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Facing a long flight home from India with nothing to read, I latched onto this book in an airport shop in Bangalore, hoping to find something both entertaining and relevant.
It's a breezy read, but I was more than a little leery of the "psychic" episodes that bracket the major components of this memoir. I had the suspicion they'd been plumped up for narrative effect. Still, aside from that caveat, this was a fairly engaging read for what is, in essence, "chick lit," a genre I normally shy away f ...more
It's a breezy read, but I was more than a little leery of the "psychic" episodes that bracket the major components of this memoir. I had the suspicion they'd been plumped up for narrative effect. Still, aside from that caveat, this was a fairly engaging read for what is, in essence, "chick lit," a genre I normally shy away f ...more
Macdonald worked as a journalist in radio in her native Australia until making the decision to move to New Dehli to be with her boyfriend. Since he was also a journalist covering wars and disasters in the region, Macdonald found that she had so much time alone to travel the country and explore the different ethnic groups, religions, gender roles, world views, entertainments and food. Coming to the country an atheist, Macdonald eventually began attending workshops and religious events, some extre
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At the start of this book I felt like many of the other GR reviewers: that this was written by a selfish, condescending Australian woman who was exploiting the shock value of what she saw. Her chief devices to create humour are exaggeration and shock value, and that is true of the whole book; but the flip side of this- as with any newcomer to a country- is the ability to see and describe things that the locals take for granted. To her credit, she didn't live the life of the expatriate and stay i
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What is it about India? Sensually beautiful, yet also filthy and vile. Brilliant and lost. Deeply serious and ridiculously silly. I'm fascinated by it.
I liked Holy Cow a lot. Macdonald is smart and clever and the stories she tells almost read like fiction. Recommended. ...more
I liked Holy Cow a lot. Macdonald is smart and clever and the stories she tells almost read like fiction. Recommended. ...more
I really enjoyed what this book had to teach me - what it's like to live in various parts of India, the way Indian culture works, and the mishmash of religions one can find in India. Unfortunately, I sometimes found the author to be whiny and ungrateful, which made the whole experience far less enjoyable.
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Really enjoyed this book. However, it started to drag a lot because it turned too gimmicky when she started on her 'journey' exploring different religions.
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Sep 13, 2010
Erica
marked it as to-read
Dec 30, 2012
Megan
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Oct 19, 2013
Kristen Iworsky
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Jan 03, 2016
Shannon Wallner
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Jan 10, 2017
Rebecca
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Nov 01, 2017
Lisa Rosen
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Apr 08, 2019
Janet
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Sep 03, 2019
Deborah
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Aug 12, 2020
Shadi
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Oct 13, 2023
Viviana Martinez
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