Karma Gone Bad: How I Learned to Love Mangos, Bollywood and Water Buffalo

Traditionally in the past, I've used Amazon to download fiction books onto my Kindle for travel reading. While in Mexico vacationing however, I had the pleasure of casually meeting the author. When she mentioned she was an author, I asked about her work. She mentioned her Memoir being published and I thought it would be a fun read on my way from Mexico to Chicago and back to Los Angeles. I loved this book. I couldn't put it down and finished it in only a few days. I thought the author had a very creative, colorful and descriptive way of writing that made me feel like I was living in the moment with each page I turned. I'm well traveled and I've lived in many different places, but I've never actually experienced living in a different country and I loved living vicariously through the author's words. From the moment she hopped into a cab on the Upper West side of NYC (where I have also lived at one time) to her journey to India. I never imagined how many simple little pleasures we take for granted on a daily basis and loved experiencing this journey alongside her through her writing. I actually think this would make a great movie.

I gobbled up this book and it had me laughing out loud, to myself, while alone, in the house -- now that's hard to do. Not a smile, an inward smile of of the absurdities of Jenny's dilemmas (plenty of that too) but outright belly laughs of scenes like ten men, in full public view, peeing under a sign screaming: No Urine On This Wall -- ten, in a row, all without a care in the world. And then there's the oxen, or cows, or whatever those large, domesticated, ox-like beasts (I forget their names) that roam the highways at the height of rush-hour, without getting so much as a bruise from the mass chaos of Indian traffic.Thank You Jenny Feldon, wherever you are, for a really great, fun, absorbing read that I didn't want to end. I enjoyed myself immensely and bought a print copy for my Mom, "Please Mom, just try one chapter." Mom's a displaced New Yorker too, but she ended up in a strange city called Philadelphia (with slightly less chaos than Manhattan), but nothing like the well-described, (joyous?), chaos of Hyderabad, India!

Seemed like a good read. Her husband was sent to India to start a branch of the company - a two year commitment. She was excited to go and since they were fairly newly wed, wanted to support her husband in this adventure. Once arrived in India, the majority of the book was her whining, complaining, holding firm to HER needs and what she was used to in NYC - her eternal Starbucks addiction in search of some form of coffee in India, not wanting to understand the differences in the country and with the help of a few expats and locals, try to make it work. She was so miserable during the majority of this book, she was not at all likeable. Of course, this is the author's ploy to turn it all around at the end and become Mother Earth of India.....but too little too late. 75% of the book was one big whine. The end 25% was more of getting ready to return to NYC after the 2 years were up. Narcissistic and immature. Too bad.

Ms. Feldon was very sincere in her spoiled life and her adaptation to a foreign country. I found myself at times wanting to scream at her for being so narrowminded. But then I remembered my own experience as a ten year old living in South Korea with my mother (a civil engineer) and I didn't really appreciate being around the culture that I was experiencing until I had been back in the States for a number of years. I am certainly glad that she was able to spend some time in the appreciating the Indian people and culture before her return to the States. Her candid portrayal was genuine and I appreciate her honesty.

Some reviewers disliked this book because they said that all the author did was whine, but I thought it was probably a very realistic portrayal of a New Yorker's reaction to the totally different life she was expected to lead in India as the wife of an executive transferred there to start a new branch of his company. With all of her emotional props knocked out from under her and no way even to get a cup of coffee, to which she had been addicted in her former life - or to stay clean or cool or to cook familiar foods - she went into a tailspin. But she writes well and amusingly, and I found her story fascinating.

The book seemed incomplete with gaping holes in it. She skipped around a bit too much for my taste. So much was missing from this book--missing links--having just returned from India I found it hard to believe that she didn't know in advance about the water and the food, not to eat cheese pizza, etc. So many questions unanswered. Malaria preventative taken or not taken? No mention of cow shi t everywhere or even seeing human feces. Did she only notice how people lived that one time? Why did she seem to get food poisoning later in her stay rather than sooner? Did she not read anything about india in advance? The author can write, but certainly didn't structure the book effectively. Could have used a solid editor who noticed the gaping holes and questions they raised. The books just "eh" for me.

I actually didn't expect a lot from this book, as it came with a very reduced price and my past experience has been iffy at best with these. However, I was pleasantly surprised. I agree with another reviewer that Jenny didn't do well in India, at first, and that portion of the book almost convinced me to quit reading. However, I'm so very glad I didn't. It turns out to be a very uplifting story about how to accept other people and cultures for what they are and not expect them to be as we'd like them to be. Good reminder that we can lose what we hold most dear if we focus only on ourselves and not those around us. Ultimately, it's a feel-good book with some gentle reminders about how to live well in the world around us.

Not quite what I was expecting. Fir a true story the author sure puts herself in a bad light. But then that’s just my humble opinion.

I enjoyed it. I was a bit disappointed by part of the title of the book because the main character already knew about Indian Cinema.