One expectation of literature is that it transport the reader. It must have the ability to relocate the reader from his limited domestic bliss to an inflated universe of ideas filled with people, places and things that he will probably never meet or visit except for the book that he holds in two hands. By this visa Gilbert's already bestseller, Eat Pray Love, enters the realm of a well-written, transporting, memoir. A memoir that she fills with herself and invites the reader to share in the feast.
It is one book divided into three distinct parts, carefully painted by the title Eat Pray Love. The first two parts are as delicious as their settings — Italy and India. Gilbert is determined to live in Italy because she is obsessed with learning Italian. It is the most beautiful language in the world. And Rome, the city, embodies beauty and most of all "sex." I enjoyed the tales of Italy, but was anxious to get to Love, the last section of the book. Who would Elizabeth Gilbert love? So, I forced myself not to skip meals or day trips on my way there. I also kept in mind a virtual Julia Roberts as Elizabeth Gilbert, whom she will portray in the film based on the book.
I read this book, at first, in a curious and sanguine sort of way. Then I found myself with emotion and bursting into tears. I am not sure if it was because I realized that I was suddenly within one hour of completing the book and arriving at my destination where I would have to part with author Elizabeth Gilbert. Or because I read a sad truism Gilbert wrote of love — let go of the control in your life in order to allow love's unbalance to abide there.
That clarity comes near the end of the memoir. However, it does not take away from the fact that Ms. Gilbert begins her journey as a whining white woman whose privileged life is falling apart. That's a problem.
It is a problem for her and for many readers who find this book to be a selfish exercise in spiritual confusion. But let's give her a chance to explain herself and her purpose for writing Eat Pray Love. She writes it for one simple reason — to share the journey, day-by-day with the world. Her dreams tell her that she will be successful. She follows her bliss no matter how painful or absurd. She asks the reader to buy that in one short year with a multitude of help and "gurus" she has arrived — spiritually.
Article comments