Kabul Beauty School: An American Woman Goes Behind the Veil | Deborah Rodriguez, Kristin Ohlson |...

Kabul Beauty School: An American Woman Goes Behind the Veil | Deborah Rodriguez, Kristin Ohlson | Worth Reading

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Kabul Beauty Schoo...

	Kabul Beauty School: An American Woman Goes Behind the Veil Deborah Rodriguez, Kristin Ohlson Random House Trade Paperbacks, 2007 - 320 pages average customer review:based on 90 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Soon after the fall of the Taliban, in 2001, Deborah Rodriguez went to Afghanistan as part of a group offering humanitarian aid to this war-torn nation. Surrounded by men and women whose skills?as doctors, nurses, and therapists?seemed eminently more practical than her own, Rodriguez, a hairdresser and mother of two from Michigan, despaired of being of any real use. Yet she soon found she had a gift for befriending Afghans, and once her profession became known she was eagerly sought out by Westerners desperate for a good haircut and by Afghan women, who have a long and proud tradition of running their own beauty salons. Thus an idea was born.

With the help of corporate and international sponsors, the Kabul Beauty School welcomed its first class in 2003. Well meaning but sometimes brazen, Rodriguez stumbled through language barriers, overstepped cultural customs, and constantly juggled the challenges of a postwar nation even as she learned how to empower her students to become their families? breadwinners by learning the fundamentals of coloring techniques, haircutting, and makeup.

Yet within the small haven of the beauty school, the line between teacher and student quickly blurred as these vibrant women shared with Rodriguez their stories and their hearts: the newlywed who faked her virginity on her wedding night, the twelve-year-old bride sold into marriage to pay her family?s debts, the Taliban member?s wife who pursued her training despite her husband?s constant beatings. Through these and other stories, Rodriguez found the strength to leave her own unhealthy marriage and allow herself to love again, Afghan style.

With warmth and humor, Rodriguez details the lushness of a seemingly desolate region and reveals the magnificence behind the burqa. Kabul Beauty School is a remarkable tale of an extraordinary community of women who come together and learn the arts of perms, friendship, and freedom.

From the Hardcover edition.

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Our World is Complicated

Just finished reading this with my book club. Creating a beauty school in Kabul is so uniquely feminine in a male dominated environment. It's like listening to men in the barbershop, lots of lies and exaggerations but women in beauty shops talk not of the conquests (sports or the bedroom) but of pain and paybacks (to men and other women). Read it with "A Thousand Splendid Suns" (horribly lovely). One gets a flavor of life in Afghanistan relative to the shoeleather scaring of the recent invasions (Russian, USA, Taliban,etc.). The women in both books are incredibly strong (suns behind the wall). I am not sure if it is tradition that makes them such equisite problem-solvers or men and their notions of their 'role'. Ms. Rodriquez' experiences are appealing as she presents the lives of the more 'priviledged' women of Kabul and their challenges. If she were an Afghani woman, I fear she would not have been alive to write this "People Magazine" chronicle of the women's lives through this American Lens. However, much of this swiss cheese of a story is true (lot of stuff left out - like what happens to her husbands and her son, Noah, after agreeing to marry a girl in Afghanistan) and my general conflict is whether I should condemn or seek to understand. Quite an interesting read, no doubt. One does wonder about the effect of exposing the Afghani Sisters' secrets. Our book club meeting talked much about the 'ethics' of exposing these expereinces.

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Worth Reading

For all of the critics who are complaining that this book is just some book written by some dumb American bla bla bla...Well, to me, as an American, I liked the fact that it was written and filtered by her point of view. Additionally, she didn't try to hide the fact that she was coming into this situation from a very different culture; she admitted her cultural differences and wore them on her sleeve. If she would have refused to do this her book would have been phony. Perhaps some of you pseudo-liberals would have preferred her to pretend like she was some super culturally sensitive American (which is what you would have done, right) that was cool with how they treat women (rape, arranged marriages, sexual harassment, etc.) After all, we have to be culturally sensitive. No, that's not the way it works. I am a true liberal and it ticks me off when "liberals" don't allow for the criticism of other cultures when it involves HUMAN RIGHTS. Yes, lot's of the things she said were tough to hear, but for all of you complaining that she was not 'sensitive enough to the culture' I personally think that is B.S. Why don't you try to live in Kabul for one month. I challenge you. You probably wouldn't make it as you are used to all of the rights (especially you women) we take for granted here in America.

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okay

This is a quick read, and it is interesting. However, I never really liked the author, and it seems irresponsible for her to divulge so many details about the lives of her students.

reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

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