Kabul Beauty School: An American Woman Goes Behind the Veil in Around the World in 80 Books

Jul 28, 2008 Katy rated it really liked it

Shelves: biography-memoir-etc

I was fully prepared to dislike this book (I read it for a book group) but I was pleasantly surprised. I heard "beauty school" and thought "eww, I don't wanna read about makeup and hair and stuff." However, the beauty school details became an interesting background context for the bigger stories she was telling and I found myself very intrigued (and also wanting a haircut).

Debbie's voice is very compelling, if sometimes confusing (she shifts in time without a lot of warning...eventually I just h ...more

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Jun 05, 2012 Katie rated it liked it

Shelves: female-author, non-fiction, __middle-east

This book is written by an American woman who travels to Afghanistan and starts a beauty school. At first I was a little skeptical of the idea, thinking that there are much better things she could be doing with her time. However, as she continued to tell her story, I became more convinced that a beauty school was actually quite ideal. Having few career options, the beauty school empowered Afghan women to make a living for themselves. The school also provided the women with a supportive community ...more

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Feb 22, 2008 Pam rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: memoir-bio, afghanistan

03/12/08
TITLE/AUTHOR: KABUL BEAUTY SCHOOL by Deborah Rodriguez
RATING: 4.5/B+
GENRE/PUB DATE/# OF PGS: Memoir/2007/270 pgs
TIME/PLACE: 2003/Kabul, Afghanistan
FIRST LINES: The women arrive at the salon just before eight in the morning.

COMMENTS: 02/22/08 rec via bookcrossing ring/ray. Loved it! Debbie Rodriguez is a mother of 2 boys and hairdresser living in Holland Michigan. She has just gotten out of a bad marriage and travels to Afghanistan w/ a disaster relief program where she immediately feels ...more

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Apr 09, 2008 Tanya rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2008, op-book-club-reads-2010-2014

This is a true story and I learned a lot about the culture of women in this country. I did not care for the author's modus operandi though and I'm somewhat embarrassed that the Afghanistan women of Kabul would believe that American women are like her. She tends to jump into situations haphazardly and so it's no surprise why she's had a history of being called "crazy Debbie." She does want to help the women set up their beauty school, but she's also a bit too self-centered and doesn't ASK about t ...more

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Apr 12, 2013 Sherry rated it it was amazing

Shelves: post-911-lit

Outstanding; it made me want to pack up for Kabul myself. The story of the women involved in the school provided moving insights into the cultural conditions of post-Taliban Afghanistan.

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Sep 26, 2008 Sunflower rated it liked it

Shelves: nonfiction-2020-and-before

Entertaining read. Arriving in Kabul with an aid organisation for which she appears uniquely unqualified, the author (and self-admitted "crazy woman")starts her own project.
With the beauty school and salon as a solution to her previously dysfunctional lifestyle, and her aim of empowering women by enabling them to earn their own income, she learns more about the lives of women in Afganistan than most Westerners.
She commits some amazing social gaffes, but her sense of humour and unshakeable conv ...more

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