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3.34 AVERAGE
3.34 AVERAGE
Australian reporter follows her fiance to India. This is her second long stay in India. Recounts her adventures dabbling in spiritual experiences in India.
Really captured some aspects and reminiscent of my travels in India. Funny and realistic.
adventurous
funny
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
slow-paced
I was really hoping for an Eat-Pray-Love-esque experience, but got atheist woman who hates India moves to India and tries to find "sprituality" in the most consumerist, colonialist type way.
To be fair, the last 60-100 pages were better than the first part.
To be fair, the last 60-100 pages were better than the first part.
Really enjoyable read. Felt like I had a more comprehensive insight into India from a Western perspective.
My one sentence review: I think this book gives you an accurate depiction of what culture shock can be like (although Macdonald never explicitly says those words) and I think it's important to remember that she was neither a tourist nor a true local during her time in India (yes, she lived there for two years, but this is just a slice of her life there and, yes, the focus seems to be on her spiritual journey), which makes this decidedly not a travel memoir (readers looking for travel stories and cultural anecdotes may be disappointed).
I read some reviews that felt Sarah McDonald was condescending or unsympathetic in describing India, but I do not agree. She was overwhelmed by the crowds, the poverty, the trash, the beggars, the differences in culture and wrote about that honestly. I appreciate that she gave such an unvarnished view and shared with readers HER impressions of the country when she first arrived. But at the same time, she delved deeper and learned more about India, and ended up coming to love it.
A great deal of the book is about her spiritual explorations which I found fascinating. I knew very little about the Hindu and Sikh faiths, and appreciated learning a little more here.
I was torn between 3 and 4 stars for this book. It's really a 3.5 for me.
A great deal of the book is about her spiritual explorations which I found fascinating. I knew very little about the Hindu and Sikh faiths, and appreciated learning a little more here.
I was torn between 3 and 4 stars for this book. It's really a 3.5 for me.
It bothers me that people review this book calling Sarah spoiled, close-minded, condescending etc etc. She's honest and up front about her experiences and reactions to them which I thought was refreshing and reassuring. She didn't try to make her experience or what she got out of it anything that it wasn't to sell a book (coughcougheatpraylovecoughgag). I would love to find out what the book her husband wrote during the same time is, getting a different perspective on the same events is always a fun time.
I'll say this for Sarah Macdonald: she knows her way around a vivid description. By the time you finish this, you will know exactly how India looks, smells, tastes, and sounds. (The answer is all of those things, incidentally, is "overwhelming.") She is adept at describing both the casual callousness and casual beauty of this country. I felt this was stronger in the beginning and end, the middle procession through her religious explorations was too pat and structured. She was better when she did the prose equivalent of waving her hands at India and saying "What the hell!"