Customer Reviews

Lipstick in Afghanistan

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

When looking at a magazine photograph of a starving family in Rwanda, young Elsa, living in Boston with her mother and disabled sister, vows to someday become someone who can help the needy people of this world. When she turns seventeen, her life suddenly turns around to follow that track when an ER nurse in a Boston Hospital helps her to understand the circle of life when Elsa's baby sister dies. The continuing friendship between Elsa and the nurse blossoms into a mentor relationship, and soon Elsa herself becomes a talented ER nurse assisting with surgical and crisis trauma injuries. When Elsa's mother dies in her sleep one night, she suddenly remembers the magazine photo she found fascinating as a child and begins to create a plan to follow her dream of one day helping desperate people.

In the wake of 9/11, Elsa volunteers as an overseas Aide nurse, taking up a position in a small village in Afghanistan that will use her nursing skills in their local clinic. Not totally thinking things through in regards to just where she is going and what dangers may lie there, Elsa embarks on the journey of her life as she soon integrates herself in the lives of a village full of kind and loving people. She immerses herself in learning the language and culture with new Afghani friends to help her, and within a short time becomes one with the people of Afghanistan.

All is not so rosy though. Elsa has touched down to the world of the Taliban where terror is instilled in the minds of the local people that hover in fear each night as they lay down to sleep. When the Taliban come to Elsa's village, she is awakened in shock to the reality and danger she has put herself into. With the help of her new friends and with the assistance of American Soldiers on patrol, Elsa must dig deep into her soul to find her heart and place in a world of war and violence.

This is an extraordinary, beautiful, and poignant story of courage and heartache, love and renewal, faith and healing, among simple people who yearn for peace. Within this gem of a novel, you will find tender romance, newfound friends that bond for life, and will learn the ways of the Afghani as they teach Elsa to cook, pray, sew up their injured loved ones and bury their dead. Marriages are arranged, feasts and celebrations abound, babies are born, and brides are adorned with henna and veils. The reader becomes an eyewitness to the glorious kinship between two unlikely women from faraway places that share common ground all based on their love of lipstick! You will laugh, you will learn, you will worry and you will cry, as Roberta takes Elsa into a world unknown that becomes home.

All book club discussion groups should bring this to the top of the list for there is much to discuss and share here. For a debut novel, Roberta Gately's Lipstick in Afghanistan should easily be climbing the bestseller lists at a rapid pace. Sensational book!

Lipstick in Afghanistan
by Roberta Gately

In a nutshell, Elsa Murphy, the main character, trains to be a nurse, accepts a position in Afghanistan, and escapes her dreary life in Boston.

I applaud any new author who has the stamina and courage to stick with the written words long enough to create a world readers can immerse themselves into, if only for a few pages. Kudos to Ms. Gately for that accomplishment.

Unfortunately, the third person narrative drove me away from what should have been a very compelling story. I would have appreciated a memoir, with real emotions being told, much better than this unreliable third person.

There was very little told about the reason for the trip to begin with: day-to-day nursing in a war torn area. Why the author chose this format instead of a memoir is a loss to this curious reader. I was never quite sure if Elsa was in Afghan to truly help or if it was just a means to escape her boring Boston environs and it sounded exciting to a girl who hadn't "lived" much and didn't know what she was getting into.

The book does convey the bonds of female friendship and the tenacity of the Afghan people. The lipstick in the title is the talisman that gives the main character her strength, her warrior (?) spirit.

The average (mainstream) reader's group would probably find things to discuss but I would say definitely not for the discriminating reader.

Find more about this book at Simon & Schuster's website.

Lipstick in Afghanistan by Roberta Gatley is the story of a Elsa, an ER nurse in her early 20s who wants to make a difference in the world. She is accepted as a relief nurse with an international organization and sent to Afghanistan in 2002 to help run the local hospital. Drama ensues.

I had a few problems with this book. And the bulk of my review will dwell on what I didn't think worked very well. But I do want to say that this book isn't bad. There is a market for this book, and I know people who would love reading this book. I, unfortunately, just wasn't one of them. But the book does have merit, and there were times when it was plain to see that the author had lived among these people and has an emotional attachment to their culture.

So, there are positive things to this book, and you won't be wasting your life if you decide to read it. However, I struggled with this book. It's an easy read, but I found my self speed reading, hoping to reach the end faster. I find it very hard to enjoy reading the book when I strongly dislike the main character. Elsa was whiny, annoying and naive. There's a part of the story, after she's been in Afghanistan for a while when she tries to convince her friend, Parween (and the other narrator of the story) that growing up poor in the poor part of Boston means she understands all the suffering any of the Afghanis have experienced.

She doesn't stop to think, and parts of other people's personalities rub off on her, (like Parween's impulsive thoughtlessness). She's incredibly self-centered, focusing only on things as they touch her. She can't imagine that life is bad in Afghanistan, or that other places are dangerous, or that her town is dangerous because she hasn't personally been exposed to it. If she doesn't see it, it doesn't really exist. It's like people who see something bad on the news but think, 'that would never happen to me.' It got really old really fast.

I won't go into detail about the other characters, although I definitely could. There were a lot of people in the story, and all of them were rather black and white. They are good or bad. They are victims or fighters. They are happy or miserable. They are helpful or hurtful. And none of them felt real. I've heard a lot of people complain about authors telling rather than showing. This is one of the few times when I desperately agree. I can normally overlook that if I'm really enjoying the story, but in this case it made me want to pull my hair out. Everything I knew about any of these characters was because I was told that's how it supposed to be, not because the author just let them be that way. I didn't believe in anyone. I didn't believe their actions were reasonable or logical, and I didn't believe the situations they were in were realistic.

