Really interesting, esepcially since it's a real story. It was a quick, easy read (which was why I picked it up at an airport) and it taught me a lot about the culture in Afghanistan. I am amazed at what Debbie (author) went through and the risks she took to help the women become more independent.

I loved, loved, loved this book. I feel so blessed to live in a free country, and the things these women had to go through are so foreign to me. Just be warned it does have some strong language in it, but I would sensor that out for anyone, because I really feel it's a book worth reading.

I wanted to read a book about a different culture and so I thought that this one looked interesting. I read a sample chapter and was hooked. I purchased the book before doing any more research about it.

There were a lot of aspects about this book that I truly enjoyed. I loved learning about the women in Afghanistan and their culture. This was one of the few books about the Middle East that didn't make me furious. I usually get frustrated at all of the male jerks and the females who seem to be too wimpy to do anything about it. This book did a great job of explaining why the women were sometimes trapped and it showed enough good Afghani men that I didn't think they were all jerks. The author did a great job of avoiding ethnocentrism or the, our-culture-is-better attitude. I appreciated that. I was truly amazed by the strength of the women in Afghanistan and I felt uplifted after finishing the book. I really admired the author's strength, humor, and persistence. I also appreciated that the author had very few curse words in the book. Although there was a lot about sex in this book, there was nothing graphic.

There were some qualities of the book that I really didn't enjoy. The book seemed to drag on at some parts. It was an easy book for me to put down. I usually inhale books and so this was something new to me. I started to get annoyed how the author always introduced her new characters. She would introduce them after she had known them for a while and then would go back and tell the reader how she had met them and what their story was. It seemed like a cumbersome way to introduce people and I got tired of reading about events that had already happened.

My biggest disappointment with this book was the information I found after reading it. There are serious doubts about whether this was a true report of what really happened. Six women who were involved with the founding of the beauty school claim that the author fabricated her importance to the school and made up characters and stories. They have also claimed that she stole the school for her own profit. In addition, I have read one account that she put the women's lives that she wrote about in danger by publishing this book.

This may all be untrue. (Although six people is A LOT of people to make up lies.) Now I'm just ever-so-curious about how much of this book is the truth. I read it to learn about another culture and about the lives of Afghani women. Now I'm not sure if I've learned anything at all.

I had mixed feelings with this one. I'm glad I listened to it, but her simplistic writing partnered with some of her choices was a struggle. The notion that she left her son's in America with her mom while starting a new life for herself in Afghanistan... oof. I am sure there is more to this story, but as a mom this troubled me.

Personal opinion: Glad I read it, yes. Life changing, no.

Interesting story about an American woman's account of her time in Afghanistan. I appreciate her love for the woman there, but felt she was awfully naive and was a little concerned as I read that some of the women she became friends with could ultimately be put in danger because of her telling their stories.

No matter how much I enjoyed the individual stories of the Indian women the author met, taught, and befriended, I couldn't get past the fact that she left her children behind in America to pursue her dream of doing something good in Afghanistan.

3.5 rounded up for me. This one took a minute to finish because of the chapter contents and their length. It was a tough one to stop and pick up again. But it’s such a beautiful story in parts about women taking back their power during the Taliban in Afghanistan. I enjoyed hearing so many different stories and learning about the extreme cultural differences, even when many were so very dark. It was a beautiful story and I need to reread when I’m in a better mindset for the book type.