Second book review. More to come.
I admit I was starting to grind my teeth early into “Eat, Pray, Love,” the account of gifted writer Elizabeth Gilbert’s search for spiritual insight in Rome, India and Bali, Indonesia. The wildly popular, funny and fast-paced find-yourself memoir – yes, Oprah loved it – was published in 2006. When I carried it into the doctor’s office the other day, every one of the nurses had heard of it and/or read it or wanted to borrow it. The book would be easy to ridicule. Gilbert had a rough divorce and then a painful relationship afterwards and so she set off to eat herself silly in Rome, find God in an ashram (her guru was not present) and love in Bali.
Not something most people can do when they are down.
Gilbert made good choices for her self-awareness trip, and the book is a travelogue as well as an honest and funny account of one human’s beings hard-working journey to find herself. Lots of rich characters, self-deprecating humor and a sincere struggle to find inner peace.
I have to say I really liked the book. It reads easily, and you can’t help smiling, sometimes laughing. Gilbert is a nice person, a fine writer and she has a very sharp eye for people and places. She is also brave, and the book moves like a rocketship. She was fiercely determined to find spirituality, peace and love. And she does.
In Italian restaurants. On an ashram rooftop. With various gurus and toothless, Yoda-like wise men. And finally, with a gentle Latin lover. Despite a brutal divorce and an equally painful love affair, Gilbert never becomes angry, or cynical, nor does she ever seriously consider quitting her odyssey. Have to give her a lot of props for that.
Who wouldn’t want to take a trip like that? I guess I did in a way. My-find-out-who-I-am trip was to Bedlam Farm in 2003. Her trip was a lot more reasoned than mine.
In the winter, her choices look good to me. I didn’t find the penetrating spiritual insights I was seeking- I am not as mesmerized by the East as some, although India would be my first choice for foreign travel – but I did love the ride. I can see why women, in particular, love this book. You do have to put some class bias aside.
Gilbert obviously has money, and as one of the nurses put it: “When I get depressed I take a beer into the basement.”
Still, Gilbert is an engaging, very skillful writer. She saw a lot and captured it very skillfully. I have to say I had trouble putting the book down. We are all on this kind of trip, or would like to go. Gilbert takes us along.
This is a good human who deserves all of the good food, spiritual awareness and sex she can get.
This book, now out in paperback, costs $15 and is published by Penguin Books.