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A Cup of Friendship: A Novel
Unavailable
A Cup of Friendship: A Novel
Unavailable
A Cup of Friendship: A Novel
Audiobook9 hours

A Cup of Friendship: A Novel

Written by Deborah Rodriguez

Narrated by Mozhan Marno

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

3.5/5

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Currently unavailable

Currently unavailable

About this audiobook

From the author of the "bighearted . . . inspiring" (Vogue) memoir Kabul Beauty School comes a fiction debut as compelling as real life: the story of a remarkable coffee shop in the heart of Afghanistan, and the men and women who meet there-thrown together by circumstance, bonded by secrets, and united in an extraordinary friendship.

After hard luck and some bad choices, Sunny has finally found a place to call home-it just happens to be in the middle of a war zone. The thirty-eight-year-old American's pride and joy is the Kabul Coffee House, where she brings hospitality to the expatriates, misfits, missionaries, and mercenaries who stroll through its doors. She's especially grateful that the busy days allow her to forget Tommy, the love of her life, who left her in pursuit of money and adventure.

Working alongside Sunny is the maternal Halajan, who vividly recalls the days before the Taliban and now must hide a modern romance from her ultratraditional son-who, unbeknownst to her, is facing his own religious doubts. Into the café come Isabel, a British journalist on the trail of a risky story; Jack, who left his family back home in Michigan to earn "danger pay" as a consultant; and Candace, a wealthy and well-connected American whose desire to help threatens to cloud her judgment.

When Yazmina, a young Afghan from a remote village, is kidnapped and left on a city street pregnant and alone, Sunny welcomes her into the café and gives her a home-but Yazmina hides a secret that could put all their lives in jeopardy. As this group of men and women discover that there's more to one another than meets the eye, they'll form an unlikely friendship that will change not only their own lives but the lives of an entire country.

Brimming with Deborah Rodriguez's remarkable gift for depicting the nuances of life in Kabul, and filled with vibrant characters that readers will truly care about, A Cup of Friendship is the best kind of fiction-full of heart yet smart and thought-provoking.


From the Hardcover edition.
LanguageEnglish
Release dateJan 25, 2011
ISBN9780307879189
Unavailable
A Cup of Friendship: A Novel
Author

Deborah Rodriguez

Deborah Rodriguez is the author of the nonfiction New York Times bestseller Kabul Beauty School and the internationally bestselling novel The Little Coffee Shop of Kabul. The hairdresser and motivational speaker was a cofounder and director of the first modern beauty academy in Afghanistan, and also founded the nonprofit Oasis Rescue. She lives in Mazatlán, Mexico, where she own Tippy Toes salon and spa. Her latest book is Margarita Wednesdays: Making a New Life by the Mexican Sea.

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Reviews for A Cup of Friendship

