L.S. G. (Invysygoth) reviewed on 2/3/2010

First off, Elizabeth Gilbert is a charming writer - with a real gift for the post-feminist voice; she's also a wonderful travel writer. The book alone is enjoyable for that reason... but oh my, is she a self-centered creature.

While I'll leave the validity of her transcendental meditation channeled spirituality to theologians and navel gazers... in her embracing of the divine within and without her Gilbert misses something so fundamental that it becomes annoying... to find God (which is the vernacular she uses for the Big Higher Power rather than the Judeo Christian God), to become one with God.. you must serve and dignify others. That's a common tenet and basis for most world religions to some degree or other... and one she misses completely. From what I can tell, Gilbert shares a roasted chicken in Rome with a stray dog and then raises funds for housing for a Balines woman who has taken in a couple of orphans (and then Gilbert becomes agitated when the woman doesn't buy a home quickly enough, afraid that she'll be embarassed in front of her fundraisers)... and that's about it. She spends thousands of dollars to retreat to an Ashram in India - one of the poorest countries in the world -- and lives in relative luxury while exploring meditation... and never comes to the epiphany that maybe she could help the surrounding locals, even just a little bit.

Instead, we get a year of Elizabeth eating, yoga-ing, meditating, traveling and finally screwing her way to personal happiness and fulfillment. Yay Elizabeth, we're so happy for you. But she never really grows, she just gets her own way (and learns a little Italian).

I'm not looking for the author to become Mother Theresa - I just expected her to come to the realization that all real humans come to after any amount of real contemplation of the divine: it's not all about us. It's about a lot of things - but one of the biggest one is how we can love and serve each other, not how much we can love and serve ourself. And before someone pipes up that we can only loves others when we love ourself first... okay. Loving yourself is a step toward -- not the goal of -- experiencing the Divine.

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