Review: The Little Coffee Shop of Kabul by Deborah Rodriguez

*** The below contains examples from the plot. If you don’t want to find out what happens, look away now – but come back another time! ***

Set in the Afghanistan capital, The Little Coffeehouse of Kabul centres on the lives and relationships of five women. The writer, Deborah Rodriguez, herself spent time in the city working with international charities, setting up a beauty school and part owning a coffee shop, so the book is loosely based on personal experience. I wanted to be drawn in and see a different side to this place we are so used to reading about in papers and seeing on the news.

My favourite passages were those between the two key Afghani female characters, Halajan and Yasmina. I felt that they were authentically portrayed and displayed what life was like for women well, giving some insight into their culture. However, I wanted to know more about life in a warzone, faced with the daily threat of terror. For the most part, Afghan women were seen as prisoners and victims, which I understand may be what Rodriguez wanted to particularly highlight. However, I feel that this cannot be the only depiction to be seen of women in Kabul. Whilst many do suffer huge injustices because of their gender it cannot be the only comment to make.

I wanted to know more about the country and its people, but it seemed that the novel was more concerned with the love story between Sunny and Jack and this became the central focus as the plot progressed. It began to overtake the other issues that Rodriguez had bought up and, at times felt more like an American love story set in a foreign land; the setting became a secondary feature rather than serving any real purpose. I feel that Rodriguez missed out on the potential to create a really hard-hitting yet empowering novel about the lives of women being from and choosing to live in Kabul.

Instead it felt all too coincidental and quaint. Yes the constant threat of terror was present in the background but I think more could have been made of this. The Afghani male characters did break some stereotypical barriers but at the same time felt slightly false and Americanised; a romantic view of how men should be rather than authentic. I didn’t feel much connection to the characters either, and by the end didn’t feel like they were rounded enough to properly engage with; they were likeable but didn’t feel real. What seemed like important plot lines, such as the actual function of Wakil’s ‘charity’ efforts, were never really investigated thoroughly enough to convey the intended message to the reader.

The book ended like a Hollywood film; happily ever after. Yasmina’s sister, who she had worried about through the whole novel, is returned to her safely. There is no explanation from Jack about how he managed to achieve this despite readers knowing how difficult it might have been to reunite the sisters. The wedding between Yasmina and Ahmet goes ahead happily and Sunny finally decides to leave Kabul with Jack; similar to a Disney princess riding off into the sunset. Rodriguez did not get to have this kind of ending to her time in Kabul, instead having to quietly ‘disappear’. I feel that she is enabling herself to have sort of leaving she wished for, but it would have done more justice to her characters if they faced their own realities, confronting their lives living within a warzone.

Overall, the main message I took from the novel was that of the tremendous pressure placed on women to conform to the rules of a regime and the terrible consequences that follow if this is not adhered to. It was trying to find solutions to overcome this oppression. I just feel that Rodriguez could have used her characters to reveal more about life in Kabul. The concept of the novel was not explored to its full potential and this is what ultimately lets it down. Other books, such as Brick Lane or Blood of Flowers, give a greater and more rounded insight into the lives and culture of women under religious tradition and regime. For me, it is a good piece of ‘chick-lit’ but lacks any real exploration to give the plot chance to comment properly on the current situation facing those living in Afghanistan today.