Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

This is one of my favorite books in the world. I'm re-reading it for the third time now. I was having Harry Potter burnout and now I feel so refreshed reading Elizabeth Gilbert's memoir of her year spent in three countries: Italy, India, and Indonesia, putting her life back together after divorce and a failed relationship. She went to the three countries in search of not only herself but to learn what each place could teach her: pleasure from Italy, spirituality from India, and balance in Indonesia.
Elizabeth has the best luck of anyone I have ever come across, in a book or in my life. She always meets the perfect person who can guide her to want she needs. She meets good friends like Sophie from Sweden, Maria in Indonesia, and Richard from Texas.
My favorite part of the book is the section on Italy. Elizabeth eats her way into self-discovery, trying new things and relearning what pleasure is and that she too, deserves it in her life. Toward the end of the section the reader can already see the stronger and improved Elizabeth. She's someone who you would love to meet and have in your corner.
The sections on India and Indonesia, for me, don't have that spark that Italy has, but it might be just me. In India Elizabeth goes to the Ashram of her guru and learns how to finally heal her mind and heart from the painful divorce she went through. In Indonesia, she learns how to finally balance herself and also ends up finding love. A good read that will leave you wanting more.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

My daughter-in-law gave me a copy of this a couple of months ago because she thought I'd really enjoy it. Sadly, I just couldn't get started in it.
I've just finished reading So Many Books So Little Time (which you and two others, at least) listed on the Something About Me challenge.
I enjoyed So Many Books - and I enjoyed reading your review of Eat, Pray, Love - so will give the latter another try.
I'm very glad to have found your blog.

Vasilly said...

I'm glad you enjoyed So Many Books. With that book and Eat, Pray, Love people either love them or hate them. But it's normal not to be able to get into a book. I do it all the time. I just wait until a better time to give the book another try.

I'm glad you found my blog too!