Book Review: Eat, Pray, Love

Eat, Pray, Love
By Elizabeth Gilbert

I read a blurb about this book in the Economist a few months ago and saved it. The book, read by the author in the audio version, tells of a year spent abroad by the author. She fills in the back story about why she spent the year abroad, telling us about her road to a more spiritual being and about her horrible divorce. (He wanted kids and a suburban life, she didn’t, things get messy.)

What I find interesting about the book revolves around her found spirituality. While I too feel as though we were created and are not a product of evolution entirely, I feel even more strongly, that if there is a God, she/he/it has much more important stuff to do than worry about what we are eating and which curse words we have used.

Given this point of view for reading the book, I went along on her journey to Italy (where she ate), India (where she prayed in an Ashram), and Indonesia (where she went because an ancient medicine man told her she would go, oh and there she loved.)

The structure of the book gave you a definite sense of forward motion and of impending conclusion. She met vivid characters, my favorite being her friend from Texas who called her Groceries, because she was carrying so much shit around.

The book also lets you watch as she transforms herself from a depressed, harried, and skinny divorcee to a contented, beautiful, and well fed whole woman. At the end she knows who she is and she knows why she is here. And how often do you get to see such a journey without being a parent?

After ending the book, I wanted to know more. After a bit of internet research, I found out that the author is not only happy today, but she is also the author of Coyote Ugly.

Highly recommended