An incredibly candid exploration of a few of the religious and cultural elements of that great and varied nation, India. Love it or hate it, there's just something about it...

The story

Sarah MacDonald vowed never to go back to India, after hating it in her early twenties. But the world had slightly different plans for her, and several years later there she was, winging her way back to India - to be with her husband, Jonathan, ABC correspondent.

At first, Sarah wigged out a little. She hated it - the streets, the poverty, the heat, the third world conditions, and the associated first world guilt. She'd only been a short time in India when she developed a severe case of double pneumonia, which knocked her flat for a while. When she'd recovered, on realising that she needed to make the most of her time in India with her husband gone for long periods of time, she decided to explore India - learn the language, customs, and look for spiritual solace... and get her hair back, which was falling out in clumps.

Using some of the ABC contacts, Sarah wended her way round India for the two years she spent there, making friends, learning things, and ultimately, travelling on the marvellous journey that India is.

The style

I don't know if I like Sarah MacDonald as a person, maybe she's a bit - confrontationalist. Or something. But on the other hand, it was this very honesty and personality that was portrayed in Holy Cow that gave it the depth of feeling that it had. While her complaints about India were a bit negative, she was willing to give everything a go, and she was willing to grow as a person during her story - to show the development of her personality, and ultimately, fall in love with India while not romanticising it at all.

These are all good points to the book.

And the subject matter was fascinating. While I wouldn't choose Sarah as my travelling companion, Holy Cow piqued my already piqued interest in India. And left me despairing about how I would just have to keep going there over and over again because there is no way I could do it all in one trip. Frankly, it sounds awesome. And I appreciate Sarah's ability to sell India's beauty while being uncompromisingly honest. Well, actually, I've never been there, but she sounded honest. So she's either a really great saleswoman, or she means it.

The other thing I really liked about Holy Cow was the way it examined the Indian people, and the country and culture's relationships with other nations, with Sarah as an Australian, and with Americanisation. Sarah MacDonald delves into the Indian psyche, but with her writing style, manages not to sound pretentious, or all-knowing, or assuming at all. She describes what she sees, and while she may be judgemental about certain issues she encounters, she acknowledges that she is making judgements based on her own cultural understandings. This examination, while in passing, really added to my enjoyment of the book.

Who is this book for?

If you have a passing interest in India, a hankering to go there, or even have been and want reminise, this book is for you. As someone who doesn't like autobiographies and non-fictions much, I found this an easy read.

In short