Post #48 – Women’s Memoirs, Book Raves – Kendra Bonnett and Matilda Butler
Reviewed by Michelle Rockwell
Deborah Rodriguez projects the splendor and beastiality of post-Taliban life in Afghanistan with compassion and clarity. When Rodriguez signs up with the Care for All Foundation (CFAF) in 2002, she imagines herself climbing through rubble, mending broken bones, and rendering aid to those suffering in war-torn Afghanistan. Instead Rodriguez, a hairdresser from Michigan, feels of little use when she finds herself surrounded by doctors, nurses, and dentists. She resigns herself to taking blood pressure and making “welcome” posters for newly arriving team members.
Deborah, however, is in for a surprise when she is introduced to the local community, “He didn’t even get to finish his introduction, because the room broke into the wildest applause of the night. A few of the women were actually jumping up and down. It seemed like half the people in the room were pulling at their hair with relief. Allen hesitated, then finished talking about the clinic. The meeting soon broke up. And suddenly I was mobbed.” (p39)
Word spreads of the Western-style beautician and she soon has locals and Westerners alike seeking her services for perms, pedicures, and pubic waxes. Eventually, with the help of sponsors, she is able to open her own Kabul beauty school. Here, Deborah serves as mentor and student while she learns the customs and traditions of the colorful Afghan people. Her cohorts include the newlywed, Roshanna, who is terrified her husband will find out she is not a virgin, a pre-teen bride sold into marriage to pay her father’s debts, and the wife of a Taliban affiliate who continues her education despite frequent beatings.
While Rodriguez tells the stories of Afghan men and women with empathy and color, she humorously confesses her own rash escapades, most notably her own marriage as a second wife to an Afghan man whom she has known for only 20 days. When Deborah’s marriage to Sam begins to crack under the weight of cultural expectations, Sam replies, “You tell a thousand Afghan wives to sit, and they sit. You tell one American wife to sit and she says, ‘Bite my ass.'” (p.185)
The Kabul Beauty School paints an intimate portrait of life behind the burqa and reveals the indominatable spirit of Afghan women. As an American, it is difficult for me to fully grasp the reality of life for Kabul’s women. The historical and cultural oppression, subjugation, and violence in parts of the Muslim world is complex. As a reader, I am left with more questions than answers. As a writer, I admire Rodriguez’s craftsmanship because she illuminates this complexity without pity, contempt, or self-serving grandiosity.
Here author Deborah Rodriguez talks about her experiences in Afghanistan that lead to her memoir: Kabul Beauty School: An American Woman Goes Behind the Veil
If you are now reading books on your Kindle, here’s Kabul Beauty School’s link.
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