“an account of an american woman's foray into Afghanistan. I found it endearing that the writer is candid enough to say that she had initially set out from home seeking release from her own difficult situation. It is easy to respect the fact that she did not spell out her own story in great detail even though it is possible that these could have lent weight to the story. ... in any case the admission does render her story more credible and more sensitive.[br/][br/]what comes through is the writer's passion. She is initially just going to Kabul along with a medical team, an add-on, and odd-ball, to do something that she clearly does not see as a critical contribution to voluntary work in Afghanistan. But it is when she picks up her hairdressing tools that her passion emerges.[br/][br/]This is not 'feminist' writing. it is a simple account of the writer's realisation of what the young women at the beauty school needed and wanted - a way of livelihood - and her 'heroic' attempts to provide it. over time, she realises that the school is not just about women's faces and hair, it is about seeing the faces under the veils, with no make-up on. [br/][br/]This is where the women's space emerges - as a liberating space, one where nationalities, culture, language are no longer barriers to understanding and solidarity. the whole idea of solidarity amongst the women is also beautifully described - back home it is her mother and friends who rally around her in a million ways, in Kabul it is all the women in and around the beauty school.[br/][br/]the opening chapter is simultaneously shocking and hilarious - a great way to begin. the rest of the chapters read well - partly because of the author's own subjective experience of social and cultural integration into the place, and partly because no matter how often you may have read some of these narratives, they are always heart-rending, riveting. On occasion, though, it reads like an NGO report.[br/][br/]”
geetha wrote this review Sunday, November 4 2007.
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