Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

This month's Book Club pick, in honour of Cyn's non-fiction fetish, we have chosen Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert.  I did resist at first - my first exposure to the whole thing was Gilbert's appearance on Oprah after all.  And the idea of a woman finding herself after a bitter divorce, but only able to do so by running away from her life... well, that didn't sit right.  Anyway, like a trooper, I waded in.

Eat: It was the food that seduced me.  And while I can never embark on my own no-carb-left-behind mission without throwing out all my clothes and purchasing only muumuus, I can understand the passion Gilbert feels for food.  If only ... if only.

Pray: the ascetic road has never been my calling and I love that, after all that binging, Gilbert moves on the Great Purge.  The characters at the Ashram (and I have to believe they are characters, because do people like this really exist?) are what kept me going through the often intangible moments of God.  I like Gilbert's relationship with God - I think it merits some exploration - but I also find it intensely personal, and thereby completely, well, "indescribable" to the rest of us.

Love: it wasn't the romance that I found appealing about this third of the book - it was ability for Gilbert to finally love herself.  She could allow her mind to be quiet, because it wasn't full of berating sentiment.  If only we all had our own artist's residence in a far-off destination where we could permit ourselves to be open to pain and judgement and shame and when we do, let it all pour out of us so we can go ahead and start filling ourselves back up with air and light and good.

If there is one thing I am taking away from this book, it is the practice of sitting-still-and-smiling for a little while every day.  I started this morning.  It was... interesting.  If you've ever found yourself face down on a metaphorical bathroom floor with nothing but your muffled sobs and your inner demons ranting at you, I'm not saying you'll find salvation in the pages of this book...but you will find Gilbert's.