Recommendation of "Eat, Pray, Love"

This book would be highly recommended amongst my fellow AP students and anyone else out there.  It’s filled with such adventure, romance, how she faced challenges in life and can even give you a different perspective in life.  Just gives hope that there are ways to find true happiness within oneself and to never give up when the going gets tough.  However, this book has its moments where it can be hard to follow along when she goes into precise details about the history of places she visits.  Also, this book is about a menopausal woman and can be quit difficult to understand and relate to with what Elizabeth is going through when at a younger age.

What I Considered the Best Chapter of This Book

              Traveling through Italy, India and Indonesia with Elizabeth Gilbert have been exciting, interesting and even convincing enough to make me want to go out and seek self discovery.  However, I would have to say that the chapter about Indonesia was the most interesting.  Don’t get me wrong and all that Italy was about a fun, pure pleasure seeking adventure, along the loveliest language, Italian, which she adores just as much as I love French.  But Indonesia is the one place I would have never guessed of going on a self-seeking adventure.  Indonesia was filled with a lot of happy greeting moments and meeting such interesting new people that become friends of her.  The way Ketut Liyer lived his life as a medicine man was so interesting and then comes along this very outgoing woman who owns her own medicine shop, Wayang.  Just her personal story of life and her hardships tugged at the heartstrings and made you want to fly all the way over there, give Wayang and her family a giant hug and say “Everything’s going to be all right.”  Then I wasn’t expecting Elizabeth to raise the money herself for Wayang to help her find a house and support her family.  Just the chain reaction that spreaded!  To top it all off Elizabeth faces love straight in the face and she has come such a long way on her self-seeking journey that she accepts it! 

Elizabeth Gilbert's Tone From a Page in "Eat, Pray, Love"

“It ws in a bathtub back in New York, reading Italian words aloud from a dictionary, that I first started mending my soul.  My life had gone to bits and I was so unrecognizable to myself that I probably couldn’t have picked me out of a police lineup.  But I felt a glimmer of happiness when I started studying Italian, and when you sense a faint potentiality for happiness after such dark times you must grab onto the ankles of that happiness and not let go until it drags you face-first out of the dirt – this is not selfishness, buy obligation.  You were given life; it is your duty (and also your entitlement as a human being) to find something beautiful within life, no matter how slight.” (115)

          This paragraph in Elizabeth Gilbert’s “Eat, Pray, Love” book really explains how important happiness really is.  Without it your life is thrown into shambles, confusion, depression, hurtfulness and even pain.  Of course everyone experiences it differently and from this paragraph Elizabeth describes it being something so indispensable and vital to your life that you need to hold onto it and never let go in order to face the difficulties in life.  Her use of comparison to the difficulties and the use of pathos involving the explained relation to a police lineup, being dragged in the dirt and just being a human being all allow her to reach a certain level of understanding with her audience, the readers, and those having trouble with happiness.

Most Important Occurences Throughout "Eat, Pray, Love" (spoiler alert!)

Italy - 
          Lonely and Depression take hold of Elizabeth again in Italy.  After experimenting with a few days of not taking her depression medication, she begins to notice her struggles.  With the first sign of struggle she reaches for her most private notebook.  After writing down questions in which she seeks help to, she begins to write down the reply from her mind/thoughts.  These encouraging words of love help keep her strong and take hold of a grip in her life.  To hang in there, and that he (God) will always be there for her. 

Italy -
           Elizabeth runs into an Australian girl on her way to Slovenia and is seeking directions. This makes Elizabeth realize that she isn’t just a traveler anymore, but more of a citizen in Italy. She can take her life in her own hands and do what she wants to do.  And searching for the best pizza in Naples with Sophie and thanks to David's directions, is just one of those privileges.  There’s more than just two simple choices to life.

Italy -

           Elizabeth has come to the conclusion to let David go.  This is a very difficult situation for her to bring to an end because she has loved David dearly.  But with this love there just wasn’t enough affection that she needed from David.  After sitting down for lunch with her Mother in New York, her mother reveals that those needs that Elizabeth seeks, were also what she had to endure with.  There were sacrifices her life that she made for her husband, whom she loved dearly.  But Elizabeth realizes that “something about my recent joy in Naples has made me certain that I not only can find happiness without David, but must.” (84)  So she breaks the news to David through an email and he responds with acknowledgement and even says that “beauty attracts beauty” will still play a role when it comes to searching for that significant other out there. 

India-

          Waking up late one morning while in the Ashram, Elizabeth was worried about missing the Gurugita, a vital spiritual practice next to meditation, in which there’s chanting.  She goes to the door, only to find it looked is bewildered as how her roommate could lock her in if she could sees her sleeping in this small room.  So Elizabeth shows dedication (not knowing that yet) to the Gurugita by climbing out of the window, falling two stories, and badly scrapping her leg.  Not realizing till when she’s in meditation and she hears Swamiji mention in her mind that’s funny-you sure act like somebody who wants to be here (168).

After confronting her roommate about locking her in, she finds out that Delia would never even have thought about doing such a thing.  Espically after having a vivid dream about her last night in which she would need an escape exit.

 

Indonesia-

                  Having finally arrived in Indonesia, Elizabeth sets off in search of Ketut Liyer.  As soon as she receives information from Mario about where he lives, they both set off to go greet him.  From the beginning Ketut has a hard time remembering who Elizabeth was, but as soon as she mentions that she's the book writer, the book writer from New York his face goes translucent with joy, turns bright and pure and transparent.  This slow happy greeting from the beginning evolving into a sparked memory really shows how ecstatic they both were with this reunion.

 

Indonesia-

                 Thanks to a Brazilian friend of Elizabeth introduced by Wayan, she met her Indonesia lover. Armenia knew another Brazilian expat in Ubud and he was hosting a special event at a nice restaurant and she invited Elizabeth to enjoy a night in Bali with her.  This was where she met her Indonesian lover.  All thanks to Armenia’s invitation to this party.

 

Indonesia -

                   After hearing about Wayan's financial troubles and her eviction approaching, Elizabeth set out for help.  She sent a long heartfelt email to her friends telling them about Wayan's troubles, having to handle three children on her on, and now is approaching eviction.  Elizabeth asks to from the kindness of their hearts to send at least some donations to help out Wayan and her children.  The next day and the days to come, Elizabeth gets so many replies from her friends and notices the chain reaction of donations coming in.  All in all, $18,000 was raised to help Wayn Nuriyasih get a home of her own.  From this a message she receives from her friend Bob in Utah, that really helps Elizabeth realized this all around ironic circle.  "When you set out in the world to help yourself, you inevitably end up helping...Tutti." (274).  For tutti in Italian means "everybody".

 

Indonesia -

                  As the end of July was approaching so was Elizabeth's thirty-fifth birthday.  Wayan had decided to throw her a birthday party in her shop and it turns out to be quite unlike any birthday party that she has ever experienced before.  Those that celebrated were amongst Wayans brother whose younger children were gifted dancers in temple ceremonies and they danced for in that restaurant right then and there, staging a haunting, gorgeous performance usually offered only to priests.  With a gathering of friends, family and even customers that stopped by in the shop that day, this truly made one of Elizabeth's birthdays the most unique and forgettable moments she's ever experienced.