2 weeks ago I was in NY visiting my Mom with Zoe and I saw the book Eat, Pray, Love on her coffee table. As Zoe played with my Mom I decided to start reading it and was immediately hooked. The book is a beautiful tale of one woman's journey towards her soul and God and Ms. Gilbert is just the kind of writer I like, wrapping an interesting story around a compelling subject (in this case the search for God).
It's written in 3 distinct phases based on her travels to Italy, India and Indonesia, which to me is fascinating that she traveled to three countries whose first letter is I and yet she was taking her journey to free herself from the tyranny of the I that she had become through divorce, confused love, self-loathing, etc.
Reading a book should feel like making hot, passionate love with a woman, a free exchange of energy and passion lubricated by a common excitement. And when I'm in it, I don't want it to stop.
That's how I felt surging through this book.
It certainly puts some of my other reading into context. When I'm struggling to get through a book, I'm just going through the motions and it feels like I'm being selfish or self-centered (like I "have" to read this book). And as most of us know, when it comes to sex being selfish or self-centered may seem ok but we're missing a whole different world.
Life's too short for bad sex, isn't it?
Sexual comparisons aside, Ms. Gilbert knocked it out the park on several occasions.
- Early in the book she describes how Loneliness and Depression catch up to her like two old acquaintances in Italy. Her description of her struggle with them is breathtaking and, unfortunately, pretty familiar to me.
- While in India she describes in hilarious detail a conversation that her mind and her self have when she is trying to meditate. It ends deliciously when she yells at her mind telling it that it's driving her crazy. She gets just a few moments of respite until her mind meekly asks if she is mad at it now. It's all too familiar to me.
- She shares a conversation she had with a psychologist friend of hers who had worked at a Cambodian refugee camp who shared with Ms. Gilbert the nature of her conversations with the refugees. Ironically, those discussions generally centered around, for example, a woman who fell in love with this guy and were separated for a bit and the guy ended up with her cousin and she was upset. It's all so familiar.
Ultimately, I think that I love the book so much because it was so familiar. Often times when I read a book, I carry it around with me. Commonly someone whose read it will comment on how much they liked it (men and women). I got that comment several times with this one, except I noticed that all the comments came from women.
After talking to several friends I discovered that this book is virtually curriculum type material for women. It made it even more joyous because, as far as I can tell, I'm a man. It makes the book even more connecting and lovely to know that something like this can resonate with anyone, it doesn't matter whether you are male or female.
Admittedly, after reading it, it's one of the books that I mentally note that I really hope my daughter will eventually read. It would be awesome if she could read it as a teenager.
I would feel blessed if my daughter could express herself so nakedly, honestly like Ms. Gilbert does. She may as well learn that earlier rather than later. I know that it's the path to finding peace and a connection to one's own divinity.
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