BOOK REVIEW
Title: Eat Pray Love
Author: Elizabeth Gilbert
Genre: Memoir
Rating: 5/10
A Brief:
Eat Pray Love is Gilbert's moving memoir of self discovery through Italy, India and finally Indonesia. Her main discoveries from the respective countries informed the title of the book: Italy - Eat, India - Pray, Indonesia - Love.
Why 5?
Relatable
Gilbert documents the problems she encountered which I totally relate to:
I have read this book at a time in my life when I feel lost; everything is crumbling- from my health, career and Education. The other day I told my best friend that I have tried to fix my life on my own, failed so I decided to sign up for therapy sessions (this I only did because in this book, Gilbert resorted to the same solution).
The ability to reset
Gilbert's life is falling apart, she decides that travel would somehow save her life. She puts her life (as she knew it then) on hold as she searched for something deeper. Though Gilbert resorted to travel, we can explore other means to reach the same outcome - to reset. Anything can wait. Nothing worth sacrificing your mental health.
Best quotes
Having a baby is like getting a tattoo on your face. You really need to be certain it's what you want before you commit.
I'm desperate love, we always invent the characters of our partners, demanding that they be what we need of them, and then feeling devastated when they refuse to perform the rope we created in the first place.
But the very fact that this world is so challenging is exactly why you sometimes must reach out of its jurisdiction for help, appealing to a higher authority in order to find your comfort.
You must be very polite with yourself when you are learning something new.
... And when you sense a faint potentiality for happiness after such dark times you must grab onto the ankles of that happiness and not let go until it drags you face- first out of the dirt- this is not selfishness, but obligation. You were given life; it is your duty (and also your entitlement as a human being) to find something beautiful within life, no matter how slight..
Life, if you keep chasing it so hard, will drive you to death.
All the pain in the human life is caused by words, as is all the joy.
Destiny, I feel is also a relationship- a play between divine grace and willful self - effort. Half of it you have no control over, half of it is absolutely in your hands, and your actions will show measurable consequences. Man is neither entirely a puppet of the gods, nor is he entirely the captain of his own destiny; he's a little of both.
Amazing piece Tracy