Book Review #1

I have decided to expand my leisure reading and so with that, I will be doing a few Book Reviews. I got the idea because the book that I am about to review I have heard off the wall things that were untrue about this book, and I know it has kept people from reading it including a sister of mine. Nothing bothers me more than when people lie about something or blow it out of proportion and it keeps people away... in this case a book.

sorry the picture is so small, but you get the picture!

Eat, Pray, Love

One Women's Search for everything across

Italy, India, and Indonesia

by Elizabeth Gilbert

Some of you have heard of this title because it is also a movie starring Julia Roberts. It is a true story about Elizabeth Gilbert, Liz who is in a marriage and she is entering her early 30's and her husband wants a baby and she does not, she is not happy and so she divorces her husband. In the mean time she moves in with a guy friend that is younger than her and things happen to where that doesn't last. She writes books for a living, living in New York and she travels for her job. On one trip she meets a medicine man in Indonesia, and he reads her palm. After this she decides to sell her apartment and belongings and go on a year long trip. She will first live in Italy and take Italian classes, and travel around Europe. Than she will go home for Christmas than move to India and live in an Ashram and learn how to meditate and do yoga and be at peace, and than she will finish her trip in Indonesia assisting the medicine man.

By my doing a review of this book it does not mean that I completely agree with her lifestyle but this as I said before was going out of my comfort zone. I am not a big nonfiction reader and so this was my first. After I heard horrible reviews of this book from several people, including that this women got on Oprah and said harsh things about women who don't have sex before marriage, and that the book was filled with swearing, I must say that is not true. There are maybe 2 swear words in this book, and I think she says one. It you want to read a book filled with swearing read Julie/Julia... now that will turn your head. After her marriage ends she is not happy with being married and so plans to never again. There is a follow up book called "Committed" where she and the man she meets in the end move back to the States together and so they have to get married, and so she does talk about how that is a hard thing, but reading this book I tried not to have any presumptions about how it would go. It was boring, all the talk about the religion that she lives and how she meditates and such, but it was interesting. It took me about a month to read it, and I would read it at night before falling asleep, so it wasn't a book I couldn't put down. I

I had a long talk with my older sister who has a BA in English and she told me that in your profession (that is what I want my BA in someday) you have to read a lot of books you don't necessarily agree with, and you just have to use your own judgement. I chose to read this book, and I will keep it because it was interesting, and a learning experience. We members of the church don't agree with her lifestyle but she is the natural man, she grew up in New York and she had two houses and a ton of money, so of course not the normal lifestyle for many of us. I am not saying it's ok to read this book, I am just saying if you want to, than do, it's not as bad as everyone says it is.

I will warn you, in the end when she meets Felipe there is some sexual talk and so it's a little bit more than I bargained for, but nothing worse than a Nicholas Sparks book.