I'm currently reading Kabul Beauty School by Deborah Rodriguez and find it fascinating!!
Dear Debbie,
WOW!! You are so corageous, driven, and motivated! When describing your younger life, you sounded as if you had no life goals and would be stuck in an abusive marraige forever and become another stereotype. I'm amazed by how much your life has turned around and how inspired you have become when you seemed a bit lazy earlier in the book. Who knew you were such a go-getter?!
You seem to really know what you want and I think that you have very good priorities. I can imagine it was no easy task trying to get started all by yourself and probably only one in a million would be able to handle it as well as you did.
On of the largest hurdles for you was your husband. "'I hope you die in Afghanistan,' he said. 'I'd rather die than live here with you,' I replied. A door in my heart opened, and the tiny peice of him left inside me tumbled out" (65). I know that that took guts for you to say that because you spent most of your life living in fear and always felt like you needed his (or another male figure's) permission to do something important in your life.
I'm so excited to see how your beauty school turns out! I bet it will be amazing and you will find something that you truly enjoy doing. I'm also excited to hear about more of your Afghan friends' interesting stories. It was hard for me to put the book down whe I was reading Roshana's story. Keep up the hard (yet fun) work you are doing in Kabul!!!
Annie
3 comments:
Annie,
I don't think I've yet commented on your blog, so I guess it's time that I do. You talked about how the character in your book needed her husbands/ another male's ok to do something. Do you think that's common in society? Now and before? Here in America and elsewhere? Do women still get oppressed by men? Just a thought.
hey annie-
your book sounds like it has a lot more to it than one would expect from the title. i think it's interesting that debbie shares some of her own personal struggles in addition to those of the women from Afghanistan. do you think that she holds them on the same level as the Afghans'? how do you think the problems from her life help her connect to these women? perhaps her dependence on men mirrors the Afghan women's ritual dependence. just a thought. nice work on your blog- i may have to read your book.
sarah
Annie - this sounds like a pretty cool book, and a lot deeper than I expected. That's fantastic that she was able to stand up to her husband. Even though this went against what society said was right, she did it anyways, and is obviously much better off because of it. Do you think that there are times when it is better to put up with some discomfort for the sake of appeasing society, or should you always fight for what you want?
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