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Book Review of Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia

Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia
braelynsmom avatar reviewed on
Helpful Score: 3


We met tonight to discuss EAT PRAY LOVE, for my book club. As it turns out, I was the only person that read the entire book. Nobody liked it, and stopped reading it half way through the India portion. The book is about a women that goes on a quest to find peace and destiny by traveling to Italy, India, and Indonesia. This adventure takes place after a divorce and then break up to the man she fell in love with after her marriage ended. She is in her 30's, never had children, and finds herself struggling with living out the "dream". I, too, had a hard time reading this book because she is a person that talks to the many voices in her head, including conversations with people (ie ex husband) in her head, and this is so ANNOYING to me. For instance, she's in Italy and is admiring the beauty of a plate of food in front of her and she writes that she hears her ex in her head say, " is this what you left me for?", and she replied, "first of all, we are divorced and what i do is none of your business and second of all...to answer your question, YES." and all the while I'm thinking....FIRST OF ALL HE'S NOT EVEN HERE. HE'S IN AMERICA AND YOU ARE IN ITALY TALKING TO VOICES IN YOUR HEAD....CRAZY!. Other things annoyed me to, like when her first thought to being locked in a room in India was to jump out a two story window. Then keeping record of her conversations with herself ie...me: "says....." and mind: "says....."etc. This makes my head hurt. Or, praying to her guru's dead guru. Really, about that time I was wishing we were reading a joke book about farts! And it just drags on. Then she's sitting in a swarm of mosquitoes and choosing to let her body become a friggin bug buffet as a tactic to feeling closer to God. She said it was to counteract the "westernized" views of not having patience in uncomfortable circumstances, but i feel that life brings enough pain and situations beyond our control...so what's wrong with the "doing" of what we can control? like moving your ass away from bugs that are biting you! and God can hear my prayers just as clearly as yours, and im at home with the ac on! Also, she goes to visit a medicine man, in Indonesia, that tells her about four brothers that everyone is born with in the spirit world. They were embodied in the afterbirth, upon our arrival apparently, and their job is to protect you all the days of your life. After hearing this, of course she gets hit by a bus the next day and flung into a ditch! lol. And who does she go to for help? Yes, back to the medicine man that told her about her bunk ass protectors. And this is the best part....in regard to her injuries, he tells her she needs to go see a doctor! OMG. The doctor she meets is my favorite character in the book, and def made it worth finishing for me. Luv that lady! HILARIOUS. Also, she finds love again which I thought was wonderful in more ways then one. First, no more masturbating to bill clinton fantasies (eww...vomit). Second, i got to live out my frustrations from her being so damn annoying. This of course was vicariously, in the form of a bladder infection, from being oversexed. In the end, she does find the peace and destiny she is looking for, and this lead me to being thankful. Our paths are different, but if they both lead to peace and fulfillment in the end...really, who cares how we got there? I'm also thankful for a clear and sound mind, and being able to find this peace and fulfillment in my own life, and without leaving my country to boot! Also, I am thankful that she was able to help someone else in a very big way*the female doctor*. I have always believed that the most important gifts in life are the ones that keep on giving.