Saturday, December 5, 2009

Eat, Pray, Love

by Elizabeth Gilbert

I just finished Eat, Pray, Love last night and couldn't wait to write about it.  
 I loved the book!   In case you haven't heard about this book (it is a New York Times bestseller and Notable Book from 2006, so I'm late to the party), it is Gilbert's memoir of her year spent abroad in search of "everything."

As Gilbert turns 30, she realizes she does not want to have children and her marriage dissolves, setting off a four year battle for her divorce and plunging her into a dismal depression. From there, pieces of her past come together into a plan. She must take a year to recover, and determines to spend four months pursuing pleasure in Italy, four months studying yoga in India, and four months pursuing balance on Bali in Indonesia.

It's hard to say what I like most about the book. It's wonderfully easy to read, with a natural flow and comfortable style. Gilbert is open about her struggles throughout, and shares how she overcame them--a treat, since don't we all wish we had an answer?

I also love to read her writing about Italy and speaking Italian (one of her goals in Italy was to learn to speak the language) and how much she loves Italy. I could imagine so much of the Rome she wrote about--my favorite city. Then, reading of her spiritual/devotional practice in India was inspiring and intense, but never too far from a hint of humor. In her devotional practice, she finally faces herself in ways she never had before, and achieves much.

In Indonesia, she learns and then writes about the culture and how to balance the pleasure of life she learned in Italy and the serious devotion and austere meditation practices she learned in India. Of course, the year is transformative as she sheds her sadness and depression, accepts pleasure, learns spiritual devotion and meditation, and finally learns to be herself and love others. This review isn't a "spoiler," though, because the magic is in Gilbert's prose and travelling with her on her journey.

For the experiences, the insights, the emotional growth Gilbert shows us, this book is excellent--not to mention the cultural insight and inevitable joy we're left with. I found reading her book to be a warm and wonderful experience.

  I loved the book. In case you haven't heard about this book (it is a New York Times bestseller and Notable Book from 2006, so I'm late to the party), it is Gilbert's memoir of her year spent abroad in search of "everything."

As Gilbert turns 30, she realizes she does not want to have children and her marriage dissolves, setting off a four year battle for her divorce and plunging her into a dismal depression. From there, pieces of her past come together into a plan. She must take a year to recover, and determines to spend four months pursuing pleasure in Italy, four months studying yoga in India, and four months pursuing balance on Bali in Indonesia.

2 comments:

  1. I loved that book, but recently picked up the male's fictional version of the book - Drink, Play, Fuck.

    It was hysterical, but written in such a way you thought it autobiographical.

    Aside from the title, the book is not crude or lewd, but shows how one over play-by-the-rules guy handles it when his wife leaves him for another man.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I too really loved this book! I knew it was a good book because I felt like I could be friends with her if I ever were to meet her.

    ReplyDelete

Just type your thoughts in here--