Kabul Beauty School: An American Woman Goes Behind The Veil by Deborah Rodriguez

Sep 27, 2007

Michele rated it

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Recommends it for: book clubs

Has Life for Afghani Women Improved Because of Rodriguez?

I have mixed feelings about this book. It's easy to read and provides an interesting and informative portrayal of life for the women of Afghanistan. I'm not sorry I read it, but it did drag on in the end and I started counting pages wondering when it would be over. There is one heartbreaking and shocking story after the next, and too many "characters" to wrap one's mind around. This mélange of stories boils down to: Terrori

...moreHas Life for Afghani Women Improved Because of Rodriguez?

I have mixed feelings about this book. It's easy to read and provides an interesting and informative portrayal of life for the women of Afghanistan. I'm not sorry I read it, but it did drag on in the end and I started counting pages wondering when it would be over. There is one heartbreaking and shocking story after the next, and too many "characters" to wrap one's mind around. This mélange of stories boils down to: Terrorizing Men and Terrorized Women. I don't believe life for Afghani women has improved because of the Kabul Beauty School, and from what I understand, because of their portrayal in this book, some of the women are in more danger now.

Reading Kabul Beauty School did not elicit the feelings I thought it might. I hoped to meet an extraordinary, selfless woman who achieved a major accomplishment. Throughout the reading, I didn't understand or appreciate the author's motivation. It's good journal material, but does it entertain? Absolutely not. Unfortunately, there's a certain lack of credibility from the merely average writing skills of the author. Deborah Rodriguez often comes across as victim of circumstance. She makes a series of foolish choices particularly when it comes to marriage, acts rashly, and irreverently, probably drinks too much and smokes. Not attractive. For example, it doesn't make her the least bit likeable when she verbally assaults a man at an outdoor market when he follows her around and grabs her backside. Embarrassing and endangering her closest friend (and translator) in the process, the friend tells her outright that she will "never go to the market with her again." Rodriguez brings her strong, independent and liberated American woman traits with her, wears them on her sleeve, and it does not earn her respect from the people around her, or from this reader. It makes her nickname "Crazy Debbie" perfectly understandable. Also, she lets her friends arrange a marriage for her, (and granted the presence of an Afghani husband, "Sam," does help her cause in one dangerous and surprising circumstance after another), but this man already has a wife, and we soon learn, a baby on the way. It's all very bizarre.

It feels as though Rodriguez returned to Afghanistan (after her first genuine venture there to provide aid after the ousting of the Taliban) in search of an extraordinary life rather than because she wanted to be the savior of Afghani women. I'm not saying this is true (I don't know this woman), but if the purpose of this book was to tell the world who she is and why she went to Afghanistan at great personal expense to become the director of a beauty school with the hope of making life better for the women there, she has been successful. The book, published by a major house, and the movie deal also deem her "successful." As for the school and the cause? A failure. She is not, like the book jacket indicates, living in Afghanistan and still running the school. According to an article on NPR, "the subjects of her book say Rodriguez and her newfound fame have put their lives in danger. They say they've seen none of the money or help to get them out of Afghanistan that Rodriguez promised them in exchange for having their stories appear in the book." Rodriguez counters by saying the women misunderstood what she promised them.

In spite of this rather negative review, I do think Kabul Beauty School is an excellent choice for book clubs as it will no doubt, provoke a very interesting and thoughtful discussion about the lives of women living in Afghanistan, and whether or not the outside world should or shouldn't have something to say or do about this culture and the emancipation of women there.

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Dec 06, 2007

Tippi rated it

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I saw this book and thought immediately of Reading Lolita in Tehran, which I wanted to buy but didn't see during this trip to the bookstore. It's about a hairdresser who opens a beauty school in Afghanistan, which is hugely important for the local women because it gives them independence from their husbands and fathers, as well as a source of income.

