I've just finished reading Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert so decided I would write a little review of it here. I really enjoyed this book, although it took me quite a few chapters to get into it and at the beginning I thought I was going to hate it. Eat, Pray, Love is a book written by a woman at the end of her rope. It's an autobiographical story about Elizabeth Gilbert's journey to heal herself after a messy divorce and then the subsequent breakup of a very intense rebound relationship. After these events in her life, Gilbert is left with no money (her ex-husband took it all, apparently), completely heartbroken, on anti-depressants, and barely ...  Read the complete review

I have never been a spiritual person. Even in childhood, when I went to Sunday school, I never felt as if anything I was learning was anything other than ancient history. Faith is something other people have - and my attitude to that has always been to wish them well but say "it's not for me". I am also not a particularly deep thinking person. I have gone through counselling once in my life - 20 years ago when I had a nervous breakdown - but since then I have somehow managed to cope with life's slings and arrows without feeling the need to ask for therapy or to consider other options to help me get through tough times. Elizabeth Gilbert, ...  Read the complete review

This book drew me in with its introduction- it's the tale of Elizabeth Gilbert's quest to find balance and peace in her life, and is divided up neatly into 108 short chapters. She explains that the structure took its inspiration from the 'japa malas' that yogis use in India, on which the Catholic rosaries are based. These have 108 beads, which is seen to be auspicious as the number 108 can be divided by three and its digits equal 9, another multiple of 3. In turn, the number three is supposed to represent supreme balance (she refers here to bar stools as a good example of this theory). Therefore, not only is the book divided into 108 short chapters, ...  Read the complete review

We all sometimes get lost, not only in forest or fog but also in our lives. So did Elizabeth Gilbert. Everything seemed perfect: she had a good job as a journalist, she has been married for eight years to a man she loved (and her long-time boyfriend) and they bought a beautiful house together in the suburbs of New York. Most of the people would think that there is one thing missing - a baby. Elizabeth was aware of this and yet one night she found herself crying on a bathroom floor, thinking that she needs to get out of this marriage as soon as possible. And so she does; the divorce is long and exhaustive (her husband doesn't want her to go I suppose), then she ...  Read the complete review

If this is your usual sort of read you will probably enjoy this book. It flows easily and has a feel good factor running throughout the novel. It is not overly swamped by the spiritual aspects in the book it's just a little tedious. The subject matter, already covered by "Shirley Valentine", is one of woman in love , woman not in love, woman searching for herself, woman finds herself, woman in love, and so on. Having said that the actual descriptive sections are very nice and do evoke the sense of immersion in the various cultures, if somewhat shallow in content. Having travelled extensively through India and Indonesia, I was hoping to read some beautiful ...  Read the complete review