Rating: 3.5152093536121676 out of 5 stars
3.5/5

263 ratings59 reviews

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  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Lovely book, although it ended rather abruptly.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A nice easy read with a bit more depth than the average chick-lit book. I enjoyed it.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Enjoyed the story even though it was fairly predictable. A well told story that will get you in. Worth a read.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Easy enough read, but no depth to it. A bit Mills and Boon at times.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I really enjoyed the start of this novel, but by about two thirds of the way through, I just wanted it to be over. It felt a bit forced. I enjoyed and empathised with the characters, but the plot was somewhat predictable. I wasn't sure about the portrayal of Kabul and the Afghanis. Occasionally there was some depth to the portrayal of the culture, but for much of the time, it felt quite superficial and US-centric. After reading the endnotes, I now realise the author did spend some time in Kabul. And I'm interested in reading the Kabul Beauty School. But I still think the portrayal of Kabul is patchy.For me, a better portrayal of Islam came from The Night of the Mi'raj by Zoe Ferraris.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Lovely book, although it ended rather abruptly.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    I requested this book through Early Reviewers because the writing was compared to that of Maeve Binchy's, who I really like, but I was not a fan of this book. I couldn't get into the characters, and I felt uncomfortable with an American woman ascribing all sorts of definitive beliefs to Afghan characters (Ahmet is like X because he is a traditional Afghan man, etc). It should have been a quick read, but it took me months to get through it. Just not the book for me.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I found this novel to be an easy read, providing a peek into the culture of Afghanistan. We see so much discouraging coverage in the media, that I appreciated this personal glimpse into daily lives. I came away with a stronger appreciation for the freedom women enjoy here at home. While the writing style is simple, it was easy to get involved in the story. I also enjoyed the conversation with the author at the end.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A lovely story about five very interesting women and their friendship while in Kabul.I particularly liked Sunny, for her bravery in the face of the way women are treated in Afghanistan. The sixty year old den mother Halajan, was also inspiring. She also dared to be different. In contrast the male characters were not all that likeable and the book really showed what women are up against in this world, not just in Moslem cultures but in our own as well.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Great story! A small look inside the Afghan life. Sunny's character was engaging. A light, easy read that I couldn't put down. Highly recommended, especially for book clubs.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Rodriguez's book did not impress. Much of the time it was quite predictable. Portions were boringly preachy - the social commentary fell flat. A variety of circumstances and plot twists felt forced - just too convenient to ring true. My wife noted, "You've been reading that book for a long time" - a reminder that it never grabbed me. Though relatively short, it did take an inordinate amount of time to get through, not due to any depth or complexity - rather, it was not a compelling read. I could put it down and leave it there. As I read this review, it seems pretty harsh. Well, it wasn't horrible. On the other hand, it was far from great. Not a book I'd recommend to friends or family.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    While news has been pouring out of Afghanistan for the past several years, most people know precious little about what it's like to live there. In her debut novel, Rodgriguez introduces Afghan culture via a variety of characters, both expat and native.Sunny, the owner of the eponymous coffee shop, has followed her adventurous lover, Tommy, to Kabul. Left alone for months at a time while he engages in mysterious operations, Sunny carves out a life for herself. Although her business caters to the expat population - among them the British journalist Isabel, the charming American negotiator Jack, and the wealthy divorcee Candace - she is also deeply invested in the lives of her Afghan employees, including a young widow, Yazmina, whose pregnancy puts herself and others at risk. (In Afghanistan, a pregnant woman without a husband is considered a disgrace, widowed, or not.)While focusing on romance and female friendship - the stuff of popular women's fiction - Rodriguez doesn't shy away from the harsh realities of modern-day Afghanistan;she touches upon human trafficking, the oppression of women, the poppy trade, and suicide bombers. Rodriguez has a light touch, however, and the overall effect is uplifting. Although the ending is perhaps a tad too tidy, and, I suspect, tinged by wishful thinking, as a reader I was grateful for the note of hope.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Rodriguez engaged me in her novel from the very start. I love novels set in exotic cultures and locales and Rodriguez' experience living and running a business in Kabul seemed to lend even more credence to her novel.The story revolves around several women, including Sunny, an expat running a coffee shop, Halajan, an Afghan woman who has lived through times when women had rights and freedoms in her country as well as times when they didn't, and Yazmina, a young Afghan widow with a secret of her own. Somehow, each of these women grow, both together and separately, through their time together in the coffee shop.Even while violence and oppression surround them more each day, the characters frequenting the coffee shop find friendship, hope, and love. I found her character develop to be quite engaging. While we see the shortcomings and flaws of our characters, it is also easy to find the endearing qualities and to identify with their struggles and triumphs. I would recommend this book to anyone to read and especially feel like it would make for a great book club discussion.