It was a ridiculously easy read. I felt like I was browsing through a woman's blog about her stay in Afghanistan. Which is fine - she ha...more

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Mar 14, 2010

suzy rated it

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I listened to this book on CD and was loving it up to a point then became worried about her informants. I'd read "PRINCES: A TRUE STORY OF LIFE BEHIND THE VEIL IN SAUDI ARABIA" years back and its author was extremely discret, so I compared this book to Rodriguez' and wondered immediately about her telling so much detail that could be harmful to the women of the book. NPR has a great recap. of Rodriguez essentially selling out her informants and the alleged betrayal.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story......moreI listened to this book on CD and was loving it up to a point then became worried about her informants. I'd read "PRINCES: A TRUE STORY OF LIFE BEHIND THE VEIL IN SAUDI ARABIA" years back and its author was extremely discret, so I compared this book to Rodriguez' and wondered immediately about her telling so much detail that could be harmful to the women of the book. NPR has a great recap. of Rodriguez essentially selling out her informants and the alleged betrayal.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story...

This makes me change my opinion of how much I can enjoy this book. The first part was so great it made me think for a few minutes that Afghanistan would be a great place to live! That says a lot! Seems to me that the author was short sighted and selfish for putting these women she professes to care about in such danger by exposing them in her book. And I think the book would have been just as good sans the sexy details. Another troubling aspecct to me was the author seemed to be so pro woman, but sort of pretended to only understand certain parts of the culture when it was convenient to her, e.g. marrying an Afghani man, knowing he already had a wife, and then getting jealous of the fact that he had a wife. She also liked to nearly brag that she was bucking the cultural system in Kabul, like some cool vigilante hipster, which didn't sound too sincere or kind to me, and very unlikable. It's like she turned on and off her cultural understanding when it suited her needs vs. showing true human understanding and compassion. Seems like Rodriguez got off on being outraged and playing the part of some wacky hairdresser. When women want to be treated with equal rights, it's funny to see them suddenly feign ignorance and then act more like a girl when the going gets tough. I hate when women turn on the girl role when they don't want to take responsibility for their actions, and this is what Rodriguez seems to do.

Part of the reason I like the book (on CD) so much is Bernadette Dunne is narrating it and she's got a great voice. I have to rate it low due to the harm done to the Afhgani women, but it was intriguing. I am a hypocrite, loved the book but hated it all at once.

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Aug 17, 2008

Nadine rated it

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I was kind of sad to see other reviews about this book. It seemed to me like there was a lot of judgment towards the author and negativity about the book. Some of the points had validity, but I guess as an American living in a foreign country I have more sympathy for the author than a lot of people who wrote reviews seem to have. The one thing I will agree with is that it is not extremely eloquent English. I am sure that this book frequently gets compared to "Reading Lolita in Tehran"...moreI was kind of sad to see other reviews about this book. It seemed to me like there was a lot of judgment towards the author and negativity about the book. Some of the points had validity, but I guess as an American living in a foreign country I have more sympathy for the author than a lot of people who wrote reviews seem to have. The one thing I will agree with is that it is not extremely eloquent English. I am sure that this book frequently gets compared to "Reading Lolita in Tehran", which is written in very elegant English. The style of Kabul Beauty school is not poetic, is much simpler, more like a conversation the author might have with a pal over coffee. The criticisms that I disagree with are those which seemed to attack the author as a person, such as "She's crazy, she's a bad example of an American, she's the kind of person I would run away from," etc. She does do some things that seem pretty crazy to me, that I would never do. However, just because I am a very different kind of person, it doesn't mean that I can't enjoy the book and appreciate what Debbie Rodriguez was trying to do for the women in Afghanistan. And as an American woman living in a developing country where women are still considered second class (although not as bad as in Afghanistan)I can attest to the fact that this kind of life DOES make you a little crazy. One criticism was that the author cried too much. When you are living in constant stress, from language barriers, culture differences, no familiar faces, no friends, no American luxuries such as hot water and reliable electricity, EVERYTHING being done in a different way, and most especially constant, daily exposure to tragedy, hardship, poverty, and injustice, most of which you can do nothing to alleviate, your stress level is just under maximum nearly all the time. Add any other stressor and tears easily flow even for things that may not have made you cry back in the comfort of your home country. I think it was brave and honest of the author to include things that make her look a little crazy. So she's not a saint. So what? I haven't yet met anyone who falls in that category. She's just an ordinary woman trying to do something to help make a difference in the lives of a handful of oppressed women. She didn't always make the best choices, but she probably made the best choices she knew how to at the time. I actually found it moving that a regular flawed human was doing the best she could with what she had to try to help others. And I cried, too, when I was telling my boyfriend about the book, both because of the hardship of the women in Afghanistan and also because of the beauty and love in what the author and all the other people involved were trying to do. When someone from one culture goes into another trying to help, probably half of the time the "help" is misguided and /or ineffective. But the intentions and the attempts can still have a nobility and grace in them even in the face of failure. Being honest about the school currently being closed shows us even more the plight of the Afghani women and maybe teaches us something about how careful we need to be to protect the recipients of our "help". I agree that the most gripping parts of the book were the stories of the various Afghani women the author came to know, but the parts about Ms. Rodriguez's personal life give a glimpse of both the good and the bad that can occur when people try to meld two lives that come from very different cultures, and that is also an interesting topic. I probably would have given the book a three star rating due to the writing style, but I bumped it up to a four as my personal way of protesting the negative reviews I read. (less)

