Peanut Butter and Naan, Stories of an American Mom in the Far East by Jennifer Hillman-Magnuson, is a memoir of one family’s journey to India for 6 months while the Dad was transferred there for work. I should have put this book down as soon as I read the title, since when is India considered the Far East? Being an American that has spent a lot of time in India, I really wanted to like this book, I hoped it would make me want to travel there again with my daughter, but it just left me feeling dismayed and slightly embarrassed for all Americans in India.

The author tries so hard to be funny, but I found her annoying. She is so proud of herself for spending two hours alone in an Indian market with her daughter without their driver/bodyguard and thinks she has crossed the cultural divide when she buys an orange soda in a bottle and drinks it. I was so saddened by all the experiences this family missed, and by how many times she talked about how dirty India is.

I’m sure they’re all nice people and in the end they helped out at a local orphanage, which the Mom considered a good photo-op; but where was the editor for this book? Lord Shiva is an Indian goddess with a Mona Lisa smile, ugh! This is one to skip.