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Summary: Discovering Indian culture and religions
Review: "Holy Cow: An Indian Adventure" by Sarah MacDonald deals with her stay in India for approximately two years. She was visiting her boyfriend who was stationed in Indian temporary to cover the news in that region. MacDonald wrote about the people, culture and mostly religions. She covered quite a few of the religions such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam and others; basically predominant religions in India.
This was just an okay read for me. I enjoy her writings on the sights and sounds of India especially when she wrote about the culture and the people. The second half of her book was a bit of a bore for me as she seemed to focus completely on religions. It was interesting at the beginning but later it seems to be a bit too much and I felt that I was reading the summary of a religion textbook. If you are into religions in India, this is definitely the book for you. If you aren't, this is only a so-so read.
Rating: 
Summary: A Very Disappointing Read
Review: As an Indian raised abroad I was very excited to read this book. I thought that I would share similar experiences with someone who, like myself, was not raised in India. I was sorely disappointed to read the author's degrading commentary on life in India. I felt that it was exaggerated to the point of disrespect to the Indian culture. Ms. Macdonald should not have written a book on her travels to India if she had nothing positive to say. I would not use her book as an indication of what India is like.....her words ring untrue.
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Summary: An critical appreciation of Indian spirituality
Review: Before I present my review, I just want to say that some people are taking this book too seriously. I majored in religion in college, yet I was impressed with how well Macdonald does in summing up complicated faiths (or sects of faiths), even if I could quibble with a few of her comments. And she zeroes in on philosophical problems in these faiths effortlessly, leaving bare to all the perils of religious fundamentalism. She's just as critical, if not more so, of her own cultural tradition, Christianity, as she is of the others. The U.S. book cover already has the funamentalists seeing red (or pink glasses as it were), but much worse things have been done with pictures (and plays and movies)of Jesus. My own influences are the hippie movement (counter culture), devotional yoga, comparitive religion, and I think Westerners who share these interests will like this book. It also helps if you can look at the negative side of religion without being offended, and have a sense of humor. This book will delight the spiritually eclectic as much as it will offend exclusivists/fundamentalists in each religion she tackles.
I just finished reading "Holy Cow: An Indian Adventure," a memoir by Sarah Macdonald. I have to say I wholeheartedly recommend the book to Indiophiles everywhere. I suspect that we all could write our own book on what this amazing country and its plethora of religions has taught us. (In fact, most of us will have learned these lessons, just from reading, before we ever set foot on the subcontinent.) It's very light reading-- you'll get hooked and finish it in a week-- not like a heavy philosophical text, not even an "Autobiography of a Yogi." The book is basically a soap opera that unfolds as Sarah talks about her friends and adventures with skepticism and spiritual longing. She starts the book as a confirmed young atheist on a trip around the world, leaving India in an exasperated huff and determined never to return, when an airport fortune teller gives her a reading that turns out to be frighteningly true-- she would return to India for love. Her Australian boyfriend, a journalist, ends up being stationed in Delhi.
Left at home and without work in India, she just seems to naturally fall into informally studying its religions. She learns from her myriad of (mostly failed) attempts at finding a spiritual path, but nonetheless is able to grasp something of value from all the religions she encounters. Her critical thinking skills are excellent as she navigates the liberal and conservative wings of each faith and the politics of the countries in which they reside. For example, her reaction to the psychosis of 9-11 terrorism (which she hears about from a Hindu serving her pastries in a French restaurant in India) is a desire to understand Sufism. Her more mundane descriptions are vivid and will bring back memories to all who have battled the elements in India as they trudged to their next pilgrimage site.
I think what rings the most true in her writing is how those of us from the West confront and reject the conservatism of traditional views, of patriarchal ways, of quiet, resigned acceptance. If we had wanted that, we just would have become Southern Baptists. The head-on collision of Western liberalism confronting Indian traditionalism is not a pretty sight, but is one of the most identifiable aspects of the book. Sarah is giving voice to a thousand instances that I encountered in India that I dared never mention to anyone there. Yet she wouldn't trade the spiritual lessons she learns for anything. Her parting from India is bittersweet, and gives the book real closure. There's enough drama in the book-- the strained relationship with her constantly traveling boyfriend, his decision to cover the war in Afghanistan, her colorful array of Indian friends and servants (a word she can barely bring herself to say), her stabs at meditation, prayer, and ritual-- to make a fine film. In fact, I can't believe someone isn't adapting this for the screen as we speak. --=--=-= om-=-=-=-= Nick
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Summary: "Gorgeous splashes of color among filth, flies, and forlorn"
Review: Eleven years after backpacking through India with complaints of the poverty, heat and pollution Australian Sarah Macdonald relented to never return; she even went to the extreme of flipping the middle finger to the ground below as her plane ascended into the sky. Sarah wasn't necessarily happy to quit her successful job in Sydney to relocate to New Delhi to live with her journalist boyfriend; she often wondered if she was making the right decision. Upon arrival she started having flashbacks of pugnant body odor and beggars with leprosy. The pollution and thick smog affected her health and wellbeing. It is clear that she isn't quite cut out to live in New Delhi.After reading the first couple chapters I expected HOLY COW to be filled with constant whining of India's derelict living conditions and complaints based on a Westernized perspective resulting in a mediocre travel narrative. But low and behold, I was soon pleasantly surprised how Sarah slowly evolved and reevaluated the country that she has scorned for so many years. After she started becoming reacquainted in her new home she started looking beyond the mayhem and dirt and began to see the beauty of India. Being a devout atheist when she first moved to New Delhi she slowly awoke and embraced the dynamic religions of Hinduism and Buddhism; she began to appreciate the sounds and surroundings of her new home. While her husband is busy working Sarah was able to travel throughout India with her new perspectives and begins to enjoy the dichotomies that India offers. My favorite side trip was the Buddhist retreat in the Himalayan footsteps that taught her to meditate by concentrating on her breathing. I cannot imagine undergoing anything close to that endeavor. Throughout HOLY COW Sarah Macdonald succeeded in digging past a traveler's first impressions of India to highlight the beauty of this varied land. By reading HOLY COW I now understand just a little bit more of India, and that was my initial goal when I first picked up this book.
