The Kabul Beauty School by Deborah Rodriguez

Yet more Kabul in The Black Bull

Apologies to all our readers and followers awaiting this review - we discussed this on 3rd November 2014  but, for a whole host of reasons relating to a group blog, we're just getting to sharing our thoughts with you.  Please forgive us.

Firstly the venue.  We met for lunch at  The Back Bull in Corbridge which is well known for providing good quality pub food and service.  On this occasion, the Hussies tested the pub to its limits.  One Hussy, already grumpy about how difficult it is to park in Corbridge at lunch time,  disappeared at the ordering stage to sort out a puncture,  another was feeling too queasy to dine and another had issues with the salmon!   

Secondly the book.  It was OK.  Its main problem was that we all had previous. We had all previously read a lot  about women living in Afghanistan - Khaled Hosseini's "The Kite Runner" and "A Thousand Splendid Suns",  Rodriguez's other book "The Little Coffee Shop of Kabul" and "The Bookseller of Kabul" by Asne Seierstad, are the main examples that come to mind.   And so, we learnt little new from  Rodroguez on this occasion.  

In the absence of enlightenment, we sought entertainment - great characters, plot twists and a satisfying ending?   Rodriguez writes well, and it was an easy read, but this was neither a page turning satisfying plot nor an autobiography.  It was frustrating to wonder where autobiographical fact ended and fiction began.  

In reality, the book and the food were probably very good.  But somehow,  on that cold, queasy, punctured  day, the salmon, the tyre and the Kabul Beauty School left us all feeling flat. 

Still, the great thing about reading is that there's always another story, another page...so  we parted with high hopes for 

PS - For anyone interested in 'geographical fiction' then why not visit Guardian World Fiction for inspiration. 

'Bodies of Light' by Sarah Moss

                                                    'Illuminating Victorian Values'

A cold dark December evening found the Hussies back at one of their favourite Italians. Cheered by the welcoming lights of Corbridge's Il Piccolo, determined to make this meeting an improvement on the last, the book club shrugged off their winter coats ready to discuss 'Bodies of Light', the third novel by up and coming author Sarah Moss.

                                 

                                         

King Prawns in a sambuca sauce warmed the bones and half a portion of pasta helped to add another layer of insulation. Good food at reasonable prices and happily, decaffeinated coffee available to round off the meal. The only downside was that the delicious cooking aromas from the kitchen permeated the restaurant, confusing the senses of the diners who wanted to savour their own selection. As always friendly service helped to give the evening a pre Christmas injection of goodwill.

Impressively all the Hussies had read the book, a definate vote of confidence in the author. 

Although set in Victorian Manchester, this book is chiefly about family relationships and how the mistakes of the past are often revisted on future generations. A young mother who parents in the same misguided and damaging way as her own mother. A father too weak to intervene who emerses himself in his art. A mismatched couple, Mr and Mrs Moberley bring up their daughters in a world where women are prohibited from many professions, notably medicine, a society that  uses and abuses vulnerable young women blaming them for their own downfall. Mrs Moberley, an evangelical social reformer, is determined to mould her daughters into productive members of society. Whilst her aims are admirable her methods are cruel and callous, particularly in the case of her eldest daughter Althea who suffers physcological damage as a result. Mr Moberley, an artist and interior designer does what many men who are married to strong women do, take the path of least resistance, hiding in his work rather than stepping in to protect his daughters.

Each chapter is built around a piece of art by the father, or his close friend and colleague, a mysterious figure with an ambiguous relationship with the young Moberley girls. The author's ' show, dont tell' style leaves the reader wondering if Aubrey's interest in the girls is rooted in something rather more sinister than a love of artistic beauty. Interestingly, the younger daughter May, was a character in Moss's earlier novel, 'Night Waking', this could explain why her fate seems to be brushed over in the second half of 'Bodies of Light'. Definately worth rereading the earlier work to find out exactly what happened to the character.

On the whole a good read that examines the role of women in society, shedding light on the trials and tribulations endured by generations of women who were determined to enter a world dominated by men. An important reminder of the need to promote and protect gender equality and ensure that women all around the world have access to a good education and the opportunities it brings.

Join us in January when we meet to review our next book, 'Saints of the Shadow Bible' The latest addition to the ongoing series of crime novels featuring Detective Rebus, written by the very well established master of crime fiction, Ian Rankin.