Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
A Gripping Novel about the Search for Spiritual Understanding
Indulgence in Italy
Gilbert’s first stop is in Italy, and this is where the reader gets to know her best. She is lost, but on an adventure. This entire trip revolves around her desire to “fix” her life, even though she isn’t certain what that means at the time. This is her period of indulgence, both of her love for food, and of her time dedicated to learning what she wants to do to make her life better.
She meets a wonderful array of Italian characters and describes them in such rich detail that the reader is drawn to them just as they are to Gilbert herself. Through these characters we also begin the journey with Gilbert into her own psyche and desire to move forward. Her line of thought is clear and direct, although it obviously wasn’t so at the time.
Spirituality in an Indian Ashram
When she leaves Italy, Gilbert heads to an Ashram in India. Through her ex-boyfriend she met a guru she felt could help her. It is in the Ashram that the reader goes through Gilbert’s spiritual enlightenment with her, seeing through her eyes the difficulty of a still mind, of the frustration of not attaining the spiritual ecstasy she wants, and the fact that letting go of negativity and old demons is much harder than it sounds, even when staying at an Ashram for six months.
This section has some fantastic humor as well as deep questions that are so simple, the reader can ponder them even while continuing to read. Once again, the section is rife with characters that make the reader laugh out loud, like Richard from Texas, and oil rig working, hustling cowboy yogi who’s expressions are both deeply funny and oddly profound.
Perhaps the most poignant line that comes from this chapter is this: “A true soul mate is probably the most important person you’ll ever meet, because they tear down your walls and smack you awake” (156).
Passion in Paradise
After six months and growth in India, Gilbert leaves for Indonesia, to meet and study with a holy man she met only briefly two years before. She paints a beautiful picture of Bali, while letting the reader get to know the people who surround her there, as well as the difficulty of keeping to a spiritual path when back in the real world.
While her time in Bali is not perfect, and she finds that culturally there are vast differences, the reader can easily see how taken she is with the place and its people.
The holy man, Ketut Liyer, is a wonderful, deep character that often has the reader laughing out loud, even if they don’t fully understand him, (as often Gilbert does not).
This section has frank discussions of sex, passion, love and romance. The family and its importance is discussed in relation to spirituality, as is the pure pleasure of love and being loved.
Gilbert’s journey ends on a tiny little island in paradise, but the journey she has taken the reader on through her own spiritual experience is unforgettable. Although the reader may not agree with all of her assessments, there is much to be gained from the depth of questions and simple answers found from the first page to the last.
The Author
Elizabeth Gilbert is author of The Last American Man, a short story collection entitled Pilgrims, the novel Stern Men and is a writer for American GQ. The has been nominated for The National Book Award, and has received 2 National Magazine Award nominations. In 2008, Gilbert was named one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World, by Time Magazine.
