I’m a writer, and it’s a sign to me that I haven’t been writing enough on paper when I start writing in my head. I finished reading Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert, and I’ve been formulating my impressions while driving, walking, and in the in-between moments of everyday life. There is much to think about and to digest. Like Ms. Gilbert, I too am on a spiritual journey, though mine is focused at home. I've lived in another country for extended periods so I can attest to the life-changing shifts in perception that come with moving out of one's culture zone.

Eat, Pray, Love is a first person account of Elizabeth (Liz) Gilbert’s spiritual exploration over a year of her life. We learn about her life, the crises that lead up to this search, and the exploration itself. She starts out as a 30-something woman in the midst of a divorce, crying and sniveling on her bathroom floor and comes out the other side of the journey a self-possessed, self-contained woman, comfortable in her own skin and comfortable with her relationship with God. We follow her journey as she eats her way through Italy, prays her way through India, and learns to love in Indonesia (Bali, to be exact.)

I had a love/hate relationship with this book. I loved it in the beginning and hated it about a third of the way through. It grew on me, and I spent the better part of a day finishing it because I was loving it again. It was a bit self-indulgent at times, but since it’s a book about herself, it kinda has to be. That’s what happened to me, somewhere towards the end of Italy; I just had to put the book down for a few days with a giant ugh. I thought I had wasted my money, but now that I’ve finished it, I know I have’nt. I will go back and re-read it looking for examples of practices that I might want to incorporate in my life, or at least to try for a bit, such as the writing/journaling to herself (Liz asked and answered her own questions while free writing and gained valuable insights) and some of the mantras for meditation.

I thought it was amazingly well-written. Ms. Gilbert has a wonderful sense of imagery. I love her analogy when Loneliness and Depression came to visit like two thugs in the night as she walked home.

Should you bother reading Eat, Pray, Love? I think so. I didn’t want to initially, but since it was for my local book club, I broke down and read it. Now I’m glad, because I wouldn’t have read it on my own just based on the blurb. As someone on a spiritual journey, I’ve learned much about my own journey by reading about Ms. Gilbert’s journey. You will too.

Reviewed by Susan
© October 2007