Okay, so this post isn’t actually about boobs or Bishkek, but I simply couldn’t resist the alliteration; this is actually a book review. One of the books Ben Jr brought with him to Kyrgyzstan was Revolution Baby, the story of Saffia Farr, the pregnant wife of a British government aid employee who moved to Kyrgyzstan when her husband was transferred here shortly before the 2005 “Tulip Revolution” [wikipedia]. After reading the book’s back cover, I was excited to delve into this book, although both Ben and Katy warned me that I wouldn’t like it. And for the most part, they were right.
See, Saffia Farr is VERY different from me and my friends, and her life – even when she was living here in Bishkek – is vastly different from my own. I had a tough time relating to her, or even to her version of life in Kyrgyzstan. She essentially spends the bulk of the book complaining about life in Bishkek, bitching about being unable to find a good place to get her legs waxed (!) and constantly reminding us that she has Really Big Boobs (she manages to do this twice in the forward alone). It takes her a good 18 or so months before she decides that she might actually like Kyrgyzstan after all. Maybe.
If you can’t tell from my writing, most of the book annoyed me to no end; I simply couldn’t relate to someone with her own personal driver and who brunches regularly at the Hyatt. However, I did find the final chapters – when the revolution finally happens – to be quite interesting. I remember when the revolution actually happened it received *very little* coverage in the West; I only knew about it because I regularly read blogs pertaining to Russia and the former Soviet Union. I remember wishing it had received more coverage. As such, it was definitely interesting to read her firsthand descriptions of what was going on at that time. But all in all, I wasn’t a big fan. Unless you have a particular interest in the Tulip Revolution, or unless you’re a ‘trailing spouse’ planning on making your way to Bishkek and hobnobbing with the bridge playing, soiree throwing, Hyatt brunching set, I’d give this book a pass.
See, Saffia Farr is VERY different from me and my friends, and her life – even when she was living here in Bishkek – is vastly different from my own. I had a tough time relating to her, or even to her version of life in Kyrgyzstan. She essentially spends the bulk of the book complaining about life in Bishkek, bitching about being unable to find a good place to get her legs waxed (!) and constantly reminding us that she has Really Big Boobs (she manages to do this twice in the forward alone). It takes her a good 18 or so months before she decides that she might actually like Kyrgyzstan after all. Maybe.
If you can’t tell from my writing, most of the book annoyed me to no end; I simply couldn’t relate to someone with her own personal driver and who brunches regularly at the Hyatt. However, I did find the final chapters – when the revolution finally happens – to be quite interesting. I remember when the revolution actually happened it received *very little* coverage in the West; I only knew about it because I regularly read blogs pertaining to Russia and the former Soviet Union. I remember wishing it had received more coverage. As such, it was definitely interesting to read her firsthand descriptions of what was going on at that time. But all in all, I wasn’t a big fan. Unless you have a particular interest in the Tulip Revolution, or unless you’re a ‘trailing spouse’ planning on making your way to Bishkek and hobnobbing with the bridge playing, soiree throwing, Hyatt brunching set, I’d give this book a pass.
9 comments:
Hi Jane
I'm sorry you didn't enjoy Revolution Baby. It was very interesting to read your comments but I was quite surprised how I have been misinterpreted. I think you might have missed my slant - there was supposed to have been some self deprecating humour in there! I also thought I was rather too cutting and sarcastic about the life of the archetypal expat women, but maybe not, as I have come accross as one to you.
Few more things to think about before you judge me so harshly - from the book I thought readers would realise that I am not a pedicure-obsessive expat lady who lunches, compared to most of the women I was thrown in with I had very down to earth lifestyle - they couldn't believe I did my own cleaning! Yes, we employed a driver but only for journeys I could not do on foot and were not practical or necessarily safe with a three month old baby. Thirdly, the Bishkek I lived in in 2003 was very different to the Bishkek you live in today. While I understand that everyone is different and so therefore looks for different things from a place, so much has changed in Bishkek, so much more is available and functioning to make your experience very different.
I appreciate that not everyone will like my book but it seems a shame that you have read me so wrong. I'm not that shallow really.
Saffia
ps, I think it's unfair to say that I decide I might like the country, maybe, as I quite clearly say what I learn to love about Kyrgyzstan - and back here I'm now busy promoting the country. The book is a journey of exploration and discovery, just like my time in Kyrgyzstan.
I couldn't finish the book...
I got less than halfway before passing it on to Jane. Yes, I did pick up on the self-depreciating humor and I do realize that Bishkek was a different place back in 2003.
What kept me from continuing the book, though, was that you seemed to look down on the other women and think your life was so different from theirs, yet I struggled to find what it was that made you deserve such a pedestal. For example, you criticized their conversations about hair and shopping, but then continued on about leg waxing and your breasts (as if those two topics are so much more insightful).
Perhaps in person you truly aren’t at all like those women, but in the novel the only difference that came across was that you were more hypocritical and whiny.
