Kabul Beauty School: An American Woman Goes Behind The Veil (2007) - Plot & Excerpts
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: 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.
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 had tons of interesting stories. While I was reading, I thought maybe I liked this book a little bit; 3 stars, maybe?After I finished, I started thinking about the author, and I liked this book less and less. First of all, she seems like the type of loud, obnoxious, ugly American that I would normally like to avoid. Which is ironic, since she did really get into real Afghan life (at least, much more than did the other NGO/non-profit workers who stayed inside their heavily-guarded compounds). My problems with this woman:- She has so far lived in Afghanistan for five years (at the time of writing this book) and she only has the most basic understanding of the local language. Honestly, woman. Stop relying on translators and learn the language!!!- She seems to be incredibly dense. She admits that she doesn’t act like local women – she looks men in the eye as she’s walking by, doesn’t have her hair completely covered, is loud, smokes/drinks, etc. – and yet is still surprised when the men treat her with absolutely no respect. Not that she would get that much respect anyway as a woman and an American, but if you exhibit behavior they associate with prostitutes, don’t be surprised if they treat you like one.- She's insanely naive. Yes, most of these women are victims in some kind of abusive relationship. Yes, having jobs will help them. No, pulling them aside and saying "Stay away from him! Don't let him do that!" will NOT change their lives. Two sentences and a sobfest from a crazy American lady is not going to motivate them to abandon everything they know about their national culture, religion, and family traditions. Get over yourself.- She cries all. the. time. "As soon as I saw [insert girl/group of women with sob story], I couldn't help myself; I started crying." <-- Most overused sentence in the book.- She married an Afghan after being there for less than three weeks. I thought the study abroad girls here who get married were crazy - this is a grown woman! She clearly has some issues of her own though; she's always talking about her multiple failed marriages/messed up relationships.- Also crazy: Her husband already has a wife and seven children in Saudi Arabia. But when he lets it slip that his wife is pregnant again, she flips out. Honestly woman, what did you think you were getting yourself into? Rather reminds me of Kay in The Godfather II.- She writes like she talks. "blah blah I really liked Kabul - I'd only been there for three days, but still." Who ends a phrase with "BUT STILL"?!?!?! What editor would allow that?Don't waste your time with this one.* One star, for having some interesting anecdotes.
What do You think about Kabul Beauty School: An American Woman Goes Behind The Veil (2007)?
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 her bravery. I loved this quote that seemed to sum up a very honest picture of the feelings of relief workers fighting against a whole entire culture and hundreds of years of political corruption. "Sometimes I wonder if I'm doing much good at all here. There are many of us Westerners who want to help Afghan women, but our efforts don't always help them in the ways that we hope they will. There are so many ties that bind these women and hold them back, and many of the ties aren't even visible to the Western eye. It takes a long time to understand how the complexities of these women's lives differ from the complexities of ours. Sometimes we can't help, even when we understand these complexities. The culture is changing so much more slowly than their dreams are."
—Lora
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/st....I am not going to question the author's motives because I think she is a sincere person. But I don't like the fact that she used these women's stories and made money from it. She says that she will donate part of the book's profits to the women in question, so that is good!I haven't been posting all that much to Goodreads because I started a blog. It's called Encephalo Ray, and it's a comic book blog! It's big time: Paul Cornell (Captain Britain and MI:13) and Lea Hernandez (Rumble Girls) linked to my entries! So if you want to be part of my audience of literally dozens, go to http://encephalo-ray.blogspot.com/
—George
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 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.
—Melanie
