get out of the Autodefensas' army? And I worried about all these things fully knowing that Pedro would in fact manage to rise above it all, as mentioned in the prologue.

Score: 4.8/5 stars

It's been over 3 months since I finished reading this book, and I've since started to see a whole lot of "flaws" in some of the episodes: Pedro's much too neat side-stepping of the name change, the relative success of his bouts of revenge, not to mention the savvy manner in which he dealt with drug lords.

Would I recommend Colombiano as a serious bit of historical literature? Maybe: although I'll have to do some fact checking, first.

Would I recommend the book as a story based on real events? Whole-heartedly: it has a kick-ass coming of age story, several thrilling action sequences, and virtually no boring downtime. The only thing I'd change/cut is the epilogue: it feels too much like a fairy-tale.

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I was given a free copy of Colombiano by Havelock & Baker Publishing in exchange for a fair and honest review show less

This is a fascinating account of inside the La Paz jail (Bolivia) where the lack of money forces inmates to create their own economy. This incredible system allows prisoners to obtain most creature comforts, just as it creates inequalities, engendering a multi-tiered society with its rich and poor.
McFadden is quick to remind us, however, that this bought quasi-freedom is extremely precarious and prone to the whims of politicians and the guards who will not hesitate to take away privileges show more and even torture.
Finally, the description of the drug trade and the industry it creates is a sub-theme which is can be quite eye-opening.
McFadden comes across as an intelligent, if misguided, individual; not particularly likable but hopefully smart enough to have reformed his way. show less

True-life account of British drug smuggler, Thomas McFadden, who gets busted in Bolivia, and finds himself in the utterly weird San Pedro prison. A jail run largely by the prisoners, where you pay an entry and exit fee (poorer inmates find themselves stuck even after their release date) and where there's a whole micro economy. Wealthy prisoners buy a cell in the 'luxury' area of the jail; those with little means realise they need to generate an income to survive - prisoners open cafes, ply show more any trade they have or act as menials to earn a few coins from the Mr Bigs.
McFadden soon realises the packets of cocaine he swallowed won't garner him any money, since the prisoners are busily engaged in producing their own...always paying off the guards and police, some of whom actually bid for a posting here with its vast potential earnings.
Everything is available for a bribe...McFadden has a night on the town with a police minder; he finds a girl and has her to stay; he starts arranging prison tours for backpackers.
But life is not all sweet, as we read of dangerous areas full of crazed base smokers, the unpredictability of the authorities, who after happily allowing some activity for a bribe will just as suddenly turn on the prisoners. McFadden gets beaten up, witnesses 'prison justice' on a trio of gang rapists...and starts using cocaine himself. Even the prison cat is addicted. Even the sniffer dogs are kept eagerly at their job, not by treats but access to the subsances they find...
Probably not a book I'd have picked for myself - was given it- and it's an eye-opener, even if you have limited sympathy for the lead character. show less