Eat Pray Love is a story if leaving it all behind to find who you truly are. In her memoir, Liz travels to Italy, India, and Indonesia. She has a different purpose for each place. In Italy she attempts “the pursuit of pleasure”; in India she makes the “pursuit of devotion”; while in Indonesia she makes “the pursuit of balance”; all of which I feel are something we all crave to be in our own life. All in all Liz learns, through her plethora of experiences, who she is and learns the art of forgiving yourself and living by your definition of happy.
Eat Pray Love was a fantastic book. I loved the way the author used different phrases from each country. For example, in the chapter about Italy she uses un’amica stretta, which means a “close friend”. I also like how she talks about her internal struggle. There is a lot of human vs human throughout the whole book. In the beginning she walks out of her marriage, then eventually finds a guy to fill her void, then struggles with depression. It makes me feel connected to the writer and she writes out the conversations in her head with herself, which add to the connection.
The overall theme in this book is religion. While Liz doesn’t necessarily believe in God she believes in a God, she doesn’t know what it is though. She basically starts her voyage to find herself and make that connection with a greater being. The author includes a humorous and reflective tone. She makes small jokes though out. I would definitely recommend this book, especially to anyone who wants to travel or likes other cultures. Also, I think the audience for this book should be at least high school age, because of some of the language contained within the pages and some topics that are discussed.
In the beginning, Liz talks about a trip to India she had before where a medicine man gave her advice and told her some things to look out for in life. The encounter with the medicine man forshadowed events that actually happened later. One example was, he told her that she’d loose all her money but not to worry because it would all come back quickly. It happened when Liz’s ex husband finally accepted her final divroce settlement of giving basically everything. That included part of her salary and the income she gets on her previously published books. Liz became broke but then a few weeks later her publisher bought her book about her travels to these three different countries in advance, giving her more than enough to cover her expenses and what not.
In the end, Eat Pray Love was one of the best books I’ve read. The author’s rhetorical techniques captured my attention to where I didn’t want to put the book down and it inspired me to start learning Italian after the AP tests. This book has also left me wondering what I want to do with my life. It would help anyone who reads it start to wonder what their purpose is, and what there is beyond their comfort zone.
Word Count: 525
Word Count: 525
