{"id":18474,"date":"2012-09-14T18:14:35","date_gmt":"2012-09-14T22:14:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bookdragon.si.edu\/?p=18474"},"modified":"2014-05-15T21:41:00","modified_gmt":"2014-05-16T01:41:00","slug":"kabul-beauty-school-an-american-woman-goes-behind-the-veil-by-deborah-rodriguez-and-kristin-ohlson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/kabul-beauty-school-an-american-woman-goes-behind-the-veil-by-deborah-rodriguez-and-kristin-ohlson\/","title":{"rendered":"Kabul Beauty School: An American Woman Goes Behind the Veil by Deborah Rodriguez and Kristin Ohlson"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Kabul<\/a>Writing a memoir these days is dangerous business: you can be outed on Oprah as the worst liar, along with your publisher<\/a>\u00a0(James Frey,\u00a0A Million Little Pieces<\/em>), you can become infamous overnight for breaking the hearts of millions<\/a> who not only trusted you but even gave up their lunch money to fund you (Greg Mortenson, Three Cups of Tea<\/em>), and most recently, you can face\u00a0death threats even before your book was released<\/a> (Mark Owen who is really Matt Bissonnette,\u00a0No Easy Day: The Firsthand Account of the Mission that Killed Osama bin Laden<\/em><\/a>, which, incidentally, finally<\/em> knocked Fifty Shades of Grey<\/em> off its #1 bestseller perch just yesterday<\/a>). Certain memoirs (and, of course, other books \u2013 Salman Rushdie’s\u00a0Satanic Verses\u00a0<\/em>must be the<\/em> most-unread-best-known-title in the world!) have two very distinct paths: there’s the story, and then the story about the story.<\/p>\n

So here’s\u00a0Deborah Rodriguez<\/a>‘s tale, which I both enjoyed (Rodriguez is a larger-than-life nutter, and I mean that with all respect) and shuddered through (she’s writing about Afghanistan, where women have experienced continuing violence almost all their lives). Thanks to Bernadette Dunne (who also expertly reads Amy Waldman’s The Submission<\/a><\/em>), the audible version provides the perfect combination of bemusement and shock.<\/p>\n

Escaping a dangerous second marriage to Michigan preacher, Rodriguez travels to Afghanistan in 2002, initially with a Christian NGO of professional volunteers (doctors, dentists, nurses) among whom she feels less than useful, but finds her hairdressing skills are in even greater demand.<\/p>\n

She gets the crazy idea to start a beauty school in Kabul\u00a0\u2013 vanity and beauty are indeed universal, even in the most oppressive societies\u00a0\u2013 and finds\u00a0initial funding from longtime Afghan supporter Mary MacMakin<\/a>, founder of\u00a0the decades-old successful NGO\u00a0PARSA<\/a>. Brash, feisty, do-before-you-think Rodriguez\u00a0makes her beauty dreams come true, not only reclaiming her own independence (although she marries hubby #3 \u2013 a former mujahideen who already has a wife and seven children!\u00a0\u2013\u00a0after 20 days!), but provides many desperate young Afghan women \u2013 who are more property than human\u00a0\u2013\u00a0marketable skills, a career, and even the courage to break the cycle of isolated abuse\u00a0all too common in post-Taliban Afghanistan.<\/p>\n

Beyond Rodriguez’s story \u2013 which quickly became a bestseller, with film rights sold for a substantial enough sum to merit Sandra Bullock allegedly attached as the star (IMDB lists a 2013 release<\/a>; not to be confused with the documentary, The Beauty Academy of Kabul<\/a>)\u00a0\u2013 is, of course, the story about<\/em> her story. Soon after its April 2007 debut, insider naysayers had convincing evidence as to many inaccuracies and inconsistencies<\/a>\u00a0on the school’s founding, funding, and success. While some of that grumbling might be ignored, the more serious consequences of the memoir’s publication\u00a0\u2013 and Rodriguez’s tell-all style\u00a0\u2013 is the life-and-death situation it created for some of her Kabul students and friends. Rodriguez and her son had to flee Afghanistan under threat of violence in 2007; meanwhile, a chilling\u00a0NPR segment<\/a> reported “Topekai” was expecting to move to Pakistan, “Baseera” expected her own death. Rodriquez has since published a novel, The Little Coffee Shop of Kabul<\/a>,<\/em>\u00a0in March of this year, and is now living in Mexico.<\/p>\n

“Afghan women … have been held in the dark for so long, and during the darkest years they suffered more than even I can imagine.” Rodriguez writes at book’s end. “But the darkness has been pulled back a bit. The light is starting to fall on them now. They need the world to look, watch, and make sure nothing puts out that light again.” Here’s hoping, praying, demanding!<\/p>\n

Readers<\/strong>: Adult<\/p>\n

Published<\/strong>: 2007<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Writing a memoir these days is dangerous business: you can be outed on Oprah as the worst liar, along with your publisher\u00a0(James Frey,\u00a0A Million Little Pieces), you can become infamous overnight for breaking the hearts of millions who not only trusted you but even gave…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27185,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,328,81,107,60,20],"tags":[1640,6608,22,1641,10,11,149,36,24,1642,1643,13,28,55,45],"class_list":["post-18474","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-adult-readers","category-afghan","category-audio","category-memoir","category-nonethnic-specific","category-nonfiction","tag-bernadette-dunne","tag-bookdragon","tag-civil-rights","tag-deborah-rodriguez","tag-family","tag-friendship","tag-gender-inequality","tag-girl-power","tag-historical","tag-kabul-beauty-school","tag-kristin-ohlson","tag-love","tag-politics","tag-religious-differences","tag-war"],"yoast_head":"\nKabul Beauty School: An American Woman Goes Behind the Veil by Deborah Rodriguez and Kristin Ohlson - 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