Eat, Pray, Love has a lot of fans. It’s currently #1 on the New York Times paperback bestseller list, and has been on the list for 26 weeks. There are over 1 million copies of the paperback in print. I decided to see what all the fuss was about, and was absolutely not disappointed.
At the age of thirty-four, Elizabeth Gilbert was a successful writer and lived in a big house in suburban New York, when she decided this “good life” wasn’t for her. After a terrible divorce and even more terrible bout of depression, she sets out on a quest. Gilbert decides to travel the world for one year to find pleasure in Italy, find God (whomever He may be) in India, and find balance in Indonesia.
Though her divorce and ensuing depression are not the focus of this story, the few pages she does dedicate to them are heart wrenchingly real and endear Gilbert to the reader almost instantly. From there, the story unfolds naturally, as Gilbert set out on her journey to heal and find out what she really wants in life.
It doesn’t sound like a very original concept, but Gilbert’s honesty that makes this story stand out (both in my heart and on bestseller lists from here to kingdom come). Gilbert poured her own heart onto every page so the reader understands her emotions perfectly. More importantly, Gilbert begins to best understand herself during this therapeutic journey. The reader feels like a part of her healing.
It’s poignant how much Gilbert changes during this year abroad. The story becomes something of a 34-year-old’s coming of age tale. She married young, and assumed she’d want the big house in the suburbs with kids and a Labrador. When she doesn’t, her whole life turns upside down. Gilbert is at her best when she wonders, somewhere in between Bologna and Sicily, with whom she will sit at her next family reunion, when everyone splits into kids, adolescents, parents, and grandparents.
Gilbert literally travels the world, but also travels inside herself while meditating in India. When she describes attaining heightened awareness during a particularly successful meditation session, this reader (who has never attempted to meditate but is now yearning to try) was riveted. Reading of a particularly delicious slice of pizza, you taste the buffalo mozzarella and immediately wish Gilbert would order seconds (she does, of course).
So many woman dream of throwing it all overboard, forgetting the traditional life in order to set out on a quest of their own, whether it be to travel the world, or just to travel outside their hometown. And some women actually do it. I think the popularity of Eat, Pray, Love proves that the dreamers are finding a lifetime of dreams inside the pages of this book – and telling all their friends about it. I know I will.
Author Forum on Elizabeth Gilbert