Eat Pray Love

I've accepted the fact that I sometimes read books I would judge to be “sort of trash” in my obscure internal I-totally-judge-books-by-their-covers mind. Sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn't. Either way I like taking risks in the books I choose to read, and this one it seems is maddeningly polarizing in its goodreads reviews. People either love it or hate it wayyyy too strongly (IMHO of course). They're upset that the book isn't written how they would have done things. The author is being so honest in showing her vulnerability and shortcomings that some readers leap at the chance to compare themselves and judge her to be unworthy of their superior choices and attachments.... However, that is to be expected, this is a New York best selling book. To be honest I don't usually read books from that list, mainly because of the fact that just because a book sells well, doesn't mean it's a great book. Being on that list also means a lot of people will both love and hate the titles on it to varying degrees with the fiercest of passions. I held off reading it for so long because of these and so many reasons, primarily being that I just didn't think the book would interest me.
So one day in a Netflix induced chick flick, rom com, wine-drinking stupor... I watched the movie. (My theory that watching a movie BEFORE reading the book being often the safest method of consuming both media may have something to do with why I liked the movie, rather than being disappointed with it.) So a few days ago I decided to read the book, after a particularly funny Big Bang rerun in which Raj most passionately states that “Eat Pray Love changed my life.” reminded me that I did in fact want to read this book.

Ok so I didn't find it mind-blowingly life-changingly magical. It was good. A nice story about a woman who lost touch with herself after years of letting her life “happen to” her and failing miserably to regain the balance
she needed to feel happy and at peace in her soul. She had the means to be able to find herself through travel to exotic places and as a writer, wrote about her experiences. As this was, for her, a journey of self discovery it is understandably all about her and her thought patterns, changes and growth. So it reads the same way as I write my journal entries to myself. Which is to say it reads like you are an observer, reading this woman's journal about her Italian, Indian, and Indonesian journey towards balance between her spirituality and her pleasures in life. Along the way she heals her self (not one word on purpose) and finds things she didn't even know she was seeking.

Overall a good read. Nothing fancy. It's just watching someone else's journey, and yes there are a few words of wisdom throughout, but all in all its just someone's story that they've had the means and opportunity to share with the world.