i'd heard a lot of buzz surrounding this book. i love books about food (check) and travel (check) so i knew i'd like this one. it is a #1 NY times bestseller afterall. while i don't normally read things that are very recent and have been wanting to read a lot of classics on my list, this one fell into my hands. once i started, it was practically over.
many of the issues in this book i cannot relate to: marriage, divorce, life at 35, and meditation. this is not to say i've never meditated or wanted to, i've just never been successful at it. after reading this book i realized i've never worked at it. so the story, liz is a writer. this is a non-fiction/memoir/travel book. she was married and at 30 was supposed to want children, but she did not. she had a breakdown, got divorced, got a lover, ruined that and so became depressed. really depressed. eventually she decides she needs to take this journey. a yearlong journey to find herself in three different places: italy (eating and pleasure), india (prayer, meditation and devotion), and bali (looks to find balance but finds love!).
i was immediately in love with the way she writes. i enjoy reading spiritual books and love learning about culture and religion. they are important to me even if i don't practice anything. right now i am too lazy/busy. that is my excuse and someday when i honestly and truly want to search within myself for deeper meaning or become one with myself/god/whatever, i will. for now - i'm busy.
travel is something that you experience. it changes you. you can go on vacation and you can be a tourist but to travel is something totally different. it is about getting to know locals, customs, ideas and non-stop learning. i want to travel, a lot.
i feel about travel the way a happy new mother feels about her impossible, colicky, restless newborn baby - i just don't care what it puts me through. because i adore it. because it's mine.
this book was about travel as much as it was her personal life. she went through these travels talking about her relationships, troubles, sex, and love.
i disappear into the person i love. i am the permeable membrane. if i love you, you can have everything. you can have my time, my devotion, my ass, my money, my family, my dog, my dog's money, my dog's time - everything.it is interesting to get into the head of a divorced 35 year old writer, falling in love, trying to decide whether or not to have sex with her new boyfriend.
yet the whole time, while falling in love and eating for pleasure, her spiritual quest was ever-present. she had gone to india to live and study at the ashram of her Guru. at first she spent days fighting herself (and relationship/life demons) while trying to meditate or pray.
of course i'm not going to divulge the secrets of the books or the deep spiritual ideas, but it's there.
there's a reason they call God a presence - because God is right here, right now. in the present is the only place to find Him, and now is the only time.
lastly she traveled to bali to learn from a balinese medicine man. he's a smallish brown yoda-like character who was very entertaining. while she kept practicing her indian yogic meditation, he offered up a different type of meditation.
why they always look so serious in yoga? you make serious face like this, you scare away good energy. 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.it is a great book that is worth all the attention and praise. it's written well (even though i don't really know what that means) and is funny. i think anyone can relate to her stories, even if you don't like food, travel, praying or love stories. it's about meeting people, relationships, enjoying life and figuring things out. these are things everyone deals with.
