by Elizabeth Gilbert, 2006
She goes through a divorce – “I don’t want to be married anymore.” And then a broken heart with David. So she decides to spend a year in Italy, India, and Indonesia (Bali). Italy = pursuit of pleasure – food and the language but mostly all about her. India – Ashram – yoga – finding God. Beginning of book – “And while I do love that great teacher of Peace who was called Jesus … I can’t swallow that one fixed rule of Christianity insisting that Christ is the only path to God.” That’s my problem with this woman – she gets to travel, getting paid for it (to write this book), thinking she’s all messed up because she doesn’t want to be married, so divorces, loves David but it’s a rotten love affair, gets to take a year off to recover. It’s all about her and her misguided search for life’s answers because she can’t accept Jesus. She thinks she found God but I’m afraid she found the Devil instead – all of her chanting and meditations, the four brothers, etc. But she’ll keep insisting she has finally found peace and love and God. Yucch! I thought it would be more about travel in those places but it’s mostly all about her and her psychological state at the time. Over and over and over again. Finally, in Bali, the pace picks up and we get more of a glimpse of Bali – what a beautiful island! There she fall in love with Felipe, a Brazilian ex-pat, 52 years old (she’s only 35 when writing this book). Really, he loves her, adores her, and wins her over.
This book has been on the bestseller’s list for months. I don’t understand, we don’t want to encourage her. She’s just a narcissistic, spoiled brat.