Rating: 
Summary: Good writer but tabula rasa
Review: I have to say that Sarah MacDonald is a good, zippy writer and reporter. I've traveled in India and have had similar experiences, only I was there more than ten years ago. It's interesting for me to see how India's tourist sites have stayed the same (the Taj) and have changed (MacLeod Ganj bursting at the seams). My criticism of the book is that MacDonald seems desperate to glom onto whatever religious or spiritual stream into which she dips her toe, without much knowledge of the traditions and history of any religion. That usually leads to generalizations that just aren't true for the religion as a whole. Being Jewish, I noticed this when she wrote about Judaism: she saw the Jewish representatives in one town in India as Judaism....such extreme sides....it made me laugh. Ditto when she described how they were trying to keep milk products separate from vegetables: vegetables are parve, so you don't have to keep them separate. It kind of made me suspicious of her forays into other religions, some of which I know a little about. Her description of the Parsis was particularly unfair (with a very racist description of their physical characteristics). Her descriptions made other religions seems exotic, which was fine for entertainment value but certainly not true if you really study each religion. But that was not her goal; it was a travel book, which by its nature is superficial. That said, it was an entertaining read.
Rating: 
Summary: Where are the shades for his third eye?
Review: I haven't finished the book yet, but so far it has been a very enjoyable experience for me. It is intresting to see all the different perspectives that people have about my country.I would also add that I think the cover is very cool! Hey even X'men James Marsden got his optic beam idea from Shiva.
Rating:
Summary: Take It Easy
Review: I haven't read the book so I can't comment. The cover pic looks cool, and I am saying this as a Hindu. The chaps who keep yelling 'blasphemy' need to take the chill pill. Hinduism is a very tolerant religion and this is not demeaning in any manner. I'm sure Shiva himself would be tickled by the picture!
Rating: 
Summary: Hilarious, Sad and Honest
Review: I was going to sell this book on the Amazon Marketplace but I'm not because I'm going to keep it and read it again. I find myself going to bed at night thinking of the passages I have read and in the morning I look forward to when I'll pick it up again. If this book was the first book I read about the culture in India... I wouldn't believe it. Some things just seem extreme (won't give away the details in case you read it) I have a few friends that have traveled in India for several weeks at a time and have seen first hand what life is like in India and Sarah MacDonald reflects those which I have been told. Would I want to visit India based on the book...YES. I feel the author doesn't "put down" India, she only points out the cultural differences and what she preceives as good and bad. I loved the book and is probably one of the better travel books I have read. She doesn't spend a lot of time trying to use "big" words and make everything sound beautiful like a lot of travel books do and when you go to visit the country your shocked. The book is honest, funny and a page turner. There's beauty in every country and India sounds like it has plenty. hey...you get [...] guys in any large city!
Rating:
Summary: 3.75 stars
Review: I'll admit up front that I have mixed feelings about this book. I find it superficial, insightful, fascinating, fun, respectful, disrespectful, and at times annoying. The flippant name and cover art (an image of a Hindu god wearing pink sunglasses with the Himalayas in the background and a garish pink and yellow title) say it all. And yet, I can't say that I regret reading the book.
"Holy Cow" is an account of the two years Australian journalist Sarah Macdonald spent in India, while her husband was on assignment there. She had an earlier unpleasant experience traveling through India (which she describes in vivid detail) and had vowed never to go back. But she does and, while there, engages in a kind of spiritual and cultural tourism, eventually coming to terms with both the subcontinent and herself.
Macdonald is a wonderfully witty writer and many of her comments about India and Indians have barbs attached. At times her humor borders on disrespect. Her descriptions of the sights and smells of India were lurid but gave one the sense of being there. However, her descriptions of the people she encountered often seemed condescending. I'm not sure how I would react if I were an Indian reading this book--Indian reviewers seem to have had mixed opinions. The author's attitude became somewhat less of a problem, however, as the book progressed and presumably as she became more comfortable with the culture and people. It's obvious that by the end of her stay, Macdonald has made some good friends and gained some insight.
