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There are currently 19 member reviews
for The Little Coffee Shop of Kabul
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Lee M. (Creve Coeur, Missouri)
A New Slant
In "A Cup of Friendship" Deborah Rodriguez's first-hand knowledge of Kabul and Afghanistan is the glue that holds together the story of Sunny and her coffee shop. The author's love of the country and its people gives a special significance to this love story.
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Kathrin C. (Corona, CA)
Fiction Prevails!
About a month before I started A Cup of Friendship, I read Deborah Rodriguez’ earlier memoir, Kabul Beauty School. I remember enjoying the first half, but struggling to maintain interest throughout the rest of the book. I believe Deborah Rodriguez was able to achieve far more with her novel Cup of Friendship than she was with her earlier memoir. From her debut fiction all of the Afghan characters, the American characters, the cultures, the extreme gulfs between the cultures, the dangers, the challenges, and the hopes all coalesced into a very compelling and very readable novel drawing the reader far closer to Afghanistan than newspaper stories, media glimpses or certainly, even Ms. Rodriguez’s factual memoir.
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Marcia S. (Hendersonville, NC)
More than it seems
Deborah Rodriguez's A Cup of Friendship was a thought provoking read. On the one hand, it was a love story. On the other, it portrayed complex layers of life in Afghanistan from the treatment of women to the training of terrorists and their insidious activities to the richness of family and traditions blending into modern culture. I enjoyed the friendships developed among the women of such varied backgrounds. Rodriguez reflects her love and respect of Afghanistan in her writing as well as her hope for the future of the country.
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Virginia B. (Forest Park, IL)
Enjoyable Read
I enjoyed this book -- I had previously read the Kabul Beauty School and was amazed and dismayed at the same time how both books portray the life of women in Afghanistan. I certainly appreciate what I have so much more. I liked the way the ex-pat women became friends in such a small community because they were in the minority as well as befriending Afghan women. At the same time, they didn't let the atmosphere get them down too much. I like the ending as well -- giving hope to a change of the way Afghan women live.
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Joan V. (Miller Place, NY)
A Cup of Friendship
This book immediately gets your attention. It's a fast read and enjoyable.
Set in current day Kabul it centers around the lives of five women: Sunny an American and owner of a coffee house; Connie, also an American, who is looking for love; Isabel, a British journalist and two Afghani women Halajan – owner of the building and Jazmina both of who work in the café.
The stories of other Afghani women are woven throughout the book and the fear of the Taliban regaining power is strongly felt.
I would have given this book a higher rating except that it often gravitates into the 'romance' novel genre. Too many cliques of eyes meeting across a room, unspoken longings and shortness of breath, plus a few sex scenes are unnecessary.
The theme of survival, strong women, and a positive look at the Muslim religion overcame some of the weaknesses in this book.
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Virginia B. (Foster, RI)
Love in Kabul
Rodriguez’s first novel, A Cup O Friendship is a page-turner about love of family, country, tradition and romantic love. Author of the memoir The Kabul Beauty School, she lived in Afghanistan and her convincing descriptions of the colors, sounds, and smells of the streets of Kabul after Hamid Karzai is “elected” president show it. The wonderfully drawn women characters are struggling to find meaning in their lives or to survive in a society where rights for women are nearly non-existent and the punishment for challenging tradition is incredibly harsh. You will appreciate this novel if you found The Book Seller of Kabul or A Thousand Splendid Suns interesting or enjoy love stories. Although the dialog and circumstances seemed contrived sometimes, I would definitely recommend this book.
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Virginia M. (Old Hickory, Tennessee)
A Cup of Friendship
A good read. I was intrigued by the title and subtitle because I'd previously read "A Cup of Tea". Not quite the same caliber, but an interesting read nonetheless.
