From the blurb:

"After backpacking her way around India, Sarah MacDonald decides she hates the country with a passion. When a beggar at the airport reads her palm and insists she will one day return - and for love - she screams 'Never!' and gives the country, and him, the finger.

"But eleven years later, the prophecy comes true. When the love of Sarah's life is posted to India, she quits her dream job as a national radio presenter to follow him to the most polluted city on earth, New Delhi. It seems like the ultimate sacrifice for love and it almost kills her - literally.

"One dank, smoggy night, a naked sadhu smeared in human ashes curses Sarah and she falls dangerously ill with double pneumonia. She defeats death, but not before facing some serious questions about her own fragile mortality and inner spiritual void, not to mention some unsightly hair loss.

"It's enough to drive a rapidly balding atheist to drastic action - in this case a wild journey of discovery through India in search of the meaning of life and death. And with the help of the Dalai Lama, a goddess of healing hugs and a couple of Bollywood stars - among many, many others - Sarah discovers a hell of a lot more.

"Often hilarious, sometimes hair-raising and always entertaining, 'Holy Cow' is a rollercoaster ride through a land of chaos and contradiction, from spiritual retreats and crumbling nirvanas to war zones and New Delhi nightclubs, that only a woman on a mission to save her soul, her love life- and her sanity - can survive."

Quite a good book. Very interesting in places.

Off to whitehorsy soon.

Thanks so much Fluffy-Owl, for this wishlist book! I'll pass it on as a RABCK, once I've read it! :-)

This time has been on my TBR shelf far too long... so it was about time that I took a trip to the mysterious world of India. :-)

The book is funny, cute and I learned quite a lot about India to be honest. Sarah Macdonald has a fun way of describing her life in this crazy country. In the beginning I really thought 'Oh my, I could never live there' but at the end... when Sarah and Jonathan had to head back home to Australia... I could understand why they were sad to leave. I truly think India can grow on you... well, maybe any country can.

Thanks for this RABCK Fluffy-Owl! It's was a very enjoyable read! I will pass this book on as a RABCK... I just have to find me a victim first. ;-P

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

ApoloniaX from Germany is the winner of my RABCK draw. Congratulations! The book is heading your way! Happy reading! :-)

Received this as a RABCK today.
Thank you so much!!!
Looking forward to reading it....

At times I found the book terribly amusing and hilarious. At other times I thought it’s plain annoying. The author is trying on other religions and guru cults as if they were clothes, and I often had the feeling that she never really arrived in India, she was continuously struggling. Somehow she always stays on the surface, keeping all her Western values and views, just takes quick dips into religions and New Age beliefs. India is just a spiritual supermarket for her. Unfortunately she didn’t really notice that most Indians live in the countryside, in villages, as farmers etc., so the biggest - the rural - part of India is simply left out. Instead we learn about a rich expat’s life in the big city and her Western-oriented urban middle class friends.
This spiritual quest is certainly entertaining, and some of her observations are pretty good (but some “facts” she states are wrong), but I would have expected more from a person who has spent two years in India.
For a while I wondered what exactly made me dislike the book, until I finally realised that it is her smug tone. She makes too much fun of India, sometimes it even seemed like some kind of colonial arrogance, and there is a lot of generalising and simplifying. Oh, and self-indulgence. I can understand that many Indian people have taken offence by this book.
It’s a nice read if you’ve never been to India or if you only spent a few weeks there, her experiences there don’t go deeper than any backpacker’s - one should keep in mind though that she does not describe religions but merely her own impressions of them, and there is no mention of the lives that at least three quarters of India’s inhabitants lead. It’s a great example for spiritual tourism.

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Travelling to jumpingin.
Happy reading!

Thanks, ApoloniaX! As always, your generosity is amazing.

I read this book with ApoloniaX's review in mind, as she knows much more about India than I do. It did seem to me like the author was shopping for a religion; I don't think you can try religions on for a short period of time to see how they fit, like you would a dress. And at times I found the author's puns and sometimes flippant tone out of sync with the subject of the book.

Having said all that, the book was entertaining and informative. I've never been to India, so I did learn quite a lot, and I enjoyed the people in her life, even if they don't represent the majority of the population.

Sent by surface mail to DubaiReader, who chose it from the South Asian VBB. I hope it doesn't take too long to get there.

Thanks Jumpingin,

Your book has arrived and I'm really looking forward to it.

Thankyou so much for sending :)

DubaiReader