As an expat living in Bishkek - and I go to the Hyatt, and I have a personal driver.
Being wealthy - or reasonably well off, because you actually needed to make just an "OK" salary to be able to afford these small luxuries in Bishkek, especially in 2003 - says absolutely nothing about a person's worth as a human being, or even as a storyteller. Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, two of the richest people on the planet, are great examples of people who have been successful and at the same time will do more for the planet than you and I can even imagine.
Saffia had, in my opinion, actually written a very insightful, timely, and personally touching story. It's a shame and a reflection of your own shallowness that you judge her so harshly just because she's different from you, and not on the literary or narrative value of the actual book.
Anonymous- If you are going to criticize then you should at least have the decency to not jump to unfounded, baseless conclusions and not to hide behind the shadow of anonymity.
If you had taken the time to read Jane's post and absorb the information contained therein, you'd see that she isn't criticizing Saffia for being 'different.' We all accept that different people have different lifestyles, and are well aware (of course) that our own standard of living here in Bishkek is much higher than that of the average Kyrgyz person. At no point does Jane reveal any disdain for wealthy people or say/imply that a person's worth is based on their income. The fact that she couldn't relate to Saffia's lifestyle is quite clearly not the source of her dislike for 'Revolution Baby.'
It is clear, to me at lest, that her dislike of this book stems from her belief that Saffia is unduly negative towards the city and the country. You'll also notice that Saffia constantly and repeatedly adopts a negative tone towards the very expat community of which she was a part. It is fine to have a personal driver and brunch at the Hyatt, but I for one consider it quite hypocritical to bitch about people for doing the very same as you. If I were one of Saffia's 'friends' who she repeatedly disparages throughout the book, I'd be annoyed to say the least. What could have been a very promising book was somewhat spoiled by the excessively hypocritical backstabbing tone that it adopts.
Of course, we are all entitled to our opinions, and the free exchange of ideas on such matters is to be encouraged, but not at the expense of common courtesy.
I'd love to tell you who I am, but then I'd have to kill you. :-) To be honest, I simply cannot afford to be noticed posting on silly blogs, so I'll have to remain anonymous. Noblesse oblige, as the French say.
In terms of your coming to Jane's defense - I don't see her actually saying any of the things you said. Here is what I did see:
"See, Saffia Farr is VERY different from me and my friends, and her life – even when she was living here in Bishkek – is vastly different from my own."
"If you can’t tell from my writing, most of the book annoyed me to no end; I simply couldn’t relate to someone with her own personal driver and who brunches regularly at the Hyatt."
If those two statements aren't typical examples of envy and class hatred, I'm not sure what is.
The problem, Ben, is that you are basing your interpretation on what you think Jane meant to write and probably should have written (since you know her personally and decided to defend a friend - a perfectly honorable and natural thing to do), where as I am actually reading - and quoting back to you - what she actually wrote.
To summarize, Jane clearly is annoyed by the book first and foremost because the author had a different lifestyle and talked about things that Jane believes to be shallow (finding a place to shave her legs - I found that to be rather funny, actually). Jane clearly does fail to pick up on the self deprecating humor, as the author pointed out in her own response, as well as a great number of other redeeming qualities.
It's a shame that some people will base their judgment of Saffia's book based on Jane's deeply biased and fundamentally flawed review.
Again, I don't see any evidence in Jane's review of 'class hatred' or 'envy.' She simply states that she couldn't relate to the book because the author's lifestyle is so different to her own. Not being able to relate to something does not necessarily indicate contempt, and certainly there is no evidence whatsoever of her believing that rich people are unable to do good deeds. You are creating a strawman argument here, although I don't doubt that it is through a genuine misinterpretation of what Jane has written rather than from any malicious intent.
I can't speak on Jane's behalf, and overall I enjoyed the book somewhat more than she did, but my annoyance with it stems largely from the hypocritical bitchiness described by Katy. I feel that Saffia betrayed her 'friends' in Bishkek by writing about them in the way she did, and I found this distasteful. If anyone is riven with class envy and disdain for expatriates, it seems to be Saffia, not Jane. And yet the irony is that Saffia was clearly a part of the group she so disdains.
The other source of annoyance is that I felt somewhat let down by the premise of the book. I expected a tale of life on the edge, of adventure and excitement, danger too, and this is what the blurb and other reviews promised. Instead, (with the exception of the revolution scenes), I found a tale of a typical expat life, replete with women's club meetings, personal drivers and brunches at the Hyatt. This would have been quite interesting in itself, but was certainly not the story I felt had been promised to me by the publisher. Hence some feelings of annoyance/disappointment.
In any case, I don't regret reading the book, and I agree it does have some merit, but unfortunately its flaws left a more lasting impression than its more positive qualities. Without the hypocrisy and bitching, it could have been so much more.
I actually found this post while trying to find a place in Bishkek to get leg waxing...
any ideas...
What is Saffia Farr's bra size?
Great blog, thanks for posting this
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