Holy Cow: An Indian Adventure

Sarah MacDonald

For someone who has never been to India, I sure have read a lot of books about India. Most of them have a certain message that they are trying to get across: how spiritual India is, how crowded India is, how insane India is., but most of them miss the mark in 3 dimensionality. Holy Cow is an irreverent, complaining but ultimately uplifting true life story of a woman who spent 1 year in India – hating it at first but loving it at the end. For some strange reason I loved this book but then again I love spicy food and this book is both in you face, tender and transcendental all at the same time ( and is cheaper than a round trip ticket to India)

Review by Michael Laughrin.

Before my first trip to India a good friend who had been there a number of times told me what to expect. He said: “India is a country that went on an acid trip and never quite came all the way back.” After my first visit to India I knew he had given me a perfect description. The cover of Holy Cow has a psychedelic look and feel to it. The book captures the uniqueness of India, from its psychedelic ambience to the upside down and chaotic nature of the various aspects of Indian society.

Whether you have been to India, are contemplating going to India, or would never set foot in India this is a book for you! The author, Sarah Macdonald is a 30 something Australian lady who moves to Delhi to live with her boyfriend who works for an Australian TV network. Sarah really experiences modern India on many levels. She is perceptive and cynical enough to be extremely entertaining. Not your typical “seeker” Sarah still manages to explore all the great religions in India. She explores and encounters Hinduism, Jainism, Islam, Judaism, Christianity, Buddhism, Sikhism, Parsis and even Sufis. Her explorations are both entertaining and enlightening, not to mention often hilarious. She does a great job of catching the unique aspects of modern India and its changing social mores, with the traditions that bind it to its past.

If you like truth and honesty and a refreshing view written with great skill and obvious joy you will thoroughly enjoy this book. My wife, Dena, and I, have very different tastes in reading. This is a book we both enjoyed immensely. This means it is likely to appeal to almost everyone.

Review by Len Oppenheim.