Kabul Beauty School: An American Woman Goes Behind the Veil

I laughed and cried reading this! My heart goes out to the women of Afghanistan! Sisters stay strong! You are beautiful and loved and so strong! You are Survivors !!!

I have mixed feelings about this book. It's easy to read and certainly provides an interesting and informative portrayal of what life is like for the women of Afghanistan. Unfortunatley, for me it dragged 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 primarily boils down to this: 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 that the book is out and Rodriguez has fled.In the end, reading Kabul Beauty School did not elicit the feelings I thought it might, which was to have met an extraordinary, selfless woman who achieved a major accomplishment. Throughout the reading, I didn't understand or appreciate the author's motivation and, as a result, found it difficult to champion her cause. It's excellent memoir or journal material, but that's where the excellence ends. Does it entertain a broad audience? Absolutely not. In addition, there's a certain lack of credibility from the merely average writing skills of the author. In the retelling of this tale, 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 often irreverently, probably drinks too much and smokes. (This may be harsh, but these traits, to me, have nothing to do with "beauty.") For example, it doesn't make her the least bit likeable when we learn 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 also suggest  Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time .Michele Cozzens is the author of  Irish Twins

First off, I read the NY Times article after reading the book. I bought the book one day when the Kindle version was on special. However, after reading the Times article AND the book, I can only surmise that people throwing fits about inaccuracies are making claims that she didn't start the Kabul Beauty School or Beauty Without Borders are upset that she didn't write about them more. She tells that she had an idea, and after she started getting donations, she found out that someone had already started a similar project. She tells these things in the book. Is it possible that she talked a lot about herself and what she did and not about what the other founders or organizers did in great detail because she was telling her story, maybe she had a falling out with these others and instead of talking trash about them she just minimized them without excluding them? Yes. Does the book leave the reader with the feeling that Debbie did everything by herself? Not this reader. It just left me with a sense of her stories, her experiences, and her feelings. I think it's valid. I think.I have to say that I was honestly impressed with how well the author was able to be completely oblivious to the cultural differences of the men and women in Afghanistan, as compared to her concept of norms, and her ability to own her own accidental insensitivity to them and try to get it right and do better in the future. Seriously, one of the biggest screw-ups I see with people working with people from different cultures is a judgement all insensitivity to others, as though one culture is right and one culture is bad or stupid. Her focus on doing something to empower Afgani women, and then allow them to own that power and do with it what they felt right about within their own lives.I hope that the author was careful with the stories she shared from other people, and will trust that she has been. I don't know, and I never will, I'm sure. What I can say is that the story flows well. I don't understand the comments some made about incongruous flow. The only time I didn't feel completely within the sequence of the overal story, the internal time line of the book, was when the wedding at the start occurred in relation to other events, but I don't really think it made a huge difference when it occurred in relation to other stories in the memoir. What I care about more than any of the stuff above is that women in Afghanistan are getting empowered, I care that the book is really pretty well written, and I care that an interesting story is being told. I'm sure there are people who were left out, but that's the nature of memories and people telling stories. I can honestly say, though, that I really enjoyed it, I'm glad I bought and read it, and I'm recommending it to friends and family. I hope you check it out and that you enjoy it, too.

Interessante Erzählung, die Einblick in die Afganische Kultur gibt, relativ einfach geschrieben, sodass man es versteht auch wenn man nicht jedes Wort in Deutsch kennt.

Loved it. Very interesting book, very nice story and author.

An absolutely great read about a fascinating and extraordinary real story.Can't say anything else but: highly recommendable to read!!

Deborah Rodriguez writes of her time in Kabul, trying to help local women gain purpose and financial independence by training them as beauticians.Some of the authors observations seem somewhat condescending and superficial - she selects recruits to her beauty college, not just on the basis of their ambition or need to escape oppressive relationships, but as much because they remind her of cute Kewpie dolls that need 'making over'. When she successfully persuades trainees and clients to try hilights for the first time, her elation is such that you would have thought they'd got a place at law school, or won a Nobel prize. So it's hard to say whether she genuinely wants to help women out of poverty, or simply wants to remodel them in the US aesthetic mould.That said, the book is genuinely very engaging, with lots of information on the dreadful conditions in Kabul, beaurocracy and corruption, local customs (such as an insight into an Afghan wedding), and her own blossoming relationship with one of the indigenous population. The excellent writing style of the first chapter is not maintained throughout the novel (written in dribs and drabs by the author's own admission), but that doesn't stop this being a really interesting and worthwhile read.

This book tells of the trials and tribulations of an American mother, Debbie, going to Afghanistan to set up a beauty School. her aim is to enable more Afghan women to work with and for other women . At first the Afghan men are against their wives and daughters working for money., but times are hard in their country, and the men soon realise that their wives are bringing home much needed money.t The idea takes off and is a roaring success, but it is not an easy journey. Debbie finds that she does not want to be at the mercy of the owner of the building she has rented for her beauty School. The owner is not a nice person to have around.Debbie marries an Afghan man while she is in Kabul but she has had to leave behind her two teenage sons from a previous marriage. Therefore she has frequent visits home to her mother who is living with the sons. Afghanistan's government changes from time to time and the rules of running businesses change accordingly. Debbie has to return home, not knowing how the beauty School will fare, and not knowing if her marriage to Sam can survive. Although written as a story, this book gives insight into a country in turmoil. A brilliant book!