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Eat, Pray, Love

One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia
Jul 22, 2020
Eat, Pray, Love is Elizabeth Gilbert's meditation on accepting loss, realization and transforming in the process. She is determined to remedy the loss of her newly recent separation and impending divorce by embarking on a globe-trotting adventure. Instead of lamenting and wishing for an alternative ending to what was years of what she considered an enriching, intellectual relationship she makes vows for self-help, self-improvement and proposes a theory of learning about others ways' of life and culture as holistic, spiritual fulfillment. Her narrative is straight-factual, comical, insightful and makes for a clear, easily discernible read. She decides to use her primary American culture as a measure of comparison as she experiences other cultures. In Italy she seems ecstatic in their ways of simplicity, admires the beauty of Italian countryside and emphasizes their proliferation of local Italian traditions whether it's savoring gelato or admiring Italian Renaissance architecture. She seeks authenticity as she hones her use of Italian and learns more about one of civilization's most recognized romance languages. In India she is awe of vistas and the reverence of native, Indian people who truly appear to value and respect human life with their intense devotion, praying rituals, vegetarian feasts, welcoming nature and emphasis on modesty and community. She appears to learn the art of pluralism versus individualism, or the idea of placing value on the community and society's collective wellbeing versus the individual's priorities. In her journey of exploration she also happens to meet a new friend who becomes a love interest and she learns to appreciate their distinct perspectives in a more appreciative manner given her newfound independence and freedom. Eat, Pray, Love became a book club cult favorite for women seeking personal and intellectual growth in the midst of an interpersonal crisis such as navigating heartbreak and grief; it overall makes for an interesting read and musing on travel during such a personal epidemic and female soul searching. - Review Written by Danielle