{"id":141,"date":"2016-05-16T22:18:00","date_gmt":"2016-05-16T22:18:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/index.php\/2016\/05\/16\/holy-cow-by-sarah-macdonald-australia-2002\/"},"modified":"2019-12-31T08:15:56","modified_gmt":"2019-12-30T21:15:56","slug":"holy-cow-by-sarah-macdonald-australia-2002","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/holy-cow-by-sarah-macdonald-australia-2002\/","title":{"rendered":"Holy Cow by Sarah Macdonald, Australia, 2002"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

I had a mixed reaction to this book: I really enjoyed the first part, but I found the second part sluggish and slow. The author’s attempt to not only give a light-hearted and, at times, horrifying picture of Indian <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>culture and lifestyle but also to give an insight into the many different religious beliefs practised in that country deserves a large amount of praise<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>. Although <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>Holy Cow<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i><\/span><\/span>is written by a non-Indian, many of Sarah Macdonald’s observations are the same or similar to observations made by the Indian writers Rohinton Mistry (<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>A Fine Balance<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>) and Aravind Adiga (<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>The White Tiger),<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i>and are not, as some have complained, <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i>the result of an outsider summing up <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i>Indian<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i>society from the perspective of a more progressive and successful culture. Macdonald’s humour is <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i>not at the expense of India and its people but is, <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i>to a very great degree, the self-deprecating humour of the average Australian.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

<\/a> <\/p>\n

Sarah, a journalist (who has taken time off from work<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i>)<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i>is in India with her fianc\u00e9 who is working as a foreign reporter for th<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i>e<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i>ABC. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i>After the <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i>shock of having to absorb a very different culture, <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i>a near-death experience with pneumonia and the ongoin<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i>g <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i>loneliness of being separated from her fianc\u00e9 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i>w<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i>ho spends most of his time on <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i>missions outside of India, she begins to investigate India’s religious heritage.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

In<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i>itially<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i>, th<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i>ese<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i>investigation<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i>s are<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i>simply part of the story she is telling, <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i>and<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i>information about different religions creeps in as part of something else she is relating; the integrity of the actual story is retained. Halfway through the book, Sarah and her<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i>fianc\u00e9 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i>briefly return to Australia where they are married. Back in <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i>New Delhi Sarah takes the conscious step of following up all religions in India, and from this point the novel moves into the realm of the documentary. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Like India itself with its millions of people, impressions, smells and experiences, the information about the various religions is <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i>psychedelic with so much happening that it is, at times, difficult to hold on to any kind of central thread. Many incidental people are introduced \u2013 some disappear after a few pages, others re-emerg<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i>e<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i>pages further on<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i>by which time the connections between that particular person and the story are forgotten. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i>I found that I kept checking to see how many pages I had left to read; I was thrown between <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i>genuine interest and definite boredom.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/a><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
In spite of my disappointment with the second part of the book, I could imagine rereading it, mainly as a general introduction to India’s many religions. Reading it from such a perspective could, I feel, be a rewarding experience for most people.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Photo of Sarah Macdonald from www.smh.com.au<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span> <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I had a mixed reaction to this book: I really enjoyed the first part, but I found the second part sluggish and slow. The author’s attempt to not only give a light-hearted and, at times, horrifying picture of Indian culture and lifestyle but also to give an insight into the many different religious beliefs practised … <\/p>\n

+ Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=141"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=141"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=141"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=141"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}