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May 06, 2008

Jennifer Wardrip rated it

Shelves: trt-posted-reviews

Reviewed by Steph for TeensReadToo.com

Deborah Rodriguez is a beautician from Michigan who went over to Afghanistan after September 11th to help in any way she could. She quickly fell in love with the country and wanted to reestablish the Afghan beauticians who went out of existence when the Taliban took over. Along with help from others, she opened a beauty school where she trained Afghan women to become beauticians who could then open up their own beauty salons.

This ama...more

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Jan 02, 2008

April rated it

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I had a hard time giving this book a rating. I give the women of Afghanistan (whose lives and personal stories are the meat of this book) 5*. Their bravery and determination to survive hardship and abuse in one of the cruelest of cultures is inspiring.

I give the actual writing in this book 2*, as well as the American woman who penned it. The language is very simplistic; it reads like a blog actually. I started to lose interest somewhere around the middle of the book, and especially a...more

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Apr 01, 2008

Kristen rated it

Recommends it for: EVERY WOMAN!!!!

Recommended to Kristen by: My Mom

This book was much more than I thought it would be. I learned so much about daily life for women in Afghanistan. I was horrifed to read of the way they are treated and disvalued. I think every woman in the world should read this book. Wow! What a wake up call. Warning: there is some sexual content in the first chapter as the author describes the traditional marriage consummation ceremony, but I felt (and I'm rather picky) that it was absolutely necessary for the book. There is also one f...moreThis book was much more than I thought it would be. I learned so much about daily life for women in Afghanistan. I was horrifed to read of the way they are treated and disvalued. I think every woman in the world should read this book. Wow! What a wake up call. Warning: there is some sexual content in the first chapter as the author describes the traditional marriage consummation ceremony, but I felt (and I'm rather picky) that it was absolutely necessary for the book. There is also one f-word, which was absolutely not necessary. I will never be the same. This book changed me and it will change you too. READ IT!!!

I know that many have not liked the book and have suggested that those mentioned in the book were placed in great danger and perhaps that is true, but what if NO ONE ever learned what was going on to women in Afghanistan? Wouldn't that be the greater danger to these women? (She could have, and may have for that matter, changed the names of the girls). Besides, she was trying to raise money to keep the school going.

In my view, the beauty of Debbie's experiences in Afghanistan is that she was crazy, irresponsible, clueless, and dumb enough to get herself into situations that really enrich the story and more accurately show us what these women truly go through. For those who criticize her decision to marry Sam, I wholeheartedly agree with you, but the thing you have realize, is that Debbie, as any of us, was dealing with past hurt and rejection. She was looking for love and companionship which many victims of abuse are very desperate to find. She's not perfect and never claimed to be. I think that she's courageous to share those very personal details with us knowing that many would think she was insane.

