A Book Review by Mia C.

Eat, Pray Love is a funny, witty and attentive grabbing book.

When writer Liz survives a horrifically difficult and exhausting divorce and her love affair ends badly, she decides to take a year of travel in search of the best of everything across Italy, India and Indonesia.

Italy is famous for its food, India is famous for its devotional prayer and practice, and Indonesia is famous for love and the balance of all things.

Following the many foreign adventures she undertakes made me not only yet again dream of moving to Italy, but it gave me insight into the wonders of Indian and Indonesian cultures which I found to be fascinating.

One of the best components of this book is the fact that it’s a true story. I love the fact that the author actually went to all of the places in the book.

For example, the country that has the best pizza in the world is Italy. In Italy, the small village of Naples is famous for making the best pizza in Italy. In Naples there is one, small, crowded pizzeria that makes the best pizza in Naples.

Therefore, by transitive property, doesn’t that pizzeria make the best pizza in the whole world?

This book is chalk full of humor and innocence like eating the best pizza in the world; or the author’s eyes “burning as the pant size sky rocketed even higher”.

This book offers a nice contrast to have I have recently read; because the author happens not to be a stressed, shallow teenage girl whose life is dominated by the fact she’s a) anorexic or b) is in love with a guy who is dating the “most popular girl in school”.

The author is, in fact, a full grown woman who had real issues and real loves and meaningful thoughts. Liz Gilbert (who is the author and the main character) has a much more complex emotional life and mind than the main character of Confessions of a Not It Girl.

Liz, as a flawed human, is so much more likable and easy to relate to. I especially love her self talk, when you’re not sure if “you” and “your mind” are actually separate or are the same thing.

For example:

Me: Okay, we’re going to mediate now. Let’s draw attention to our breath and focus on the mantra. Oh manah shiva.

Mind: I can help you with this, you know!

Me: Okay, good. I need your help; let’s go. Oh manah shiva.

Mind: I can help you think of really nice meditative images. Oh! Here’s a good one: Imagine you’re on a temple on an isle! And the isle is in the ocean!

Me: Oh, that is a nice image.

Mind: Thanks, I thought it up myself.

Eat, Pray, Love is the kind of book to curl up reading on a rainy day; because it brings a little brightness into your life.

The dialogue is witty and delightful and the characters are completely believable and lovable. Richard from Texas; whom the author calls her “Big Texan Guru” is probably my favorite character of all.

Richard is the kind of person who asked God to give him a sign that his heart was open; and ironically, he ended up having open heart surgery. His heart opened up very wide indeed.

Another thing I love about this book is how this year is only a segment in Liz Gilbert’s life. Eat, Pray, Love was written so well that I was breathless to find out what she did after her adventurous year of world travel.

In fact, I even googled her to find what she does now. (She leads an intriguing life, by the way.) This book was merely a segment in her life.

I wished the book could go on forever with its insights on foreign culture and religion and love. I usually don’t read memoirs, because often memoirs are dry and written in a monotone that drones on forever; stretching across the pages until the blessed day when the book ends.

Sadly, this book ended too fast for me. Like The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian, Eat, Pray, Love is endearing and witty. Compared to Memoirs of a Geisha, the character is just as genuine and affable.

I would rate this book a ‘9’ because I found it to be such a joy to read. It was funny, lighthearted and truly profound.

Eat, Pray, Love was rich in all different types of experiences; from eating the best pizza in the world to talking to Richard from Texas to speaking “American” on a beach in Indonesia.

I wish I could more books that have the same aura and the opportunity to witness character growth as in Eat, Pray, Love.