The Little Coffee Shop of Kabul - A Review

(4 of 2021) ft. my Morning wali Chai Shireen 

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‘The Little Coffee Shop of Kabul’ by Deborah Rodriguez - This is my last book from the trilogy of Central Asian themed books that I ordered last year. The book is based in Afghanistan and is a self-proclaimed Khaled Hosseini inspired Feminist war drama.

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It is a story of 5 female characters - Sunny, Yazmina, Isabel, Candace and Halajan who are of different age groups and hail from different ethnic, cultural and financial backgrounds. All of them carry their own skeletons in the cupboard, but how they affect and enrich the lives of each other in a war torn and Taliban ruled Kabul is the pivotal plot. 

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Coming to the review, do not expect the narration to have depth and detail of a deft writer. Sometimes the actions seem too abrupt and ill-thought in the book. Many connections appear forced or, for the lack of a better word, inorganic. The language lacks the subtlety and refinement and is unable to convey the true feeling of the characters or of a situation many times. It could have been written in a more detailed and nuanced manner, but, as I said, the author can be given liberty seeing that she is not a professional author and this is second of her Biographical type of fiction works.

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Talking about the male characters, there are many characters like Rashif, Bashir Hadi (who had to be a Hazara, seeing the Khaled Hosseini obsession of Deborah) and, maybe, Jack who could have been explored more and would have given more richness to the story. But I guess the author wanted to go for a more female oriented plot. The readers may like the romantic plot between Halajan and her lover (who I will not reveal here because I am trying to give out minimal spoilers). Sunny tries hard but fails to touch your hearts.

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During my research on the book and the author, I found that Deborah has a history as interesting as the book having spent years in Afghanistan as a hairdresser and marrying a local Afghan after 20 days of courtship. You will see the reflection of the author in Sunny if you look too closely. 

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Also, one more thing - the publication I read had amazing Afghan recipes for desserts and Chai (both Chai Shireen and Chai Talk) at the end. I thoroughly enjoyed reading them. So if you are planning on buying the book, I would highly recommend the one published by Sphere.

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The book is a decent read for the ones who want to start reading, Afghanistan enthusiasts like Yours Truly or if you are not in the mood for serious reading. Or desperately missing more works from Khaled Hosseini. 

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Rating (Yaw.. Daw.. Drei..) 3/5