Eat, Pray, Love

My book club read this book for the month of February.

We all liked it.

It is the story of a woman's spiritual journey as she heals from a bad divorce and, following that, a failed love affair. She is about 30.

She follows a guru and goes to India. First she goes to Italy where she eats a lot of good food. She is nurturing her physical self. Then it's off to India where she stays in an ashram for four months, learning to meditate and reach her higher self.

Finally she goes to Bali where she falls in love with an ex-pat Brazilian.

Our book club talks generally stray far from the book, and last Tuesday night's meeting was no exception. Our conversation ranged from taking care of mother-in-laws to taking care of ourselves. it is a great book club.

One interesting concept in this book was the idea that every place and every person has a single word that belong to them. In the book, the Vatican was given a word: Power. Other places had words too: sex, money, avarice. The author took a long time finding her word, which, since I gave my book away at the end of the book club meeting I unfortunately can't recall.

I have spent some time trying to come up with my own one word and so far have failed. Several of us made an effort with our neighboring city while we talking - the two that came forth and seemed to stick were "shallow" and "stupid" - apparently we don't have much of an opinion of city leaders at the moment. We attemped our small town and came up with obstinate.

I can easily put a single word on my husband: SOLID. I think that word describes him in all his character.

I think seeking spirtual satisfaction is necessary for peace. I don't think it is done well in the U.S. - it takes time. That's time away from job, from family, from material goods, from the consumer culture. As a nation we frown own that - if you're off praying, after all, you're not contributing to the economy.

I am as guilty of this as the rest - but it is something I hope to rectify. Beginning, maybe, tonight.

Eat, Pray, Love
by Elizabeth Gilbert
about 350 pages

4.5 stars