Eat, Pray, Love (#31)

Although I finished it just about a month ago, it seems pretty appropriate that I blog about a book titled...

Eat, Pray, Love on the cusp of Thanksgiving. 

If you've been in a bookstore in the last year, there is little doubt that you seen Elizabeth Gilbert's memoir.  For that reason alone it got my attention.  While I was perfectly fine with "eat," the "pray" and "love" parts kind of turned me off and made me think this was not a book for my gender (or, for that matter, even for my sexual orientation). 

The travel aspect did interest me... the subtitle of the book is One Woman's Search For Everything Across Italy, India, and Indonesia... so the book kinda stayed on my radar... but when Gilbert appeared on... where else... Oprah!... I immediately morphed into that O-Pavlonian dog and got the book the very next day.  Now, it wasn't because of the mighty O... but Gilbert, who came across as so likable and funny and interesting... one of those people you could sit down with, as total strangers, and have a nice chat over coffee (or after reading the book, I should say gelato).

So the short, no-spoiler version of the book.  Gilbert finds herself in a life crisis - in an unhappy marriage on the verge of child-bearing, but not wanting it... realizing she is in the middle of living a life that doesn't resemble anything she wants it to be.  She begins a one-year journey (4 months each in Italy, India, and Bali) of self-discovery and as a writer (I admit I never heard of her prior to this book), finances it via the book advance for what would be this very book... and l'm guessing neither Gilbert or her publisher thought... a runaway bestseller (even pre-Oprah).

All of the charm that Gilbert displayed on Oprah was very much in evidence in the book. Very enjoyable and quite unexpectedly, funny throughout.  As someone who is not religious, Gilbert does not get preachy about her beliefs or spirituality... she takes a "this is what works for me" attitude... and that is certainly something I can respect.  With religion and God being hijacked for ulterior motives, it was encouraging to read about someone finding that inner peace and happiness ... okay, it did get a bit new-agey for me a few times, but again Gilbert presents her story so non-judgmentally that you could only wish that there was more of this kind of spirituality going on in the world today.

This passage has stuck with me and I think captures the spirit of the book:

... people universally think that happiness is a stroke of luck, something that will descend upon you like fine weather if you're fortunate enough.  But that's not how happiness works.  Happiness is the consequence of personal effort.  You fight for it, strive for it, insist upon it, and sometimes even travel around the world looking for it.  You have to participate relentlessly in the manifestations of your own blessings.  And once you have achieved a state of happiness, you must never become lax about maintaining it, you must make a mighty effort to keep swimming upward into that happiness forever, to stay afloat on top of it.  If you don't you will leak away your innate contentment.

While not a spiritual journey, and certainly not done purposely... it was kind of funny that it was this book was the one that put me over the top in my 10k reading challenge.  But reading is something that makes me happy... and it is a kind of alone time that is kind of meditative time that has become a pretty nice way to end (nearly) each day.

2007 10K Reading Challenge:  + 330 pages (Total Pages: 10210 pages) 

Comments

[t]

She financed her travel with a book advance...what a sweet idea you've put into my head!

[Cindy]

I liked your comments on the book. One review which gets a bit more into discussing Elizabeth Gilbert's refreshingly non-preachy approach to spirituality is at the lipstick mystic site:

http://www.lipstickmystic.com/articles/eat-love-pray.html

And I'm sure there will be many more now that Oprah has featured her book!

Best,
Cindy