Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

This is the very first book I’ve read from the 75 I won last June. I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to get to any of those books and I’m probably the last person to read this one in particular. I have to admit I was a little reluctant to read Eat, Pray, Love because of it’s popularity with the Oprah crowd and then it got turned into a movie which made me even more reluctant to read it but I’m glad I finally got over that and picked it up!

In case you aren’t already aware, Elizabeth Gilbert, the author, finds herself in a mid-life crisis of sorts after a nasty divorce and for various reasons decides she would like to take a year to travel to Italy, India and Indonesia. (Lucky for her, she gets a book deal out of it in order to pay for the year!) As she travels the world she makes all kinds of friends, learns Italian, finds spiritual enlightenment, and even (spoiler alert!) falls in love.

As much as I was prepared to hate this book, I didn’t. I loved it. The writing was a little over the top at times but I got used to that pretty quickly and was able to see past it. I also think that is probably a reflection of her personality and more realistic than if it had been toned down. Not only was this book entertaining but it was uplifting. I read it at the same time as I was reading The Happiness Project and it was the perfect companion volume. Both with similar themes but with entirely different methodology, I found each book had something to offer me in the bleakest month of the year (I hate, hate, HATE January). Eat, Pray, Love was sort of the fantasy version of a happiness project. (How many of us can afford to travel the world to overcome our depression?) I love that Gilbert was willing to share some of her deepest emotions good and bad, she really left nothing out. I truly felt like I had a front row seat to this physical, emotional and spiritual journey she was on. She learned, she grew, she changed her opinions and she found her happiness again and I loved being there for the ride. I’ve already put Committed on hold at the library so I can read more about her journey.