Eat Pray Love: Elizabeth Gilbert

The frankness in which the author writes is refreshing, I learned so much about her physical and mental state that I had to remind myself that I wasn’t her doctor, or her psychiatrist. She shared quite a bit of overly personal information, but that just made it easier to relate to her, in my opinion. The little bits of “historical” information that she handed out were really interesting and enjoyable (ie: Italian language was decided by a council to be based on Dante’s language, Sanskrit language lessons—antevasin which means “one who lives at the border”, is the word for spiritual seekers) The book itself was well-written, in a self-deprecating style that reminded me a tad of Erma Bombeck. It was interspersed with humor, and occasionally you can see the real Elizabeth Gilbert–the one that is afraid of being alone, afraid of not fitting in. The way that she describes the people that she meets is great and very flattering, but leaves you to wonder if there were any faults to these people at all. Richard the Texan seems to be the most fleshed out character, but still not entirely believable. The way that she treats Wayan after meeting Filipe is disheartening, and makes me wonder if it wasn’t all a “publicity stunt” engineered for the book, and the altruistic gesture is was made out to be.All in all, it’s a book I would recommend – not as a self-help manual- but as an entertaining memoir that draws attention to several universal truths; spirituality can be found in simple things like food, wine, youth, health, joy, and also in pain and suffering, fasting and sacrifice. It shows that living and loving, and doing it well is a universal challenge. Is it going to help you answer your own life questions? Probably not, but it might remind you that you aren’t alone; others are searching for truth as well.