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    as other reviwers wrote, this is a chick-lit, and even though it is kept farily light, there are glimpses of the situations where women have a hard time in Afghanistan. I was hoping for a little more deeper story and not so bubble-gum-American, but if one wnats a quick look into the life of ex-pats, here is your chance. If you want hardcore info, you might rather wants to pick upa different book. I think in about 100 years this will qualify as historical romance fiction.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Any book that takes place in a country during war is going to have its share of violence. That being said this tale of an American ex-pat running a coffee shop in Afghanistan brings together a group of people really just trying to live life in the midst of that violence of war. Culture clashes add to the mix as the woman want to feel the freedom promised but are pushed back into the mores of the past - and not always by the Taliban trying to take over the country.The stories of the women who visit the titular coffee shop are interesting but there is not a lot of depth. I've seen references to "chick lit" but I'm not sure I would go there. It's more that the story only touches the surface rather than really delving into the issues. But it is a slight book and the issues are deep and painful.It was a quick read and will succeed in opening the eyes to the lives of women in Afghanistan.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I will confess that this surprised me a bit. Based on the blurb, I thought I would be reading a rather cheery book...until I read the opening scene, which begins with a young Afghani girl being torn from her family as a human payment for a debt to a drug lord. As Yazmina shivered in the back of the black Land Rover, facing her hideous destiny as prostitute (unless she dies the minute they find out that she is pregnant), I seriously considered dumping the book - I really can't deal with sexual abuse of children. I am glad I persevered, though. Little Coffee House of Kabul is not as light as I anticipated, but it isn't brutal or dark either. In fact it is a gentle, tender novel about love and the ways that love surprises us. Reviews that I read indicated that American ex-pat Sunny, the proprietress of the titular cafe, was the central focus of the novel, but I actually found her story less interesting than the story arcs of the Afghani characters: Halajan, the feisty widow who owns the building, Rashid, her childhood sweetheart who writes Halajan incomprehensible love letters, Ahmet, Halajan's rigid fundamentalist son, and Yazmina, who must find a way for her and her baby to live in an Afghanistan that routinely destroys young and beautiful women. The bonds between these characters seemed strong and genuine, and I was all the more willing to buy into them because I knew that Deborah Rodriguez had actually lived in post-Taliban Kabul and worked with Afghan men and women very like these. When the book ended, I still wanted to know more about the characters - always a good sign! Perhaps Rodriguez downplays the harshness of life in modern Kabul, but I'm not complaining. I'm on the side of hope...and on the side of love, too.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I received this book as part of the Early Reviewers program. Some books I've received through the program have been great, some have been not so great. This one, I think, falls somewhere in the middle.The book centers around a coffee shop in Kabul, as the title suggests. The plot is good, the story interesting, it takes you to another part of the world, and it's a quick read. However, be warned, it does read a bit like chick lit. I like a little chick lit every now and again so it didn't bother me. I thought it had plenty of culture and history thrown in with the emotional themes to keep it interesting. It's no Kite Runner... more like Kite Runner Lite... but I think it has it's place and I certainly enjoyed the read. I'd be interested in reading the author's earlier book and any others she may publish.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    I received this book through the early reviewer's program. This is definitely "Chick Lit" and not my cup of tea. The story weaves through the lives of 5 women as they visit the restaurant owned by Sunny. It is a quick easy read, nothing original about any of the story lines. Other reviewers have spoken of love, but I see it more as lust. Plenty of adultery to go around along with foul language. What could have been a warm-hearted story is just a cheap "romance" novel in the end.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    A quite nice little book full of interesting people who find themselves in an interesting place at an interesting time...to say the least. Post-Taliban Afghanistan, in Kabul being occupied by foreign forces. I did wonder whether the characters who change would have changed as much (don't want to give away the plot so won't say much) and it kind of felt like we are getting the the end of the story so let's just end it here with a happy ending. However, it does give some insights into a country and culture which is very different to my own and this I did enjoy.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Lovely story about interesting people is a scary place. It is, however, very much an outsider's view of the country and I felt did not really get the feel of what was happening.