Eat, Pray, Love.

Book Review of Elizabeth Gilbert's Eat, Pray, Love.

Shortly after hearing about Elizabeth Gilbert from the raving readers of “The Last American Man” I instinctively decided to discover for myself what the big deal was about. Having worked my way through only 1/6th of her last book “Eat, Pray, Love” I can corroborate that she is in fact, a big deal.

Apart from holding high regard for her as a captivating writer, which I think she is indisputably highly successful at, I find myself admiring her as a person. She is a world traveller and both a fearless and shameless narrator of her chronicles, with no unpleasantries spared. This gentility in self revelation along with an easy comfort level around otherwise contentious issues swept me off my feet, knocked my socks off, held me completely captive... All other cliché expressions aside, I have fallen in love with this writer, her life, the stories of her life and the narrations of her stories.

What brings me to write about it though is far beyond any of the humour and charm that is brilliantly entwined in the groundwork of this book- it is the sense of ‘do-what-you-want’ that is exciting and inspirational. Gilbert may or may not have meant to write an inspirational script of her adventures. That is, however, what stands out most. She has picked up on matters that most others have written off as ‘normal’, ‘acceptable’ or ‘expected’ and has questioned and challenged their very framework and logic. She shares her observations of and wisdom on how we North Americans spend more time defining pleasure and taking measures to ensure we deserve it, than seeking and enjoying it. We are so encapsulated by the concept of ‘duty’ that the notion of ever doing what we want seems almost morbid to us. In fact, even the mile long road to discovering what we really want (because face it, not all of us do) would involve having to viciously strip away all the North American layers of society that harbour the little voices that wake us up every morning to a job we might hate, converse hospitably with people we may have no regard for, oblige us to live up to expectations that aren’t ours, and fulfill responsibilities we never agreed to assume.

Personally, I am a tad too fed up with the rigid consequentiality North Americans have so obviously cultivated and harboured. This is not to say that I am much different from the generic category of ‘North Americans’ I have used and overused in this little rant. I too find myself too caught up with results to pay heed to the process more times than Gilbert would deem healthy. But let yourself marvel at the adventures that transpire when you stop trying to live in imitation of society’s ideals and let your youthful spirit carve its course. Gilbert’s story is one that is sure to touch anyone who has woken up to the unrelenting need for change.