Meh ( )

Elizabeth Gilbert estava com quase trinta anos e tinha tudo o que sempre quis: um marido apaixonado, uma casa nova e espaçosa, o projeto de ter filhos e uma carreira de sucesso. Mas ao invés de sentir-se feliz e realizada, sentia-se confusa, triste e em pânico. Enfrentou um divórcio, uma depressão debilitante e outro amor fracassado. Até que decidiu tomar uma decisão radical: livrou-se de todos os bens materiais, demitiu-se do emprego, e partiu sozinha para uma viagem de um ano pelo mundo. O objetivo de Gilbert era visitar três lugares onde pudesse examinar aspectos de sua própria natureza, tendo como cenário uma cultura que, tradicionalmente, fosse especialista em cada um deles. Assim, decidiu explorar a arte do prazer na Itália, a arte da devoção na Índia, e, na Indonésia, a arte de equilibrar as duas coisas. Escrito com ironia, humor e inteligência, o best-seller de Elizabeth Gilbert é um relato sobre a importância de assumir a responsabilidade pelo próprio contentamento e parar de viver conforme os ideais da sociedade. É um livro para qualquer um que já tenha se sentido perdido, ou pensado que deveria existir um caminho diferente, e melhor. ( )

Better than I thought it would be but not great and definitely problematic ( )

Human Spirit

I re-read this book that I originally read when it was first published because I came across my hard copy of it when I was going through books to donate as I continue my downsizing project. And it begins with the letter "E,” which fills a prompt in The 52 Book Club. I loved the first third of the book and felt lukewarm about the remaining two-thirds. My opinion did not change on my second reading of it.

Three stars is generous, but I really did think the first third was quite well-done. I could relate to the implosion of her marriage (although I had married much longer and had three sons), which she explored in that first third (the "eat" part, I call it), although what differs is that unlike many people who are reeling from the disintegration of their marriages, she had enough money to go off and travel comfortably for a year, trying to find herself. I could relate to her emotional relationship with food in the "eat" section as well. This description was exquisite: “Sausages of every imaginable size, color and derivation are stuffed like ladies’ legs into provocative stockings, swinging from the ceilings of the butcher shops. Lusty buttocks of hams hang in the windows, beckoning like Amsterdam’s high-end hookers. The chickens look so plump and contented even in death that you imagine they offered themselves up for sacrifice proudly, after competing among themselves in life to see who could become the moistest and the fattest. But it’s not just the meat that’s wonderful in Lucca; it’s the chestnuts, the peaches, the tumbling displays of figs, dear God, the figs…”

I thought the "pray" third of the book was the weakest, and had I not been so in love with the first third, it might have been a DNF. This section is set in an ashram in India, where Ms. Gilbert tries to find serenity through meditation and prayer. I have read and enjoyed far better accounts of such spiritual journeys, so it was not that the subject matter was uninteresting to me; I just found the whole section fell flat.

The final section, "love", takes place in Bali, where Ms. Gilbert tries to synthesize all she has learned about herself in the previous parts of her journey. She settles on advice provided by an old medicine man, Ketut, who she meets there: “To meditate, only you must smile. Smile with face, smile with mind, and good energy will come to you and clean away dirty energy. Even smile in your liver.” To me, it was a lot better than the second part, but it did not live up to the promise of the first part. This is not a criticism of Ms. Gilbert and her choices, just my opinion that two thirds of the book did not live up to the promise of the first, and unfortunately, that disappointment I felt is reflected in my rating. ( )