Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

Eat Pray Love

by Elizabeth Gilbert

A transformational journey through Italy, India, and Bali searching for pleasure and devotion—the massive bestseller from the author of Big Magic and City of Girls.

This beautifully written, heartfelt memoir touched a nerve among both readers and reviewers. 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. By turns rapturous and rueful, this wise and funny author (whom Booklist calls “Anne Lamott’s hip, yoga- practicing, footloose younger sister”) is poised to garner yet more adoring fans.

Reviewed by thepunktheory on

5 of 5 stars

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Full review on my blog: www.thepunktheory.wordpress.com

I have to say, I was extremely surprised by this book. My hopes weren't too high and I was expecting something a bit cheesy. However, what I got was an inspiring novel that provided lots of food for thought.
Liz Gilbert tells the story from a very relatable place. Her heartache, her problems, it's all something you've felt in some way. She also seems like a lovely person so for a large part of the book I just wanted to give her a hug and tell her everything's going to be alright.
But the thing is, Liz teaches us an important lesson: it will be alright in the end but you have to make it work. Nothing will ever change if you don't make it change.
What Liz did may sound like heaven: just packing up and go somewhere new. Well, it's actually a daring adventure and most people wouldn't take this leap of faith. It's something very different to spend two weeks of holidays somewhere or going to a place that's completely foreign to you without knowing anyone there and living there for months. Especially when you are in a bad place and want to heal it's even more daring as you are not only outside of your comfort zone, but you are also out of your support network you have at home.

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 4 November, 2018: Finished reading
  • 4 November, 2018: Reviewed