Eat, Pray, Love

Have you heard of the book, 'Eat, Pray, Love'? New York Times Bestseller and all that good stuff? A few of my friends read it and loved it so I decided to give it a try.

I enjoyed reading the book because she is a good writer. Everytime someone is able to write about their lives in an interesting fashion it inspires me. I want to be able to write my story and sell and make an income for the rest of my life from royalties. I also liked the fact that she took a year to travel to different countries and learn languages and study cultures. That sounds amazing!! The best way to learn a language is to immerse yourself in the country and have conversations with native speakers, preferably with somebody who can't speak English, so you have to learn to communicate. As I read it, I dreamed about doing that kind of focused travel/ study for a couple of months. Except I would probably go to Honduras, Russia, Nigeria and maybe Kazakhstan. I loved the fact that she studied Italian, even though it doesn't seem 'practical'.

Despite all that I had a hard time reading the book. I can't say I completely understand why she left her marriage. It is clear that the marriage had some problems, but I don't think marriage should be set aside like an old shoe so you can go have some adventure. I think that if she really valued her marriage, there are many things she could have tried to have time and space for her passions and her marriage.

I also have hard time relating to people who have a privileged background. I know the divorce cost her much of her personal savings and assets but she is still pretty well off. She may not have felt like it at the time, but she still had many resources. Enough to rent accomodations in Italy, continue traveling while in Italy and so on.

I will say that I did like her section in Indonesia. This is probably because this seemed liked the least selfish part of her trip. Here she actually helps a few other people instead of just worrying about herself. My favorite part of the book is when she describes her friendship with a single mother. This mom is living in extreme poverty with her daughter, barely one step from being homeless, and yet she takes in two orphans. I don't know why but I loved reading about their friendship.

Last thing I didn't like is her promiscuity. She probably does not realize this is a problem, but if she doesn't become truthful with herself, it will continue to create problems for her in the future.