Review: Eat Pray Love

"There's a reason we refer to 'leap of faith' - because the decision to consent to any notion of divinity is a mighty jump from the rational over to the unknowable, and I don't care how diligently scholars of every religion will try to sit you down with their stacks of books and prove to you through scripture that their faith is indeed rational; it isn't. If faith were rational, it wouldn't be - by definition - faith."


Eat Pray Love recounts the detailed bits of the Elizabeth Gilbert's sabbatical leave from her usual world to dedicate one year of her life to traveling and soul-searching. Gilbert, the author, is jumping out of norms when she decided to end her marriage with a divorce, quit her job, and travel to 3 different countries to come to terms with herself again.

Incidentally, these 3 countries all begin with "I" - Italy, India and Indonesia. For 4 months in each country, Elizabeth tried to learn new things. In Italy, she learned the pleasure of eating and speaking Italian. In India, she confined herself to a meditation camp where she found her own definition of prayer. And finally, in Indonesia, she tried to find balance between the earthly and the divine.

Just how many of us could really do this? If I can sum up this book in one word, I'd say it's all about faith. And it's not just about believing in a great transcendent being, but in my opinion, also more about believing in oneself against all forms of rationality.

I am forever in search of my own god whom I can totally trust and depend on. Much to my dismay, I have been a very passive traveler of this temporary world. Thus, it's the main reason I am totally gripped by Elizabeth Gilbert's book, Eat Pray Love. She didn't wait for any big and dramatic transformation upon herself, instead changed her life by taking small and rather tedious steps.

Elizabeth Gilbert charmed me with her very candid narrative that I felt I was only listening to her storytelling instead of reading it. I loved her honesty, from how she gained 23 lbs because of all the eating in Italy, to succumbing to her physical sexual need. Perhaps, her honesty is one of her strengths that led her to a very magnificent transformation. After all, it all starts with one's acceptance of insecurities and misgivings.

Incidentally, Eat Pray Love is now a movie. It will be shown this year starring Julia Roberts.