I don't like her personality especially, and no, she's not the greatest writer ever, but if we could just stand back and look at what she has really done with this book...for me at least, she created a new and terrifying reality. Thanks Debbie!(less)

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Mar 13, 2008

Mandy rated it

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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Mar 04, 2008

Melanie rated it

This book was so much better than I thought it would be. When I first picked it up, I thought, "huh? a beauty school in Afghanistan? Don't those poor people need water and electricity more than a mani/pedi?" I was pleasantly surprised to find that the author had a fabulous and unique story to tell in an interesting and well-written way. Like so many people who end up in the "development" world, she simply saw a need and set out to contribute what she could to improve peop...moreThis book was so much better than I thought it would be. When I first picked it up, I thought, "huh? a beauty school in Afghanistan? Don't those poor people need water and electricity more than a mani/pedi?" I was pleasantly surprised to find that the author had a fabulous and unique story to tell in an interesting and well-written way. Like so many people who end up in the "development" world, she simply saw a need and set out to contribute what she could to improve people's lives. Throughout the book, she weaves her own story among the stories of her students and clients, enabling us to see how much a hairdresser from Michigan and a housewife in Afghanistan have in common, as well as the huge gulf that divides the two.

Trying to escape her own bad marriage and find her own power, the author joins a humanitarian mission to Afghanistan right after the fall of the Taliban. She finds herself in a group of doctors, nurses, and other trained professionals without much to contribute. She's asked to stay in the compound and pray for the others. This is not exactly part of her personality however, and she ends up exploring the streets of Kabul and getting the know people. Despite the language and cultural barrier, she quickly finds herself a part of the inner women's circle and understands what she can do to help--she will build a beauty school, give women a skill and the means to economic empowerment, and provide a service to women for whom the decadent services of a salon were acquired only in secret and hidden under the burqua.

The author has such a unique perspective as a member of the "inner" circle that other aid workers don't have access to. She creates her own "oasis" in the chaos for the women to gather and literally let their hair down. At times I could even forget they were in war-torn Afghanistan as she talked of parties and salon gossip and giggling. At other times I wanted to forget. The story is often sad. How could it not be? Her students and clients lived through decades of war and then the terror of the Taliban. Some of them continue to live in terror at home in a country which affords women no civil liberties or equanimity. As I read, I could hardly believe that I was reading about a place not 100 years ago, but right now. That there are places in the world where women are literally confined to their homes, traded and bartered in marriage, denied any economic or educational opportunity or freedom, beaten and abused with no recourse, and denied a sense of self-worth or destiny. The author gives them a place to gather and find companionship, a profession, and economic empowerment to start their own business. She tells how by making their own money, they begin to take responsibility for their lives and demand empowerment in other aspects of their lives. Like most well-intentioned humanitarian workers, she often commits cultural errors that threaten the viability of her project and the safety of her students. Yet she perseveres. She reminds us that we don't need education, wealth, or connections to truly change someone's life--we simply need passion and dedication to a cause and love for people.
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Dec 27, 2007

Joan rated it

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Shelves: gender, islam

It is what it is.

* Glimpse into the lives of women in Kabul post-2001, so for that, worth the read. The book states that being a hairdresser is the only profession for women in Kabul acceptable to nearly all husbands, because men aren't allowed in salons, so it's one place where women can be "free" to earn a decent living, despite being frequently accused of being prostitutes at a brothel.
* So sad! All of the women affiliated with the school were abused at home and i...more

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Oct 31, 2007

Rachael rated it

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I read this book in my continuing "read more nonfiction" quest. I have to say that it didn't really feel like nonfiction, and I still can't decide whether I liked it or not. I definitely have some different perspectives and values from the author, and at times I would think "Wow, she seems like quite a character!" but I was so impressed by how hard she was working to ensure a future for the Afghan women.

In case you're not familiar with this, it's the story of an...more

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Dec 14, 2007

Catherine rated it

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Shelves: book-club

Deborah Rodriguez travels from her home in Holland, Michigan as part of a group offering humanitarian aid in Afghanistan. Not being a medical professional, she was at first a little lost on how she could be of assistance to the people of Afghanistan. Once she realized that her skills as a beautician could be utilized in Afghanistan her idea for Kabul Beauty School was born. I have to give a lot of credit to the author for her courage and tenacity to actually bring the dream of the beauty scho...more

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Jul 26, 2007

Tyra rated it

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Shelves: read2007

I enjoyed parts of this book very much. It was interesting to see and understand the lives of women in Afganistan. It was also interesting to see what a difference a beauty school made in their lives as they developed a skill to support themselves.

