Notes from Jan 2012 group

This month we discussed A Cup of Friendship by Deborah Rodriguez

Rodriguez follows bestselling memoir Kabul Beauty School with a superb debut novel centering on a group of women who come together in a Kabul coffee shop run by Sunny, a free-spirited American. Sunny takes in the young widow, Yazmina, the casualty of her uncle's debt to Afghan thugs, who had taken the girl as payment but dumped her on the side of the road when they discovered she was pregnant. Halajan is a firecracker older widow who hides her cropped hairdo, jean skirts, and love letters under her burqa. Isabel, a hard-hitting BBC journalist on location to expose the story of the destruction of the poppy fields, uncovers a deeper truth: female workers addicted to the opium they handle who are then, some with their babies, jailed for "moral crimes." Candace, a well-heeled Bostonian, has followed her Afghan boyfriend to Kabul to fund-raise for his school, but soon suspects his real motives for the school and their relationship. A craftsman and a storyteller, Rodriguez captures place and people wholeheartedly, unveiling the faces of Afghanistan's women through a wealth of memorable characters who light up the page.

We thought that the American author made the plot a little too predictable and lightweight for these issues. She wrapped up all the story lines too quickly (similar to a Jennifer Chiaverini “Quilt” book or a Debbie Macomber story. Our group was split on our opinions of this book – half liked it and half thought it was just OK, with a few negative votes. Still this book generated good discussion. The story was enjoyable and easy to read.