Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

No. of pages: 348
Rating: 8/10

Synopsis: Elizabeth Gilbert tells how she made the difficult choice to leave behind all the trappings of modern American success (marriage, house in the country, career) and find, instead, what she truly wanted from life. Setting out for a year to study three different aspects of her nature amid three different cultures, Gilbert explored the art of pleasure in Italy and the art of devotion in India, and then a balance between the two on the Indonesian island of Bali.

Review: Elizabeth Gilbert is in her early 30's, married, and trying for a baby when she decides she doesn't want this life anymore. After a messy divorce and a disasterous rebound relationship, she decides to take a year to travel and try to find herself. During her four months in Italy, she learns the pleasure of eating good food; the four months in India, the art of meditation; and in Indonesia, she mixes the two and finds love again.

I had been thinking about reading this book for a while, but when I saw the advert for the movie about to be released, I really wanted to read it. I'm not sure if it was exactly what I was expecting, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. I really enjoyed the first section about Italy, she made me wish I were there with her eating that delicious food and enjoying the fantastic sites. The section about India I didn't enjoy so much. There were long sections about meditation and religion, which I found a bit hard to struggle thorough, and also the bits where she ascended to a 'higher plane' I found a bit...stupid to be honest. I do appreciate that these are her experiences, but they just seemed a bit unbelievable to me, perhaps because I'm not religious, I don't know. When she got to Bali, I found myself enjoying it again, it was a lot like the Italy section which I was glad about. I loved the multitude of colourful personalities throughout the book and overall I did enjoy it, even though there were bits I didn't like too. I think it's a book that opinions will divide because it will appeal or not appeal depending on each reader's life experiences. I'm not sure if or who I would recommend it too, but I'm glad that I read it, and I feel that it's given me a different perspective on a few things.