The Kabul Beauty School, by Deborah Rodriguez

I just finished listening to this book on my iPod. It is narrated by Bernadette Dunne. I love listening to audiobooks, but it's difficult to know whether I really enjoyed the book, or if the narrator made it better than it would have been if I had just read it myself. Anyway, for whatever reason, this was an enjoyable listen.

Here's the Publisher's Summary:

"Most Westerners working in Afghanistan spend their time tucked inside a military compound or embassy. Not Deborah Rodriguez. Here, she tells the story of the beauty school she founded in the middle of Kabul and of the vibrant women who were her students.

When Rodriguez opened the Kabul Beauty School, she not only empowered her students with a new sense of autonomy but also made some of the closest friends of her life. Woven through the book are the stories of her students: the newlywed who must fake her virginity; the 12-year-old sold into marriage to pay her family's debts; and a woman who pursues her training despite her Taliban husband's constant beatings. They all bring their stories to the beauty school, where, along with Rodriguez herself, they learn the art of perms, friendship, and freedom."

Here's what I have to add to it:

This is a nonfiction piece about a hairdresser who travels to Afghanistan as a volunteer in order to escape her abusive husband. Although her rudimentary emergency preparedness skills prove useless, she finds that hairdressers are in high demand. Hair salons were banned by the Taliban and their tools were destroyed, so the Afghan women have few skills and no supplies to rebuild their salons. Debbie realizes that hairdressing is one of a very few careers open to Afghan woman, and that with some training and supplies they can gain financial and personal independence that isn't available to them through any other means. So she decides to stay and open up a school.

I was amazed at the guts of this woman. She leaves behind everything in the states, including two grown sons, and moves to Afghanistan to oversee the school. Her feisty nature often clashes with the local culture - she confronts a groper in the market, stomps over to her Taliban neighbors' with a machine gun to demand they leave her guard alone, and embarrasses a beloved student by asking her to dance at a party. But she's also eager to learn about the culture and makes a sincere effort to understand her Afghani friends. She even agrees to an arranged marriage to an Afghani man who speaks little English and whom she's known only a couple of weeks! I loved the cultural insights and the personal stories of her students. It's obvious that she has a genuine love for them and that the Kabul Beauty School is making a real difference for the woman of Afghanistan. It's an engaging story with rich detail and a realistic but upbeat view of the world of Afghan women.