CP Book Review: “Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman’s Search for Everything across Italy, India, and Indonesia”
The novel “Eat, Pray, Love ” reads as a humorous travel diary written by an eloquent friend. Novelist and journalist Elizabeth Gilbert takes a year-long world trip, hoping to find sanity in the extremes of travel.
In a traditionally explored theme of self-development, Gilbert takes a fresh perspective with herself as the subject. Just out in paperback and residing on the New York Times bestseller list, “Eat, Pray, Love” is an easy read from the always likeable Gilbert.
Author of National Book Award-nominated “The Last American Man” (2002), Gilbert’s travelogue documents her quirky narrative. She takes her reader on a wild, adventurous ride across the world and shared the fun of her lucky travels.
Traveling the world after a devastating divorce, Gilbert secures a book deal to document the experience of putting her life back together. The spiritual journey takes Gilbert across the globe.
“I wanted to explore one aspect of myself set against the backdrop of each country, in a place that has traditionally done that one thing very well,” she writes. “I wanted to explore the art of pleasure in Italy, the art of devotion in India and, in Indonesia, the art of balancing the two.”
The biographical work takes on a fictional tone. Gilbert creates a three-dimensional character out of herself, often poking fun at her own tendencies and inadequacies.
“I am the planets most affectionate life-form (something like a cross between a golden retriever and a barnacle).needing more care than an armful of premature infant triplets. (Dating tip: Men LOVE this),” Gilbert writes.
In her travels, she seems to gain perspective and stability, though little character development actually occurs.
The structure of the novel takes on an innovate form reflecting Gilbert’s personal journey.
“Being as this whole book is about my efforts to find balance, I have decided to structure it like a japa mala (yogi beads), dividing my story into 108 tales, or beads. This string of 108 tales is further divided into three sections about Italy, India and Indonesia-the three countries I visited during this year of self-inquiry,” Gilbert wrote.
I question what Gilbert leaves out of the novel, like the low points of travel. The glamour of the adventure is both a highlight and lowlight of her writing. I find myself wondering more about the untied loose ends of her life than the magical outcomes of her travels. At some points, the novel tends towards escapist fiction.
A 20-hour spring break car-ride saw “Eat, Pray, Love” devoured by two dedicated readers and myself who could not put down Gilbert’s novel. Sometimes unbelievable, but always pleasurable to read, the 300+ pages of the novel fly by as a perfect anecdote to academic reading.
Contact Campus Press staff writer Kathleen Straney at kathleen.straney@thecampuspress.com.
