Holy Cow!: An Indian Adventure

After listening to this book, I have put India at the top of my "places to visit" list. I didn't realize the book would emphasize religion so much, but this had the unexpected side effect of making me feel as if I'd learned something in addition to enjoying Macdonald's hilarious accounts of her attempts to survive in and eventually master Indian culture.

Exceptional audio, wonderful authentic accents. The author's candid descriptions are eloquent, including her own reactions and struggle to understand and practice various disciplines and social norms. I learned much more about today's India and possibly more about myself. Thoroughly enjoyable.

Having been to India a number of times I found this book insightful, funny and honest. It's well written and well read making for a very enjoyable listen.

Sarah MacDonald is truly a gifted writer. Holy Cow! is a skillfully structured story of her coming of age in India as she investigates, describes, and beings to embody with (sometimes profound) insight and humor a wide variety of India's religions, saints, and spiritual practices and communities. The book is a vibrant comparative religion text. And the narrator's talent is awesome.

This audiobook was delightful. The narrator did a terrific job with the variety of accents (Australian, Indian, American), and the pace was lively. I am not religious, but I enjoyed the thoughtful portrayal of the many religions observed in India. I also felt like I had a better understanding of the country and culture. I have met many Indian immigrants through school and work, and this book gave me some perspective on their life back at home. At times the author is a bit narcissistic, but her good humor and continuous pursuit of self knowledge balance it out.

one of the most entertaining ,funny and sensitive book I listen too for a long time. I was laughing and crying through it all.

I read this book prior to getting the audio and have to say that the audio made the book light-up like a Christmas tree! All the Hindu words and pronunciations were brought to life by the narrator, as well as doing a fine job on the author's emotional states as well.
I liked the book but loved the audiobook!

Holy Cow is a fantastically funny listen. It is vivid in its descriptions of the sounds, sights and especially smells of India. It inspires you both to go there and enjoy home, at the same time. If you love travel writing which attempts to get to the heart of culture and the person taking the journey, get this book. It's one of my all time favourites.

I listen to this book when I wish I were travelling but don't have the time or money. The first chapter made me wonder what I had gotten myself into, as she rages about how much she hates India. If you can get past this you'll realize that this is to juxtapose next to the spiritual journey the author later undertakes to better understand where her hate and anger come from. And the author is honest about how her western judgments of India soften and turn inside out the longer she is there and the more she tries to understand. This was a really brave but totally fun effort of a westerner trying to come to terms with her assumptions about a culture wildly different (but in some surprising ways similar) that her own. Her descriptions of holi still colour my dreams!

Download this one, you will not be disappointed! The book is funny, full of insights, factual, honest and well written.

The author takes you around what she calls India’s spiritual market, and each step is a laugh riot.

This is a trip into Vipashana meditation, Sikhism, Jainism, Hinduism, Islam in Kashmir, Kashmir with guns, Kashmir without guns…Enjoy….

I do not think the narrator got the Indian accent right…but in a country of 100 accents one never knows…