What I did not like was the author. I do admire what she did and the strength it must have taken. However, she was whiny and annoying and spent way to much time talking about herself and her over dramatized life.

Overall it was ...more

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Jul 15, 2007

Jenny rated it

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The author writes about her travels to Afghanistan and how she eventually opens a beauty school to reach the Afghan women. Not the most pedantic writing, but it's probably one of the most revealing accounts of the life of women under the burka. Rodruigeuz is kooky and she writes like a hairdresser talks, but it's still an interesting book.

NPR did a few stories on her and the women in her school who are now actually in danger of losing their lives from the detail the Rodruiguez wr...more

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Apr 05, 2010

bookczuk rated it

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Recommends it for: elizabeth, maggie

Shelves: biography-autobiography-or-memoir, bookcrossing, first-novel-or-book, taught-me-something

An American woman goes behind the veil, is the subtitle, and indeed she does. What she finds back there is a vibrant and rich culture of women in a world that is constantly shifting around them. Rodriguez, who seems to have a zest for life, and who herself survived an abusive marriage, also has the knack for drawing people out to tell their stories. The book is more memoir than travel log, but still provides a glimpse into a world that many of us here in the US will never visit.

My...moreAn American woman goes behind the veil, is the subtitle, and indeed she does. What she finds back there is a vibrant and rich culture of women in a world that is constantly shifting around them. Rodriguez, who seems to have a zest for life, and who herself survived an abusive marriage, also has the knack for drawing people out to tell their stories. The book is more memoir than travel log, but still provides a glimpse into a world that many of us here in the US will never visit.

My mother used to kid that she never needed to see a psychiatrist because she had such a good hairdresser. Maybe there's something to that, as seen in the tales that came out as Rodriguez and her fellow volunteers created a space and opportunity for women in Kabul a chance learn a trade and thus to earn their own money to be independent. Beauty shops in Afghanistan are the dominion of only women -- even the husband of a beauty shop owner is not allowed in, and should a man accidentally stumble in or find a way to see past the curtains at the doors and windows, it would only be proper that the husbands of the women seen beat him. Far cry from our uni-sex shops in the mall with big open windows for all to see.

There are some incredibly heartbreaking stories shared by the women as they attended the beauty school (closed as of 2006 according to the author.) One thing that did bother me was that Rodriguez is a mom, who seemed to go off pretty easily leaving her sons behind her. And it also was a little odd that she agreed to an arranged marriage (#3 for her) to become the second wife of an Afghani man. But the woman is nothing, if not adventurous. Kudos to her for her efforts and for her resourcefulness. (I'll never look at a Paul Mitchell product again without remembering that the head of the company called her personally to talk to her about donating product and supplies for the school) She helped women regain their self-esteem after the tragedies and horrors endured from living in a war torn country and from years of living under oppressive dictatorship. Not a bad day's work. I just worry for the safety of some of those women now that their stories are all out there in black and white. (less)

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Feb 17, 2009

Hannah rated it

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Shelves: feminist-and-gender-studies, politics, poverty, books-that-sucked

Again, I'd be a kitten-murdering sadist if I gave this one star, so I'm going with two. I would have loved to read a short article about the Kabul Beauty School and I'm abstractly interested in the project, but the writing made me want to rip out my own fingernails with hedge clippers. Really, it's my own fault--this book is supposed to be accessible because the writing style is conversational and feels like you're just chatting with your hairdresser, and I should have remembered before taking...more

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Jun 24, 2009

miaaa rated it

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Recommends it for: Palsay, Echa

Recommended to miaaa by: Graeme

Shelves: memoirs-biographies

If you think that a beautician is a mere profession, then think again. This one certain beautician has done a priceless effort for the girls of Afghanistan. She gives them a pride and self esteem of earning money on their own, and -the most important- to have fun. It's something that they're barely knew during the restricted Taleban regime.

