Taxi to Tashkent: Two Years with the Peace Corps in Uzbekistan [Paperback]

Tom Fleming (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 30, 2007

This is a police state
This is a democracy
This is rot-gut vodka
This is $2 prostitutes
This is Peace Corps
This is good intentions
This is Ramadan
This is loyalty
This is power outages
This is corruption
This is the Silk Route
This is the former USSR
This is Uzbekistan

Tom Fleming went to Uzbekistan as a forty year old Peace Corps volunteer. He was a fish out of water, an infidel in a Muslim land, teaching AIDS prevention and sex education in the most conservative region of Central Asia.

With humor and poignancy Taxi to Tashkent portrays a land little known in the West. Instead of a nation rife with Islamic extremists as portrayed in the Western media, Fleming discovers a land of Korean discos, where blue eyed Muslims listen to Shania Twain, and where shop owners break into applause at the mention of America.

Fleming travels throughout Uzbekistan, from the ecological disaster site of the Aral Sea, to the ancient Silk Route cities of Bukhara and Samarkand. Taxi to Tashkent describes a little-known corner of the world where nothing appears as it seems.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Tom Fleming grew up in Salinas, California, and attended California State University, Fresno, where he received a BA degree in journalism. Fleming has lived in Los Angeles, London, St. Petersburg, Russia, and currently resides in Austin, Texas. Taxi to Tashkent is his first book.

Product Details

• Paperback: 356 pages
• Publisher: iUniverse, Inc. (August 30, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0595429971
• ISBN-13: 978-0595429974
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,167,370 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Is this a midlife crisis?, October 31, 2007

By 

Nadroj (Washington, DC USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Taxi to Tashkent: Two Years with the Peace Corps in Uzbekistan (Paperback)

"Taxi to Tashkent" dovetails over two growing genres of writing: Central Asian studies and Peace Corps memoirs. Harboring vast potential for interest, both genres are fast becoming cliche, even while not yet reaching greater audiences. Such is the fate of niche writing. But here, Fleming offers hope.

In general, books coming out of Central Asia are either chock-full of the same regurgitated travelogues (Silk Road, Great Game, KGB, Taliban) with which one quickly grows familiar. Or, they offer contemporary observations of a troubled region with much to tempt the foreign investor into dreaming and much to dissuade the international corporation from acting. In other words, everyone wills himself a TH Lawrence. Fleming doesn't waste our time with any such pontification.

Equally monotonous is the ever-expanding library of the returned volunteer memoir, in which we witness as a young idealist slowly learns what 'dirty' means while playing catch with village children. These are just modern spins on "Innocents Abroad". Fleming also spares us from such repetition.

In "Taxi", we meet a volunteer who finds much to report around him, while resisting the temptation to evaluate his observations for us. Fleming doesn't feel the need to explain it all; he's comfortable with the ambiguity of the surroundings. The reader will feel the same humorous, depressing and frustrating reactions to life-as-fish-out-of-water as do many individuals who have experienced life as an outsider. Further, Fleming doesn't fit in with the average age demographics of volunteers (fresh out of college or retired), so he's somewhat isolated even among his familiars.

Don't worry; you'll still gaze at Tamurlane's crumbling azure domes and the shrunken Aral Sea. But your usual choice of arrogant or naive company will have been replaced by a Toastmaster. It's like riding around with Stephen Colbert out of character. If you want a shelf reference, keep buying Central Asian studies. If you want neo-Victorian missionary diaries, check out yet another returned volunteer memoir. However, if you want hilarious and thoughtful reportage brought raw and unfiltered from two years of awkward situations (a much more honest account of life since globalization), grab "Taxi to Tashkent".

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting but overly negative, October 10, 2009

By 

World Traveler (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Taxi to Tashkent: Two Years with the Peace Corps in Uzbekistan (Paperback)

The author has a dim view of Uzbekistan and the message is very negative. Its unfortunate that he had such a horrible experience with the Peace Corp, which seems to have colored his entire experience with the region as well. I lived in Tashkent, Uzbekistan for two years and think it is a very interesting country and I have some very fond memories of the people and culture. If you want to read a fiction novel that accurately portrays modern day Uzbekistan, read The Opportunists by Yohann de Silva. Here's the link: The Opportunists: A Novel

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Eyewitness to History, October 6, 2007

By 

Texas Reader (Central Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Taxi to Tashkent: Two Years with the Peace Corps in Uzbekistan (Paperback)

Taxi to Tashkent is a terrific eye-witness account of a Central Asian country. More than a introduction to the food, customs and daily life in this blue-eyed Muslim country, Fleming shows with honesty and humor the challenges of living as a fish out of water. Not only does he give a genuine account of his host country, but is honest about the challenges of being a Peace Corps volunteer. This is a must read for anyone with romantic notions of travel.