Eat Pray Love
One Woman’s Search for Everything Across Italy, India, and Indonesia
By: Elizabeth Gilbert
Genre: Memoir/Spirituality
ISBN: 978-0-14-303841-2
Intended Audience: Females, college age and up. Though I don’t think a male reader will do any harm at all. He may have to disregard subtle female comments, but the overall theme and message of the novel far outweigh any feminist tendencies.
General Subject Matter/Summary: The author, Elizabeth Gilbert, finds herself in a mid-life crisis of sorts, and decides she needs to get away from life for awhile and travel. Her agent signs the idea for this book, Eat, Pray, Love, and she uses the signing fee as her funding for the year long journey of self and spiritual enlightenment. She plans to spend 3 months in each Italy, India, and Indonesia. In Italy she eats, and thoroughly enjoys all life has to offer, all while learning to love herself. In India, she gives her undivided attention to her spirituality by staying at an Ashram and learning the art of meditation and selflessness. And in Indonesia, a medicine man teaches her some very influential lessons of life, and she learns how just how powerful love is.
Review: I had high expectations of this book before I even read it, but I’m pleased to say that it did live up to those expectations. Eat, Pray, Love is written well, flows naturally, and Gilbert makes you feel as if you are along for the journey. The book is a journey in itself, with Gilbert writing short story type entries divided into 3 separate books, one for each country. Considering Gilbert as the main character, I would say the character development was great. She progressed naturally throughout the novel, and you could see a growth and understanding develop in her through her experiences. Gilbert’s writing style is one that would please most readers. She’s very witty, and writes about serious matters, but also inserts comedy when appropriate. There were a few grammatical errors, but most people wouldn’t notice, and I just feel the need to mention it because they bug me! I would say this book achieved its goal of bringing the reader along a journey across the world, but also along a journey of self-discovery and getting to know and be in tune with oneself. The novel definitely affected me and has made me think about my own life and how much I know myself. You can tell a good book if it makes you think long after you read it, and this book has achieved that.
Rating: 4 out of 5
