What is the author's tone in the nonfiction book, Karma Cola: Marketing the Mystic East?

One of the most appealing and engaging aspects of the book is the way it so frequently shifts its tone. It is at times objective (e.g., when it presents and/or explores certain unarguable facts, such as how the interest in eastern spirituality virtually exploded once the Beatles expressed interest in it) and at other times subjective (e.g., when the author refers to her personal experiences with double sided exploitation). It is at times frank and blunt, at other times pointedly skeptical (and almost cynical), at still other times either anecdotal or analytical. It shifts back and forth between present tense and past tense narration. In short, the variety of tonal qualities throughout the book, the collage of narrative styles and stylized narratives, evokes the collage of spiritual practices and/or perspectives described in the narrative itself. In other words, style and substance echo and reinforce each other, creating the sense that, like both sides of the spiritual tourism practiced in India, the book is not always up front and/or obvious about the truths it's evoking.