Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

Published in 2007 by Penguin
4 Stars

Goodreads Summary
In her early thirties, Elizabeth Gilbert had everything a modern American woman was supposed to want--husband, country home, successful career--but instead of feeling happy and fulfilled, she felt consumed by panic and confusion. This wise and rapturous book is the story of how she left behind all these outward marks of success, and of what she found in their place. Following a divorce and a crushing depression, Gilbert set out to examine three different aspects of her nature, set against the backdrop of three different cultures: pleasure in Italy, devotion in India, and on the Indonesian island of Bali, a balance between worldly enjoyment and divine transcendence.


Review:  I could really identify with Gilbert in this book. I have read criticism for her being selfish when it came to her divorce but I can understand why she was shocked when her ex-husband didn't let things go smoothly. She had been so emotionally checked out from their relationship that she assumed he was as well. I have had similar relationships in the past, so I can completely understand her desire to end things agreeably and then after fighting for years being willing to do anything to just make it stop.


Her Italy portion of the trip sounded like a lot of fun. I can understand her need to go somewhere and recover form the emotional turmoil her divorce had created, and I can't think of a place better than Italy. It's my favorite country to visit, and it's true that Italy has a culture that truly appreciates pleasure.


My favorite part of her three countries was India. I would love to live in an ashram to fully commit myself to my spiritual practice. I found her spiritual journey to be fascinating and similar to what I'm going through currently. I really loved Richard from Texas, he seems like such an unlikely source of profound wisdom. I wish we had experience more of him.


I have also read criticisim about Gilbert falling in love in Indonesia, saying that she hadn't learned anything and that she was still a woman who defined herself by the man she was with. I disagree however. I think she needed to first learn to love herself and to be comfortable with herself before she could be in a relationship and not worry about the implications of her relationship. I think she needed to learn to listen to her heart and love herself enough to not think she deserved to be unhappy because of her guilt. That is something I struggle with, feeling guilty and therefore thinking I don't deserve happiness.


Overall I think this book was a very interesting memoir about a major transitional period in Gilbert's life. I listened to the audio book which is also read by Gilbert. This was a treat because she was reading the book as she spoke it in her head, so we could here her emphasis and conversations as if she were talking directly to us. Also, she did a lot of accents and imitated the voices of the people she actually knew, which helped us as the readers/listeners understand the emotions behind the conversations.