The little coffee shop of Kabul

Our book for the month of May, The Little Coffee Shop of Kabul, provided some interesting topics of conversation.  Each member was asked who there favorite character was.  Halajan was selected by 3 members, her feisty and strong character was cited as the reason for their choice. Other members liked Isabel, Ahmet, Jasmina and Candace.  We all felt that Candace was quite naive, given the situation with Wakel and also at the embassy with the boy with the package.
It was also agreed that every character in the book held a secret that they managed to cover up in some manner, Jasmina's pregnancy, Halajan and Rashif's love, Isabel's rape, Candace's background etc.  Although the men in the book were felt to be secondary to the main characters, they still had fairly strong storylines of forbidden love.  However, it was felt that the change to Ahmet's character accepting his mothers love for Rashif and then his own for Jasmina, was not true to what a devout Muslim would do. 

Rankings
Debbie  5- Not enough cups of coffee for my liking
Anne Marie 6 - Afghani cultural buffet
Hannah 5 - Easy enjoyable read, but, didn't explore the friendships enough
Kerry 5 - Good holiday read, bit soapy
Meg  5 - Pleasant fluffy read squandered its potential
Irene 5 - Drawing on real life situations made the happy ending a melancholic comparison
Leslie 7 - Makes her feel sorry for women in other countries
Colleen 5 - Floated alon on even level, average
Kaye 7 - Captivating story about women in a hostile environment