I hate to jump on anybody's bandwagon, but having worked my way through this book, I'm sort of glad that I did. Along with 'The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo' this seems to be the book of Summer 2010, so on my little break from blogging, I took the opportunity and read it- spurred on by mild curiosity about just what all the fuss was about and all those previews for the movie version, which comes out on the 13th.
And, I'm happy to report that this book is pretty good. The author, Elizabeth Gilbert goes through something of a quarter life/mid-life crisis following a brutal divorce and messy break-up and depressed, decides she's going to travel the world for a year to discover pleasure, devotion and a balance between the two that when put together might resemble something called happiness. To do this, she spend four months in Italy, four in India and four in Indonesia (more specifically Bali). At initial glance, you might think this seems a little self-absorbed and an exercise in something resembling narcissism, but it's not. As an author, Gilbert is brutally honest about her journey, her failings and what's she's feeling over the course of her journey. It also helps a great deal that she's funny and self-deprecating about it as well. So, unlike a lot of memoirs out there, there's not a lot of ego-stroking going on with this book.
However, if you like, the difficulty comes when you consider that Gilbert is essentially on two journeys: her external one through the world and her internal voyage of self-discovery (or whatever you want to call it.) Her stated goal is to find something that you could generally call happiness, but there's an immediate problem here, because happiness is just so damn subjective. So yeah, I'm going to have to say that she is pretty self-absorbed, but it's for a good reason. This isn't about a random travel trip through Italy, India and Indonesia- it's also about Gilbert tackling her 'issues' and trying to figure herself out once and for all so she can be content with what she has. And she does.
This book made me want to go back to Italy, and go to India and Indonesia for the first time- though to be fair, I'm not sure how enthusiastic I am about Indonesia and for sure, I wouldn't be spending four months in an ashram when I visit India. But oh man, did this book make me miss Italy. Walking everywhere in Rome, the Trevi Fountain, the food, the food, the food and that awesome gelato we had in that little place near the Piazza Navona that I'll probably never be able to find ever again. The travel to exotic locales in this book really make it the perfect summer read. If you're relaxing on a beach somewhere, even if it's say, the fake concrete one at the local waterpark, where the only exotic view is that of a Menard's across the cornfields and the freeway, Eat, Pray, Love is a charming, uplifting, perfect summer escapist fare.
However. And I hate to say that, but I'm not the only one who has out there in the big, wide world of the internet- so forgive me for leveling one tiny bit of feminist criticism at this book: namely that's drowning in white, middle-class privilege. Gilbert gets the money to go and do this. The rest of us poor working schlubs usually don't get that lucky. And everyone wants to find happiness of some kind, everyone wants to be content with what they have in life- but the one little bitter aftertaste I had with this book was this. Happiness shouldn't be about money or traveling to exotic locales to 'find yourself.' Happiness, I think is usually found from within. (Zen of me, I know.)
But Overall: My little nit-pick aside, this is an amazing, uplifting, enjoyable book that is well worth a read.
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