***

Jika menurutmu juru rias itu hanya profesi biasa, maka kamu salah. Kemahiran Deb mengajarkan cara melakukan highlights rambut mungk...more

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Apr 26, 2009

Harun Harahap rated it

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Shelves: punya, non-fiksi, terjemahan, middle-east-muslim

buku ni berdasarkan kisah nyata dari Deborah Rodriguez..wanita relawan Amerika di Afghanistan..dia tidak bertugas sebagai tentara ataupun petugas medis..tapi Debby adalah seorang penata rambut..melihat tidak adanya salon di kota kabul dan keinginan Debbie untuk membantu wanita2 Afghanistan..Debbie akhirna mempunyai ide untuk membuka Sekolah Kecantikan di Kabul..Debbie pun bergabung dengan salah satu LSM dan bantuan dari berbagai perusahaan produk kecantikan..akhirnya Debbie bisa membuka sekolah ...more

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Jan 14, 2009

George rated it

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Shelves: 2009, books-i-didn-t-finish, memoirs, and

The stories of the women in this book are heartbreaking. My problem is that the author even tells them. What happens if you talk about helping a woman fake her virginity on her wedding night, and the woman's husband finds out? Apparently, word of the book has leaked out in Afghanistan, a place where women can be imprisoned for leaving their husbands. See this link, here - http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=10634299.

I am not going to question the author's motives because I think...more

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May 17, 2008

Shannan rated it

Shelves: 2008

Despite some negative reviews this book has received, I enjoyed this blog-like account of Debbie Rodriguezes expereinces as a hair dresser in Afghanistan. I was in Africa when I read it and had to laugh at the many similarities between Afghanistan and Ghana; the perpetual dust, the insanely fast drivers, vendors on blankets in the street selling all kinds of absurd items (like back scratchers), an overlying cultral morality but many evidences of the sexual promescuity that really goes on.....an...more

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Jun 04, 2008

April rated it

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As a recommendation from a good friend, I wanted to whole heartedly like this book, but I just couldn't. The writing—as noted by nearly all reviewers—is atrocious. The author is at best obnoxious.

When my mother-in-law noticed this book at my house and asked me about it, I had a hard time putting my finger on exactly what was wrong with it. But, the introduction to Julia Child's My Life in France cleared things up for me. As she professes her love of France and Paris, she says "...more

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Mar 12, 2008

Heather rated it

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Shelves: airport-books

Well, this probably should go on the Life Is Too Short shelf, because I didn't really finish it... but then, the book didn't really end, either. It just kind of trailed off. And so did my interest. So, we're even.
It was a very "lite" read (I agree with reviewers who said it was more like a blog on paper than a book) and there were things about it that I liked. I liked how the author brought out certain resonances between her own past experience as the emotionally and physically a...more

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Apr 15, 2009

Clare rated it

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An interesting book and I did learn a lot about culture for Afghan women. But the author has a hard time staying focused. Bouncing back & forth between unrelated events and characters wears on the reader after a while.

The most interesting things I learned from this book:
- What Afghan women think is beautiful in terms of hair & make-up
- Details about how arranged weddings are constructed and how they often fall apart
- Wedding ceremonies
- Afghan women in p...more

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Feb 07, 2008

Melissa rated it

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This book is pretty wild. It is about a young American who helps run a beauty school in Afghanistan to empower the women there. Apparently, the Taliban banned a lot of beauty salons and, in doing so, took away one of the larger sources of income for women in the country. As you learn in the book, a salary often affords women a certain amount of freedom from their husbands and family, though the struggle for women's rights in Afghanistan is still enormous and ongoing. I know there is a lot of c...more

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Feb 06, 2008

Callie rated it

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Recommends it for: people interested in Afghanistan

Shelves: read-in-2008

I'm in the middle of this book, too far in to drop it, but praying it'll be over soon. This woman, the writer.....there are no words. I've just finished reading the description of her marriage ceremony to an Afghan/Uzbek guy who doesn't speak English. Ok, well, that's just stupid and asking for trouble. Who does that? And she herself, well, she has good intentions I guess. But she seems so shallow and frivilous. She probably spent most of her time in Kabul reinforcing all the negative ste...more

