Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
Spoiler-Free Synopsis:
Following her divorce, Elizabeth Gilbert decides to set off on a year-long journey to Italy, India, and Indonesia to explore the relationship and balance between pleasure and peace as well as to discover herself. She writes in a comical style which combines her own experiences with some history and deeper explanation of the places she goes and decisions she makes. The book follows her introspection and development.
Spoiler-Free Review:
I had honestly mixed feelings throughout the journey of this book. I was totally intrigued by the idea of self-discovery through travel, and the fact that it was based on true experience felt all the more special as I figured the takeaways would be all the more helpful. One of my main hesitancies to like the book was what I felt to be the narcissism of the main character. She was definitely likable and intelligent, but I can’t lie that I got tired hearing about her. And she is not to blame! It is her book about her so she should write about herself. I just started losing interest. Still, she introduced other characters very well and definitely had me interested in the outcome. While it is supposedly an entirely true story, I thought much of it seemed just too perfect. Like her journey from eating to praying to loving was such a perfect path that it seemed like it had to be fiction. I guess the fact that it’s true is a bit heart-warming. All three segments of the book were great in their own ways. I loved all of the Italian phrases that were introduced in the first Italy section. I loved the India section, and all of the information about meditation and prayer rituals, as well as the challenges and eventual success that Liz faced. Richard from Texas was a funny comic relief in that section as well, as it seemed like it would have been easy to become isolated. The sense of community and love that emerged in Bali was also nice to read. Overall, the book was very happy and hope-inspiring.
Tabbed Quotes:
“Looking for truth is not some kind of spazzy free-for-all, not even during this, the great age of the spazzy free-for-all” (1)
“The great Sufi poet and philosopher Rumi once advised his students to write down the three things they most wanted in life. If any item on the list clashes with any other item, Rumi warned, you are destined for unhappiness” (30)
“But I stop to lean against a balustrade and watch the sunset, and I get to thinking a little too much, and then my thinking turns to brooding, and that’s when [depression and loneliness] catch up with me… though I admit that I am surprised to meet them in this elegant Italian garden at dusk. This is no place they belong” (48)
“Longing to travel while you are already traveling is, I admit, a kind of greedy madness” (81)
“You should never give yourself a chance to fall apart because, when you do, it becomes a tendency and it happens over and over again. You must practice staying strong, instead” (144)
“This is what we are like. Collectively, as a species, this is our emotional landscape. I met an old lady once, almost one hundred years old, and she told me, ‘There are only two questions that human beings have ever fought over, all through history. how much do you love me? And who’s in charge?” Everything else is somehow manageable. But these two questions of love and control undo us all, trip us up and cause war, grief and suffering. And both of them, unfortunately (or maybe obviously), are what I’m dealing with at this Ashram” (165)
“You make serious face like this, you scare away good energy. To meditate, only you must smile. Smile with face, smile with mind, and good energy will come to you and clean away dirty energy. Even smile in your liver.” (241)
“Happiness is the consequence of personal effort. You fight for it, strive for it, insist upon it, and sometimes and sometimes even travel around the world looking for it. You have to participate relentlessly in the manifestations of your own blessings. And once you have achieved a state of happiness, you must never become lax about maintaining it, you must make amighty effort to keep swimming upward into that happiness forever, to stay afloat on top of it. If you don’t, you will leak away your innate contentment” (272)
"She said ‘I know cure for broken heart.’ Authoritatively, and in a doctorly manner, Wayan ticked off on her fingers the six elements of her Fail-Proof Broken-Heart Curing Treatment: ‘Vitamin E, get much sleep, drink much water, travel to a place far away from the person you loved, meditate and teach your heart that his is destiny” (276)
“When you set out in the world to help yourself, you inevitably end up helping…Tutti” (287)
“To lose balance sometimes for love is part of living a balanced life” (312)
Words and Phrases (because there were a few specials):
“Locutions” — “words from the supernatural that enter the mind spontaneously, translated into your own language and offering you heavenly consolation”
Una buona forchetta — a good fork — in other words, a good eater
Acqua e sapone — soap and water — an endearing compliment implying a pureness
Bel far niente — the beauty of doing nothing
Parla come magni — speak the way you eat; say it like you eat it — “When you’re searching for the right words keep your language as simple and direct as Roman food. Just lay it on the table” (91)
Yoga — union — root word “yuj” meaning “to yoke” — to attach yourself to a task at hand with ox-like discipline
Turiya state — the elusive fourth level of human consciousness
Most of us move through three different levels — waking, dreaming, or deep dreamless sleep
This fourth level, turiya, is the awareness that brings these other three levels together (like being able to recall your dreams)
This witness of all other states, this turiya state, indicates the presence of God
Paradise — comes from Persian and literally means “a walled garden”
