I can't spend months or years living in India at this time but this was the next best thing. A little navel-gazy at times and the author has a bad habit of assuming what others must be thinking and presenting it as fact rather than being objective. Still, I quite enjoyed it. ( )

Miranda Kennedy provides a look into a group of womens' lives over a period of several years in which Kennedy lived in India as a news correspondent. The title is just a snatch of information from the book that represents the conflict of women being out in the greater world and yet experience the pressures of submission to patriarchal society. Each woman in this biographical narrative is unique. The friendships and associations are based on interest, curiosity, and need rather than having a strong per-existing social structure.

Kennedy is somewhat vulnerable. Her self effacing commentary is useful in helping the reader not view her as the imperialistic hero but as another woman struggling to figure herself out in context with societies expectations and her personal relationship needs as a woman.

I have read several reviews that are frustrated with Kennedy's translations and her understanding of Indian culture. However, I do not think it is specifically a failure on her part. Kennedy only lived in India for a few years and she was traveling much of the time fulfilling her journalism assignments. She admits to her frequent cultural hiccups and enthusiasm to learn and participate in her adopted community. Even the local women struggled with class and regional differences.

This book is an easy read that has subtle complexities. There is no real lesson or expectation of the reader to come to any conclusion. It is really a relief just to spend some mental time seeing the world through the viewpoint of another person. ( )

A memoir by an American freelance journalist living in New Delhi, India. Miranda Kennedy highlights life for women in India and the battles women face daily trying to work or even go out without harrassement. She tells stories that show us the conflict women face as they try to be modern or follow traditional ways in a modern world. i learned a lot. ( )

you’ve been to India on a tour, you’ have probably come home with more questions than answers. Kennedy, who lived in Delhi as a free-lance reporter for NPR, shares her experiences. What it’s like living in a “normal” Delhi neighborhood as a single woman is quite different than her experience in New York City. I have recommended this book to several people who have taken tours of India. ( )

This was a better book than a lot of the "American abroad" memoirs I have read. First, Kennedy was an adult when she went to India. Second, she is very knowlegable about the country, the culture and the people. Third, she really made the effort to connect with people, and the stories she shares illustrate the different experiences that Indian women have. (I contrasted the book mentally with "Marrying Anita," where the Indian-American author had none of these traits, and seems to have learned nothing from the experience.)

Kennedy tells not only her own story, but the stories of several women she got to know in India. She shows how being a woman has limited their choices, and how her own wider choices haven't necessarily made her any happier. She gets frustrated and angry, but never judgmental, and never looks down at the women she is writing about. ( )