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Feb 13, 2008

Lora rated it

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I LOVED this book. It was an easy read with short pieces of her story as a hairdresser trying to empower women in Kabul by training them in her beauty salon with grants from various charitable sources. It was a fascinating read from the American perspective. There were no altruistic answers. It was nice to have a book like this written by a bright blue-collar person instead of the educated graduate degree person. She is down-to-earth and real. It seemed to be delightfully honest. I admire...more

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Jan 29, 2008

karen reyes rated it

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I really enjoyed this book. Similar to Reading Lolita in Theran, it gives you insight into the complexity of a small country within the Middle East, particularyly in the town of Kabul, Afghanastan. What the women there go through is amazing! Afghan women are subjected to so much oppression and submission it is mind boggling there isn't some kind of uprising against the culture. I am only speaking as an American woman, where my rights and freedoms are truly protected - yet somewhat undervalued. I...more

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Aug 08, 2008

Lani rated it

Shelves: islam, chicklit, own

This book was... conceptually interesting, but poorly written.

-- Edited 08.08.08 --

I can't believe this was all I had to say about this book. First, just after I read it, I was only mildly annoyed. The author is an incompetent, brash, selfish, idiotic woman who made no effort to even pretend to respect or assimilate into the culture she encountered. She bashed her way into Kabul, first perhaps with good intentions, and then she just proceeded to ignore every cultural more...moreThis book was... conceptually interesting, but poorly written.

-- Edited 08.08.08 --

I can't believe this was all I had to say about this book. First, just after I read it, I was only mildly annoyed. The author is an incompetent, brash, selfish, idiotic woman who made no effort to even pretend to respect or assimilate into the culture she encountered. She bashed her way into Kabul, first perhaps with good intentions, and then she just proceeded to ignore every cultural more that she could. Her decisions were impetuous and illogical, and this was all explained as Ah! Crazy American!

She married a native with barely any acquaintance, and then proceeded to be upset that she was a second wife. Her first beauty school failed and she pouted and whined until she got a new one. Rather than move WITH the culture she was trying to help, she instead fought it every step of the way.

Obviously I am just as disgusted by the lives of women in Kabul as many other people. Many of these women are treated like trash and sex slaves, and are disrespected by fathers, husbands, and even sons. It is an unbearable situation, and the idea of a beauty school is actually founded in the culture of the attentiveness to beauty in Afghanistan (before the Taliban). But the author's refusal to accept the requirements of her status as a fairly clueless American -she makes ZERO effort to learn the language in the years she lives in Afghanistan! - only ends up endangering the women she has tried to help.

As it turns out, many of the women in the book suffered later as the author fled the country. Women she made no effort to disguise in her book were punished by angry and offended family members. Her "friends" and students suffered the consequences of her brash and inconsiderate behavior.

The only good thing I can say about the author - she did not seem afraid to admit to her frequent tantrums, illogical decisions, or cowardice. Perhaps this was just because she was able to explain it away in her own mind and saw no fault of her own, I'm just not sure.

Ugh, this book was just absolutely infuriating, poorly written, and worse and worse the more you read about the situation afterwards.(less)

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Dec 31, 2007

Marie rated it

(why can't we give half points in this grading system?? i'd rate this book more of a 3.5.)

anyway, it's an easy/quick read.

i was torn... in my opinions of how she wrote the book and what she wanted readers to get out of her experience. e.g. in terms of her writing style, her transitions between scenes/memories were sometimes jarring; several times, i had to try to figure out what was the main point of the chapter or how the different sequences were related. in terms of t...more

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Sep 27, 2007

Sara Register rated it

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I have definite mixed feelings about this book. All the information about how women live their lives in Afghanistan was very interesting and pulled at my heartstrings. However, as soon as I started reading, I was struck with the thought at how supremely selfish the author was. It seemed that everything she did was of a selfish nature rather than an altruistic one. (I know, I know, the line between the two is always a fine one, but she crossed it).

The entire book I kept thinking...more

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Kabul Beauty School: An American Woman Goes Behind The Veil

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