Rating: 
Summary: Mordantly funny, but also informative and moving
Review: Although often very funny, the book is not frivolous. There is plenty of self-deprecating humor in it, some of it quite broad, but there is also searing criticism of corruption (exporting looted antiquities and importing heroin, both tied to the Nepali royal family) and the corruption of production of images of gods, goddesses, and Buddhas for the tourist market. Some of the humor is very mordant. I happened to be reading this book in another tourist-overrun part of Southeast Asia where there are many shoddy Buddhas for sale, and just after reading Mark Twain's _Roughing It_. _Shopping for Buddhas_ seemed to me more reliable and every bit as funny as Mark Twain's tale of going and staying in the American West and getting halfway to Kathmandu (Hawai'i).
Rating: 
Summary: A personal account of the author's visits to Nepal
Review: Greenwald offers to readers an introspective look at his visits to Nepal, and his desire to acquire the perfect Buddha statue. Intermingled with his discussions of his shopping expeditions are stories and analogies about Buddhist Gods and the Buddhist and Hindu religions. He also provides an historical look at Nepalese government, and the current (1990) state of the Kingdom. Greenwald's writing is a bit scattered, yet it was easy to read and enjoy. I have a friend who reads quite a lot of travel books and I recommended this to him quite highly. So if you are interested in world religions, politics and travel, this would be a light hearted treat.
Rating:
Summary: Got some good laughs
Review: I bought this book while traveling through Thailand and undergoing my own quest for an acceptable Buddha (perfection was too high a standard). Yeah, the writer comes across as self-absorbed and arrogant, and he reminded me of fellow Westerners who had embarrassed me during my travels. However, this book was an entertaining read with situations that I could identify with. I needed an escape and some laughs after challenges encountered during travel in Asia, and this book gave those laughs to me. I wasn't expecting perfection from the writer, just entertainment.
Rating:
Summary: Happy trails
Review: I think travel, regardless of the country(ies) it might take you, is perhaps best approached with a touch of whimsy and a sense of adventure. Truly seasoned travelers have the ability and willingness to absorb another culture while laughing at both the experiences they face and at the preconceived notions they bring with them. I've just finished Shopping with Buddhas and Greenwald seems to be that kind of traveler. I enjoyed this book because, among other things, it brought the colors of the subcontinent (where I grew up) to life. Greenwald spends most of the book in a near obsessive hunt for a perfect statue of the Buddha, only to find it when he is least expecting it and at a price he is hesitant to pay. Which, when you think about it, is an interesting reflection on how things of true value come to us when we least expect it, and ask of us a price we may not be willing to pay at first. I also like that Greenwald is unafraid to take whimsical potshots at his western outlook on many eastern situations! I grew up in the subcontinent and now live in the West, so I do exactly the same thing-in reverse! An interesting read whether you are headed to the East or, like me, are a commuter dreaming of warmer climes!
Rating: 
Summary: I regret I bought this book!
Review: If you look for adventure of some Californians in Nepal (and that could be in whatever other place in the world), buy this book. But if your intention is to have a glimpse of what Buddhism as well as Buddhist practioners are, there are dozens of books (that I have read myself and for sure hundreds of others I haven't read yet) that will give you that.
Unfortunately I started to read this book after the fantastic "The Quantum and The Lotus" (by Trinh Xuan Thuan and Matthieu Ricard), which make the reading of "Shopping for Buddhas" a very hard work, as what I was looking for was not adventures of Westerners in Nepal, but some content as well.
When I decided to buy this book I must confess that I didn't read the reviews. If I did that I wouldn't have bought it. So please, consider not only this review from me with "1 star", but also the other ones with higher amount of "stars" before you take your decision.
Rating:
Summary: Spiritual materialism in Nepal
Review: Jeff Greenwald takes us on a cosmic shopping trip around Nepal, looking for the perfect statue of Buddha. While he sometimes gets wrapped up in his own karma, he has a nice tongue-in-cheek attitude to his quest and is perfectly able to make fun of himself. If you're more interested in the travel side than the spritual, you could skim through the Buddhist history, though the descriptions thereof do give an accessible background to Greenwald's search. Even if your souvenir headaches have only extended to that perfect Balinese sarong, anyone can enjoy this tale of spiritual materialism. The final pre-departure encounter with a customs official is almost too perfect an ending to the quest- but I won't say any more about that!
Rating: 
Summary: Nothing Special
Review: Kind of blah traveler's tale, ostensibly about this dude's quest to purchase a "perfect" statue of the Buddha in the bazaars of Katmandu. Along the way we get vignettes about Nepal and a very, very casual overview of life and politics there. Neither particularly engaging, nor particularly loathsome.
Rating:
Summary: Funny, relevant, and profound ...
Review: My spouse, who is on her way to India and Nepal insisted I read this book. Greenwald's search for the perfect statue of the Buddha in Nepal left me alternately laughing and crying. Laced with Buddhist stories and insights into magical Katmandu, along with incisive commentary on corruption, repression, and drug dealing by the royal family in the Hindu kingdom, he turns the comical aspects of his own quest into a confrontation with reality. For those of us who are just a little too serious, it could help to lighten up a bit.
Rating:
Summary: Got some good laughs
Review: Reading this book was a collosal waste of time. Several times while reading this book, I felt the urge to punch Greenwald out and may have done so if he was nearby. The photograph on the inside cover explains everything; a self-indulgent Westerner leering covetously at a buddhist statue. That's as deep as the book gets. We get to see Westerners who think themselves enlightened and deepened by Eastern mysticism who are instead still driven by the desire to own things, hang out with fellow Westerners in Western-only establishments and treat the local people with bemused condenscension and neo-colonialism yet believe that their shallow understanding of the local religion and culture has put them on a higher spiritual plain. Greenwald bemoans the disappearance of religious artifacts from Nepal but somehow doesn't realize that his own selfish quest for a buddha statue (a good investment, he notes)is part and parcel of this process. I hope he has gotten over his bad hashish trip that is offered at the end of the book as some bizarre spiritual awakening and realizes that the buddha sitting on his shelf may add an anectdote or two to his conversation but does nothing to make him a good writer or an interesting personality.
Rating:
Summary: Shopping for a personality
Review: Reading this book was a collosal waste of time. Several times while reading this book, I felt the urge to punch Greenwald out and may have done so if he was nearby. The photograph on the inside cover explains everything; a self-indulgent Westerner leering covetously at a buddhist statue. That's as deep as the book gets. We get to see Westerners who think themselves enlightened and deepened by Eastern mysticism who are instead still driven by the desire to own things, hang out with fellow Westerners in Western-only establishments and treat the local people with bemused condenscension and neo-colonialism yet believe that their shallow understanding of the local religion and culture has put them on a higher spiritual plain. Greenwald bemoans the disappearance of religious artifacts from Nepal but somehow doesn't realize that his own selfish quest for a buddha statue (a good investment, he notes)is part and parcel of this process. I hope he has gotten over his bad hashish trip that is offered at the end of the book as some bizarre spiritual awakening and realizes that the buddha sitting on his shelf may add an anectdote or two to his conversation but does nothing to make him a good writer or an interesting personality.
|