In addition to some wonderfully evocative descriptions of middle-class Indian life, Macdonald offers some memorable accounts of encounters with India's smorgasbord of spiritual traditions. She investigates Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Jainism, Sufism, various ashrams and yogis, the Parsis, and even a Jewish group in Dharamsala. To her credit, she finds something of value in each of them, although she finds none of them completely satisfactory. At times she combines a typical Westerner's skepticism with a New Age incredulity. To my mind, her incredulity is what makes many of her descriptions so good. But on the other hand, her flippancy (at least in the way she's written her book) give her accounts a shallowness that undercuts her respect for the various religious traditions.
In sum, I think there's something to be gained from reading Macdonald's book, but take it with a grain of salt.
Rating: 
Summary: Obnoxious and condescending
Review: Macdonald's book deals with a fascinating topic, but her approach to it is shallow, smug, and dull. Her writing style is overwrought and clunky, and her persona is unbearable. Almost every chapter has the same repetitive structure: Macdonald hears about some aspect of Indian religion or culture and decides to investigate it. At first she thinks it's stupid and pointless. But by the end of the chapter she realizes that though it's not for her, it does have something to offer. If she asked for some blessing, she will have received it by the end of that chapter or the beginning of the next. As you can imagine, this structure gets very old very fast. The author's attitude toward India and Indians combines the worst of both the old and the new West: patronizing sneers at a culture she doesn't understand mix uneasily with breast-beating over her own pain at seeing poor people and a greed for exotic eastern spirituality to fill her inner shallowness. (...)
Rating:
Summary: Holy Cow!! What an Indian celebration!
Review: My copy has no sunglasses-I do prefer it that way!
Sarah MacDonald takes you on a journey to the Real India; from street slums to glitzy nightclubs and spiritual retreats. Holy Cow! Miraculously pulls down the illusions and romantic notions many westerners have of India; then builds up a more authentic, holistic & deep love of the place. Sarah takes you on her own personal passage towards self-knowledge, a definition of spirituality and our place in the universe, with a wicked sense of humour! Sarah's encounters with Tibetan Buddhism, Sikhism, Hinduism, Parsi and Judaism to name a few, give the reader a personal insight into religions of the world to draw their own conclusions. For readers with an interest in travel, adventure, cultures, religions and self discovery, Holy Cow! is the book to read.
Rating:
Summary: callousness and desecration of a holy symbol!!!
Review: One look at the cover of this as a Hindu shows how callous and insulting this writer and the publisher are. A pair of PINK SUNGLASSES on a Hindu God? Would these people DARE to publish this picture if it were Jesus or Mary, mother of Jesus, or any other picture of God? This is desecration of a holy symbol!! Shame on you!!!
Rating:
Summary: Tongue in cheek look at a very alien world
Review: Sarah MacDonald is an Australian journalist who finds herself living in India after following her true love (another journalist). She has had only one earlier visit there, and is not sure that she is terribly keen on the whole idea. The entire book could be called "The Trials and Tribulations of Sarah in a Foreign Land" because this is essentially what it is. Bored with her life and the absence of her man, who is frequently away covering assignments, Sarah investigates and embraces all sorts of different elements of Indian life and culture, sometimes seriously, and sometimes quite flippantly, but always with respect. The outcome of this is usually very funny, and sometimes quite unbelievable. I was given this book as a friend who knew of my desire to visit India (I have yet to do so) and at the beginning I was not sure I would ever go, by the middle I was quite entranced, and by the end I still would love to visit. Sure this isn't a politically correct observation of another culture and the millions of people who live their lives in a country so completely different to our sanitised Western World, but it is entertaining, and it is certainly an eye-opener.
Rating:
Summary: Honest, refreshing, hilarious ...
Review: Sarah Macdonald owns her story and tells it as purely and passionately as she can. It is exhilarating to read an author who doesn't sugar-coat the tragedy of poverty, pollution, disease, misogyny that do exist in ample measure in India. However, she also vividly portrays the rich history, wealth, compassion and yes - spirituality - that also exist alongside ... and the foreign influences (past and present) that shape the sub-continent today.
The reader senses that this is MacDonald's true interpretation of her experience, unbridled by false patriotism and political correctness.
A stimulating read.
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