Primarily, Kabul Beauty School is one woman's recounting of her trials and tribulations as, in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the subsequent American invasion of Afghanistan, she attempts to establish a beauty school for women in that war-torn country. Though her decision is initially framed as an outgrowth of her experiences working for an aid group in Afghanistan, it becomes clear that Ms. Rodriguez is searching for something real, something true, to embrace, to hold onto. She is escaping the problems of her life by flying halfway round the world to live, for months at a time, in one of the most dangerous countries in the world.
Who benefits from Ms. Rodriguez's odyssey? Many Afghan women who, as a result of the ultra-restrictive policies of the Taliban, are slowly emerging from a period in Afghanistan's history where women were little more than glorified slaves to men. Watching them flower through Ms. Rodriguez's eyes is both uplifting and sobering. This is the deeper message of Kabul Beauty School, a chronicle which captures the elation of their newfound freedom counterbalanced by the gloom of so much death and poverty.
During this rather remarkable journey, Ms. Rodriguez learns a few lessons about herself, mostly through trial and error, and seems to come out enlightened and emboldened. And it is with this timbre that her voice speaks, alternately dispassionate and heartbroken, of that tragic country. This memoir of Ms. Rodriguez years in Afghanistan is somehow both sappy and brutal managing to yoyo back and forth in a manner that entertains and informs far more than it annoys. (4/5 Stars)
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