Fantastic true story about a Bolivian prison (Marching Powder - Rusty Young)

Member Name: yahoo2003

Product:	Marching Powder - Rusty Young
Date:	31/07/09 (79 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: True-Life, Great Stories, Funny at times, Very Interesting

Disadvantages: None really

I was recommended this book by a couple of people and since then have spoken to a few different people who have all read and really enjoyed this book.

The Story:

Marching Powder is the true story of Thomas McFadden, written by Rusty Young, but written in the 1st person so that it does feel as if Thomas is writing it himself. Thomas is a British man caught drug-trafficking in Bolivia. He is sent to San Pedro prison which seems to be the one of the most unusual prisons ever known. Prisoners have to buy their own cells, food, medical supplies etc. Everything in the prison is dependent on bribes and if you have enough money you can actually live a very comfortable life and even pay for day trips out of the prison, and to have your family stay with you, and to have visitors. The book is about his experiences good and bad in the prison, about the characters he meets and how he becomes such a well-known character both in and out of the prison. I won't give away more than that!

Verdict:

I really really enjoyed this book. I've read a few true stores recently as autobiographies / biographies are my absolute favourite, but this has been the best one I've read in a while.

The story is written in a very engaging way. Rusty Young is obviously a very good writer and it's always slightly disappointing when the person didn't write their own story but it seems that he knows the character very well and it doesn't detract from the enjoyment that he has written it for him, especially as it's written as though Thomas writes it himself.

For a true story, there are some really exciting and clever plots which a fictional writer would even have difficulty matching. Alongside this, the general explanation of how life in the prison works is very interesting in itself, as well as understanding more about Thomas' life in the prison and the funny / crazy / nasty / kind people he meets along the way.

The book is about 370 pages, so a good book to get stuck into on a holiday.
What I also like about it is that you learn so much about the way the prison and Bolivia in general operates and lots of other interesting facts and stories, that this book is a good talking point either with people who have read it, or even people who haven't as by the time you've read the book you have a good collection of facts and stories to bring up in conversations.

Any drawbacks?

Not really. Personally speaking I would have liked to find out a bit more about Thomas' life before he got caught - how he got into drug trafficking etc, but then I guess as the book was already pretty long it may have been difficult. I would also have liked more of a follow-up but I might Google that now to find out!

If you like true life stories about prison life, another good book you could read is Hell in Barbados, which also goes into detail about how the character got into drug trafficking and even drug-taking in the first place.

All-in-all, a great read and I'd definitely recommend it.

Summary: A great true story that you will get very stuck into