Holy Cow

March 1, 2004
Australian radio correspondent Macdonald's rollicking memoir recounts the two years she spent in India when her boyfriend, Jonathan, a TV news correspondent, was assigned to New Delhi. Leaving behind her own budding career, she spends her sabbatical traveling around the country, sampling India's "spiritual smorgasbord": attending a silent retreat for Vipassana meditation, seeking out a Sikh Ayurvedic "miracle healer," bathing in the Ganges with Hindus, studying Buddhism in Dharamsala, dabbling in Judaism with Israeli tourists, dipping into Parsi practices in Mumbai, visiting an ashram in Kerala, attending a Christian festival in Velangani and singing with Sufis. Paralleling Macdonald's spiritual journey is her evolution as a writer; she trades her sometimes glib remarks ("I've always thought it hilarious that Indian people chose the most boring, domesticated, compliant and stupidest animal on earth to adore") and 1980s song title references (e.g., "Karma Chameleon") for a more sensitive tone and a sober understanding that neither mocks nor romanticizes Indian culture and the Western visitors who embrace it. The book ends on a serious note, when September 11 shakes Macdonald's faith and Jonathan, now her husband, is sent to cover the war in Afghanistan. Macdonald is less compelling when writing about herself, her career and her relationship than when she is describing spiritual centers, New Delhi nightclubs and Bollywood cinema. Still, she brings a reporter's curiosity, interviewing skills and eye for detail to everything she encounters, and winningly captures "he drama, the dharma, the innocent exuberance of the festivals, the intensity of the living, the piety in playfulness and the embrace of living day by day." Agent, Fiona Henderson. (On sale Apr. 13)

Forecast:
A print ad campaign and media attention could draw in armchair travelers and spiritual seekers, and the book's quirky, hot pink jacket will definitely catch browsers' eyes.

April 15, 2004
Macdonald, an Australian radio personality and host, details her personal impressions of the various religions that she explored during her two-year stay in India: Hinduism, Tibetan Buddhism, Sikhism, Vipassana meditation, Judaism, Zoroastrianism, and Sufism. She visits the ashrams of godmen and -women, joins 30 million pilgrims at the Kumbha Mela, travels to the Virgin Mary festival in Southern India, sees Kashmir, and crosses the border to meet Sufis in Pakistan. The narrative depicts present-day India, Macdonald's Indian friends, arranged marriages, New Delhi's disco and club scene, and Bollywood actors. All in all, Macdonald explores a wide canvas, and her observations of an unfamiliar world are fresh and entertaining. While this reviewer would not impugn her honesty or fairness, her treatment of the different religions is too superficial to be satisfactory. Also, one suspects that the book was written in a hurry, for there are some wince-inducing inaccuracies (e.g., that the British, upon leaving India, gave the Parsis "huge chunks of Bombay"). For these reasons, not recommended.-Ravi Shenoy, Naperville P.L., IL

Copyright 2004 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 15, 2004
Australian MacDonald didn't fall in love with India her first time there, at age 21. So when her boyfriend, Jonathan, a reporter for ABC, is sent there for work, she reluctantly follows after a year of separation. At first, life in India is as bad as she remembered it--overcrowded, smoggy, disturbing. A serious bout of pneumonia puts her in an Indian hospital, but as she recovers, she begins to make friends in India and to understand the culture. She finds herself attending lavish Indian weddings and trying to comfort her friend Padma, whose mother commits suicide after Padma marries without her permission. MacDonald makes an effort to understand the many diverse religions of the area, including taking a 10-day sojourn in a Buddhist temple and discussing religion with Hindus, Sikhs, Muslims, and even a group of visiting Israelis. With Jonathan, she takes a trip to war-torn Kashmir, an area that is at once achingly beautiful and devastatingly dangerous. A lively, snappy travelogue.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2004, American Library Association.)