Elizabeth Gilbert-Eat, Pray, Love

Although I’m sure it appeals more to women than men due to the chicklit perfume that emanates from Elizabeth Gilbert's book, I am recommending ‘Eat, pray, love’ to anyone who wants a fun, light, yet not superficial read. I actually didn’t know it wasn’t a fiction book, but rather a travel account, and while reading the first pages, I kept wondering why she had to 1) tell me she’s not going to talk about why she ended up in a divorce (fiction books usually focus on (melo)drama); 2) apologize for not revealing her guru’s name, and 3) lecture me on what a japa mala is, the origins of the Italian language, where the word yoga comes from etc. I kept waiting for the illusion of lights off, curtains drawing, characters bowing, doing their thing etc. It didn’t happen. And then I got my share of enlightenment (it will be called the Liss Gilbert phenomenon). I read on the back cover that it was one of Entertainment Weekly’s Top 10 NONFICTION Books of the year. 2006, i.e.

Taking off expectations like a rugged, old coat is the first step to freedom (Monica Dobos Garg, p 12). Therefore, I listened to the lectures as part of the deal and enjoyed the greatest quality this book has to offer, HUMOR (you won’t read the book if I tell you the best jokes I found in it). The author is mostly poking fun at herself, and even in the darkest hours of her fight with depression, she manages to come to the light with some dark humor. Another feature that makes this ‘travel book’ a very good read is the mix of honesty, candidness and her (hers and others’, whom she diligently and conscientiously quotes) philosophical musings on pleasure, love, God, and finding balance, which actually are the objectives she’s trying to meet during her four-month stays each in Italy, India and Bali.

So there she goes to Italy (or ‘Say it like you eat it’, the first Book) to find pleasure. In pizzas, pastas, wine, and pizzas, gelatos, and pizzas. (She doesn’t ‘taste’ Giovanni, her ‘tandem exchange’ -Italian for English- due to her one-year vow of chastity, which she actually breaks in Bali, in her third book. The misdemeanor happened after she found balance, so the jury is lenient). I found this first part a little bit ‘thin’. Maybe it’s because she mostly tells us how much she ate to overcome her post-divorce grief and feeling at a loss. I think she overdid it when she recounted how one night she had 2 large pizzas and then some pastry as well- probably because I’m on a cheese ban. I guess I just can’t understand American appetite (let alone American divorcee’s appetite). She obviously never had European female readers in mind. On one side we have Gargantua and Pantagruel, on the other side-Liss Gilbert. A good illustration of the concept of relativity.

India was her next stop, where she made an appointment with God, in a very organized fashion, like it best suits Americans. Now, you can call it innate skepticism, lack of faith, etc, but she didn’t manage to convince me God had actually showed up at the meeting. Someone who had had minor encounters with meditation before going to India was able in 4 months at an Ashram to 1). awaken the kundalini shakti after one session of So-Ham meditation, which she just decided to try, because the technique she had been practicing up to that point wasn’t fruitful; 2). to sit in Vipassana meditation (she decided to try this one out too) for 2 hours while being bitten by killer mosquitoes; 3). To reach the turiya state (i.e.the cherry on the cake of a spiritual journey to oneself, or ultimate enlightenment) during a group meditation. Basically, what I’m trying to say is that she might have, I underscore might, exaggerated the facts just because she had to write a book and meet the readers’ expectations that an Indian Ashram can only be a place where enlightenment will no doubt be attained. But again, I may just be jealous of her spiritual success or doubting Americans’ highly achieving capabilities.

Bali was my favorite book. Maybe because I never knew anything about Bali before: how they name their children First, Second, Third etc; how rituals and ceremonies arrange each individual’s place in the universal ‘grid'; how you have to consult the priest, and your dreams before buying a house, etc. Moreover, all characters in this book are very 'well-built': Ketut, the wise, funny, light-hearted magician/healer (my favorite); Wayan, the woman healer, who dares get a divorce in ultra-conservative Bali and tries to make a future for her own daughter and the two adopted girls by opening a clinic. In the good tradition of Balinesians, she’s trying to take advantage of charitable Liss, but can’t pull it off because Liz meets the love of her life, Felipe, a localite, who cautions her against Wayan’s plans (not before causing Liz a bladder infection, read the book and you’ll know why). And yes, she does meet her final objective, balance, as she falls in love and gives in to pleasure, but also manages to keep her daily meditations and enlightenments. Ha.

Concluding, Eat, Pray, Love is a funny, witty, informative book, and I’m looking forward to reading her fiction as well.