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I chose this novel because I had enjoyed Kabul Beauty Shop, a non-fiction account by the same author, Deborah Rodriguez, whom I found to have a wonderfully vibrant and likeable personality that colored the book about her improbable situation in Afghanistan. I was not disappointed in A Cup of Friendship, which I found to be a good read, maybe the only even relatively happy book I've read about Afghanistan...and certainly up to date. I liked the characters very much, and found them believable because I lived in Korea for 20 years as it was recovering from years of oppression by the Japanese and the Korean War and developing from a very traditional country to a quite modern one, while retaining many traditional values and adding new ones. I knew a number of ex-pats there who, like those in A Cup of Friendship, forged deep friendships with other foreigners and nationals as well, and saw their lives enriched and their thinking broadened and matured from those experiences and relationships. I say bravo to Deborah Rodriguez (now living in Mexico, and that must be a story!) and give the book four-and-a-half stars.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This rich novel sets the story of friendship and romance against the backdrop of contemporary Kabul. With all of the strictures confining women in the muslim culture, the renewed influence of the Taliban, and the normal complications of being part of an expatriot society, the main character Sonny has a lot to deal with. How she responds makes for a terrific read.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Deborah Rodriguez has already written a non fiction story The Kabul beauty school telling of her time in Kabul but this one is fiction. The main character Sunny has a coffee shop in Kabul and the book tells of the people who work in and frequent this coffee shop. We have Yasmina a young pregnant widow stolen from her village and then abandoned when it was discovered that she was pregnant. Isobel is a journalist who wants to make a difference in the lives of the women of Afghanistan. Then there is the sixty year worker at the cafe who has had a long standing hidden relationship whith a man who writes her letters that she cannot read. This relationship must be kept hidden from her son as it goes against everything that he believes in. Lastly there is Candace who has left her husband for a young Afghan lover. Sunny struggles to find ways to keep her cafe safe from the ever increading violence in the city. This is an absorbing picture of life in Kabul with interesting characters.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    American ex-pat Sunny has found a new place to call home, the Coffee Shop in Kabul, Afghanistan. Here she serves a mix of ex-pats, misfits, missionaries and mercenaries. Her staff is made up of Afghanis, Halajan an older woman who is hiding her modern romance from her ultratraditional son, Ahmet, Yazmina, a young Afghan woman who was widowed, pregnant and kidnapped. And Isabel, a journalist and Candace, a wealthy American with a strong desire to help. As the friendships grow, so does the feeling of a family you choose. The book gives a good picture of life in Kabul and of the push and pull between tradition and modernity.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    I made it through about one-third of the book. I just could not get into it. I was not drawn to the characters or the story itself. The book sat on my table for about a week, and I had no inclination to go back to it. So, it became an abandoned book.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Sunny is an American from Arkansas living in Kabul, Afghanistan. She is the proprietress of a coffee shop. A visit to the women's ministry brings Yasmina into the lives of Sunny and her friends. Yasmina is widowed and pregnant. She would be in danger if left on her own. Through Isabel, a British journalist, and Candace, the former wife of an American diplomat, we learn of the atrocities committed by warlords and the Taliban against women. The book is heart-wrenching at times. It's set in a war-ravished country where living becomes increasingly dangerous for those who really don't have to be there. I enjoyed this little glimpse of life in another culture.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    When I catalog my books I have a category called "experience another culture" reserved for fiction and non-fiction that I felt teaches me about people and places I've never been and may not know much about. While this book would of course fit in that category, it wouldn't be the best example. I felt I learned more about the women of Kabul and their lives in Rodriguez's previous book, Kabul Beauty School. I felt this was more a fictionized repeat of the memoir and while easy to read, not outstanding.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    To sum it up, this book was okay. Not outstanding by any means, but not terrible either. It felt like chic lit set in Kabul that wanted to be serious and political, but just didn't succeed. I think the author tried to tackle too many issues for one story. It came off being unbelievable to me, and I agree with others that the writing was flat.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I requested this book as an Early Reader, and I'm so glad that I did. It was a nice change of pace from the normal books I read. The author did an amazing job helping the reader learn the culture and restrictions, and yet the settings were well known enough (just from watching the news the past few years) that you could see it between prior knowledge of the area, and the wonderful description she supplies. The book follows an American named Sunny who moved to Kabul and set up a coffeehouse. Her story intertwines with 4 other ladies, and fellow men, as they try to make it through daily life in Kabul, as the dangers increase. Very well done! I'll be looking for future books by Deborah Rodriguez!
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Sunny is an American who owns a coffee shop in Kabul. She is surrounded by a merging of the two worlds of Afganistan and America. She toes the line between following tradition and pushing forward, allowing her employees to live as they will.A wonderful cast of characters comes and goes through the shop and we are lucky to get to know many of them. From a country widow to a glamorous British journalist. From a traditional Afghan man to the Americans men willing to risk their lives to save a young Afghan woman. You grow to love them all for their good qualities and want to help them overcome their faults.An interesting look at Kabul through the eyes of an American living and working in the city, surrounded by her new friends and family.3/5