In her early thirties, Elizabeth Gilbert had everything a modern American woman was supposed to want--husband, country home, successful career--but instead of feeling happy and fulfilled, she felt consumed by panic and confusion. This wise and rapturous book is the story of how she left behind all these outward marks of success, and of what she found in their place. Following a divorce and a crushing depression, Gilbert set out to examine three different aspects of her nature, set against the backdrop of three different cultures: pleasure in Italy, devotion in India, and on the Indonesian island of Bali, a balance between worldly enjoyment and divine transcendence.
Finally, I am done reading the book. Eat Pray Love is the first memoir I have ever read, and to sum it up in a word: empowering.
As mentioned in the synopsis, Eat Pray Love chronicles Elizabeth Gilbert's journey to three countries after a devastating divorce, trying to find herself and her happiness. This memoir is something that would appeal to a lot of women, especially those who are currently unhappy or confused. Early on in her book, I found out that I was able to relate to her almost completely. These lines feel like I could have written them myself:
...I disappear into the person I love. I am the permeable membrane. If I love you, you can have my everything. You can have my time, my devotion, my ass, my money, my family, my dog, my dog's money, my dog's time--everything. If I love you, I will carry for you all your pain, I will assume for you all your debts (in every definition of the word), I will protect you from your own insecurity, I will project upon you all sorts of good qualities that you have never actually cultivated in yourself and I will buy Christmas presents for your entire family. I will give you the sun and the rain, and if they are not available, I will give you a sun check and a rain check. I will give you all this and more, until I get so exhausted and depleted that the only way I can recover my energy is by becoming infatuated with someone else.
And no, that doesn't mean I like to cheat. I've just noticed that I could never get over a person until I found someone else. Rebound relationships? Not good.
Later on, there is another paragraph that I can almost consider mine.
I have a history of making decisions very quickly about men. I have always fallen in love fast and without measuring risks. I have a tendency not only to see the best in everyone, but to assume that everyone is emotionally capable of reaching his highest potential. I have fallen in love more times than I care to count with the highest potential of a man, rather than with the man himself, and then I have hung on to the relationship for a long time (sometimes far too long) waiting for the man to ascend to his own greatness. Many times in romance I have been a victim of my own optimism.
This very accurately describes all relationships I've had in the past.
For me, Eat Pray Love has been extremely timely and helpful. It's like a wake-up call, making me realize mistakes I've been doing with my life. It has also allowed me to be more spiritual and to be closer to my God, to always be thankful of whatever comes my way, and to do good to the world. But perhaps the most important thing this book has given me is cementing the belief that everything I need to be happy is not out there, but already inside me. I just need to look for it and find it.
It's amazing how you can feel like you're the only one going through the feelings and emotions that you're experiencing... and then you read something like this, someone who writes as though they're telling your story, and you realize, you're not alone. It makes it just a little easier to think that you have 'sisters' who feel as intensely as you. I love these quotes, thank you for sharing.
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