I also felt that the author was missing that happy median on details. We were either given very few, very sparse details about events, or overloaded with them. Some detailed accounts, such as the wedding ceremony was interesting, but most were not. It was just too much. The writing felt forced and murky and kind of like she was trying just a little bit too hard.

And the lipstick... I know this is a personal thing but I missed the lipstick point. I know that the author shares Elsa's fondness and need for lipstick, but I don't get it. And, there were times when I felt that the lipstick was more important than the story, and that the author relied on the lipstick to carry the story forward. It just didn't feel right to me.

Like I said before, I can see that this will be a book many people could enjoy. It just wasn't for me. Maybe someone else will have better luck.

This book was chosen for my book club this month. It has given our group a lot to talk about.

Growing up poor in Boston, Elsa is determined to help those worse off than her family. Several events helped her carve out her lifework. One was helping her mother care for her disabled niece, who died young. Another was seeing the pictures of families, especially the children, dying of famine in Biafra. Elsa becomes determined to become a nurse, and with hard work, manages to do so. Shortly after her graduation, two things occur. Her mother dies and 9-11 occurs. Elsa is determined to go overseas to help however she can.

She contacts a relief organization and they soon come up with an assignment for her. She will go to a small town in Afghanistan called Bamiyan and work in a clinic, helping the villagers. Elsa is excited and scared, but agrees to go. She is astonished at much she finds there. The poverty is overwhelming. For the next year, she will bathe only sparingly, as her bathroom is a bucket and a latrine. There is no electricity and the food is sparse. But Elsa finds her calling helping the sick villagers. There are also people who have been injured by Taliban forces, and Elsa finds that many hate the Taliban for the things they do and inflict on their own people. The way women are treated is another cultural shock.

Elsa makes a close female friend, Parween. Parween was lucky enough to find a husband who valued her mind and taught her to read and write and do math. They have a daughter and are a happy family. When the Taliban moves into town, everything changes. They blow up centuries-old heritage icons such as the huge Buddhas that have stood guard over the village. They impose strict Muslim law and the women must cover up and cannot walk around town. Finally, as the villagers start to revolt, they round up many of the men and massacre them; Parween's husband among them.

Roberta Gately has written a compelling debut novel. It explores the fate of the Afghan people, and the nature of female friendships that can endure regardless of war, poverty and other troubles. The reader is swept into Elsa's world, and with her, starts to understand the complexities of the region and the difficulties of helping in many cases. This book is recommended for readers interested in female stories about overcoming challenges.

This novel provides a fascinating look at the Afghan people and those who are moved to come to their aid both civilian and military. The characters draw us in to their thoughts and dreams. They show us how the human spirit perseveres in the most devastating circumstances. Afghanistan, a war torn ravaged country. Why should we care is the current debate. Why should we sacrifice? Roberta Gately leads us into caring about them.

Parween's marriage and her good fortune in a husband who spoke English and taught her to read gives us hope and joy. It is sadly contrasted by the misfortune of her best friend in an abusive marriage. The tube of lipstick that is shared among woman in various circumstances symbolizes unity of spirit, loyalty, and hope for the future. The significance of lipstick unites us as women no matter where we live or what the circumstance. That is where Elsa weaves her way into the story. A young American nurse with a difficult childhood. Her own perseverence and hopefulness parallels that of Parween, drawing them to each other in friendship and sisterly love.

Lipstick In Afghanistan is a beautiful story although difficult at times. We don't want to see the harshness of life and the cruelty of the Taliban. Yet, couched in the lives of Elsa and Parween we are inspired to hope and persevere with them.

I highly recommend this book and have purchased several to give to friends and fellow nurses as gifts this year. Mine was a gift and I was thrilled to receive it.

Let me tell you what I liked and disliked about it. Firstly, the description of life in Afghanistan was interesting, humbling, and without a doubt the best part of the book. Parween's story was deftly woven and held my interest from beginning to end. Then there was Elsa. Apparently she didn't "google" Afghanistan prior to embarking on her mission because she was either woefully ignorant of, or embarrassingly naive about, what to expect. Who, with any degree of sense, would ignore repeated warnings to steer clear of nearby Taliban-controlled villages? Elsa would. Then there were the U.S. servicemen who, according to their dated and corny language and vernacular, seemed to be channeling World War II era soldiers. The book would have been better had the author devoted more of the storyline to the appalling lack of medical services and resulting health issues that Elsa would no doubt have seen daily and less time to her endless supply of lipstick.

This was a very interesting book that I could not put down. I read it in 2 days. The story of Elsa, the US Nurse assigned to work with the Hazara people in Bamiyan, Afghanistan, was quite riveting. Through this story, you get to learn about local customs and tradition as well as about phrases in the local language Dari. You also learn about the Hazara people's struggle against the Taliban and about the lives of Afghan women and their lot in life. You also learn about dynamics between the US military and humanitarian NGOs. Despite horrible experiences, these valiant Afghan people have hope for a better future and you want to work with them to achieve that goal.

This was a well written account of a professional RN who risked her life to care for others.
Elsa found herself along the way, love and a long awaited happiness.

Lipstick in Afghanistan is truly one of the best books I have ever read. This book tells the story of two women- Elsa, an American nurse working in Afghanistan for a year and Parween, an Afghani woman. These women form a friendship that is indescribable, joining two worlds that are so separate for most people. What I really appreciated about this book was being able to understand the Taliban and 9/11 from an Afghani's point of view. I learned so much about Afghanistan and the culture of the people there. This book was fascinating- I read it in two days! I would definitely recommend it to everyone!