Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert.

"The title gives the book away. Elizabeth Gilbert ate, prayed and loved while traveling through Italy, India and Indonesia. She gives detailed histories of each Country that she resides in and her exploits are both entertaining and educational. She learns a lot about herself and the reader too, learns to take a breath, be grateful for everything that they have and simply let it go and know that "God" is always there, loves unconditionally and will always be there, no matter what."

3 Stars

Pros: Gilbert herself is honest about all her strengths and all her weaknesses. She doesn't have much of a plan with this "travel around the world and write about it" idea but she makes it work. She's kind, compassionate and resourceful. She's flighty but somehow, things always seem to work out and her search for God, divinity and balance within herself is motivational and eye opening. The histories of the different Countries that she travels to are interesting as well as some of the customs.  

Cons: At the same time, Gilbert's flightiness can get a little tiresome. How she falls in love at the drop of a hat and then clings to that love, even when it's unhealthy is an obvious fault. But she knows it about herself and is working on trying to improve it. 

Full Review: 

The book begins with Liz in Rome, Italy working with a nice young man who helps her learn Italian and she in turns helps him learn English. The reader learns that after a difficult divorce and a deep depression, Gilbert decided to spend a year of her life traveling, in order to "find" herself once more. Her first stop is to spend four months in Italy, doggedly pursuing the simple idea of "pleasure." Pleasure is different to everyone else and for Gilbert, she finds the most pleasure in experiencing the atmosphere of all the different cities of Italy and also in experiencing the amazing cuisine. She came to Italy thin, depressed and uncertain about her future. And she leaves Italy a little bigger, a little fuller and feeling a bit more comfortable about where her life may be headed. 

Her next stop is India. She lives in an Ashram (a temple totally devoted to meditation and the practice of Yoga) and meets some interesting characters, one specifically being Richard from Texas. A reformed junkie and also divorcee who tells it like it is. She sees that they're all there in their search for God, to find divinity and understand what it means for them. She practices her Yoga, deepens her meditation and manages to find "God."  All the people there really help her center herself and figure out how best to "commune with the Divine." She leaves India feeling more centered and at peace with her life. 

Her final stop is Indonesia and the small island Country of Bali. She arrives with no real plan and at first her fly by night style could get her into trouble. But she ends up making it work. She becomes friendly with a healer named Wayan and manages to raise enough money, through the help of friends and family, to make it so that Wayan can buy a house of her own and provide a safe life for herself and her daughter. Liz also meets Felipe. An older Brazilian man who's also been divorced and knows how badly it can hurt you. They fall in love and as her trip to Bali ends, they decide to see if they can make it work, while still living in different Countries. The ending is open ended but I like to think, they made it work. 

It was an easy, well paced, entertaining read. And the different customs of all the Countries were really interesting to learn about. Liz Gilbert was given the chance of a lifetime and she definitely didn't squander it. She took the chance to ran with it and I like to think that she really learned a lot, about life, about herself and about the way the world is. It was a good read and a good reminder that we all need to take time out for ourselves, to center ourselves, breathe and focus on what matters and where we're going.