Rating: 
Summary: dont judge a book by its cover
Review: first off, the book cover looks silly!!! if you ignore that, then rest of the stuff is pretty good. Just dont take anything she says as hard facts, she made a good atempt to understand it. India is far from Black&White, like author herself admits its very diverse and confusing , its a place of extremes. i thought the author was bitching a lot abt envronemnt, pollution etc etc., she sure cant judge india solely by living in the most highly polluted city in india, its same as living in middle of Times Square and looking for inner peace :).
I Recommend it as a 'fun' read, nothign serious, Its like watching a bollywood movie. No gain - no loss just fun.
Happy reading !!.
to all the indians who are offended: Arey light lelo Yaar!!!
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Summary: GREAT BOOK !!!
Review: Having been to India many times, I found Sarah MacDonald's book to be very funny, entertaining, and accurate in its depiction of travels in India.
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Summary: Open hearted Story of Life as a Stranger in India
Review: I did not know what to think about this book - I bought it because the cover jumped out at me and I have never done that before! Ms. MacDonald's storytelling is crisp and she chooses words that create a picture in the mind's eye of exactly what she is seeing, hearing and smelling at any given point. I did not find her characterization of Indians to be condescending and she admits in the book that it is SHE who is the judgmental one. She wants to understand her new home but has trouble with the exotic and strange foods, cultural taboos, accents, weather, etc. I did not feel that she considered the Indians to be anything less than exuberant, interesting, friendly people who make do living in a nation of a billion people. Her love of Bollywood musicals is obvious and she wants to learn to dance like the actors in the films so she will not seem too foreign to her new friends. She also learns a lot of Hindi.
Ms. Macdonald's book is more than a study of the exterior world of India, however. She delves into the spiritual world of the people and comes out a more patient, loving, peaceful person. No stone is left unturned as she visits Parsees (India's Zoroastrians), Jains, Muslims, Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Hindus, Sikhs and those who follow particular gurus and make treks to ashrams in search of meaning, transcendence and, in one ashram's case, some hash and sex. Her evolution from cocky Australian atheist to humble Australian theist is touching, as we see her wall of disbelief crumble brick by brick with each new experience. She also sees her western, self-centered relationship with her husband take on a new side when she spends so much time away from him (he is a journalist with the Aust. Broadcasting Co.)as he travels from international crisis to international crisis. She slowly lets go of her self pity and anger when Buddhism and Hinduism teach her about the extinguishing of the ego.
One reviewer said that McDonald's quote about forgiveness after 9/11 irked her as an American. I think McDonald means that there will be no forgiveness when it comes to the Afghanis who had nothing to do with the bombing. She writes candidly about the dark, harsh side of Islam and those who could be filled with enough hate to do what they did, but she contrasts them with the Muslims in Pakistan and Afghanistan who know only that America is a land of porn and money and alcohol and still would never hurt an American because Islam teaches them not to. One thing I learned from Holy Cow is that there are 10 sides to every religion's stories!
Rating:
Summary: 3.85 Stars
Review: I enjoyed this book (with the exception of one part/sentence). Its mostly a nice, light and quite funny memoir. Its sort of a travel essay, of an Austrailian womans travels through India,( a place she thought shed never want to return to) while living with her boyfriend and working for an Austrailian company. SHe ends up loving the country and the people of India.
Her perspective of her journey and subsequent adventures through culture shock, is very humorous , while not being offensive.
(*) The one thing that rubbed me the wrong way was one sentence,(attitude) that follows her hearing of the tragedy on 9/11. She states that she "knew there would be little forgivness and compassion".
(...)
Seemed sort of a bizarre comment to me, the reader, a US citizen,but then what do I know? I suppose that I should automatically feel compassion and forgivness towards those who attempt to kill me and my family with jet planes because of some twisted idea of religion. silly me! well, except for her callous and inappropriate statement following hearing of the US's reaction to the events of 9/11, the book was a good read.
Its worth reading, it is enjoyable ( except for that one part that I mentioned)
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Summary: What a trip!
Review: I feel like I've traveled around India having just read the book. I traveled not as a tourist but as a fly on the wall. A reviewer said Sarah wrote with "clarity". I agree and found that aspect of her writing most appealing. Her Aussie humor is infectious and engaging. She brought to life a country which many people in America can't comprehend let alone appreciate. Thank you Sarah for sharing your experiences with us.
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Summary: I bob my head for "Yes", "No" or "Maybe"
Review: I have a very mixed feeling about this book. The writerfs quest for the spirituality may have succeeded in rediscovering her own inner-self, but the bookfs attempt to portray India, the people and the religions remains disappointingly superficial. The writing is sometimes hilarious, yet in many cases, it leverages on the stereotypical Western views of India. This is regretful because the writer is not just an amateur traveler, but an ex-journalist who lived in India for two years. Yet I could not completely dislike or dismiss the book, because of the sincerity of the writerfs feeling about everything she experiences. You will probably enjoy the book if you do not mind the stereotype and are prepared to join the writerfs emotional roller-coater ride. I have lived in New Delhi myself, for five years. It amazes me how much it has changed and how much it has not chaged.
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