Eat, Pray, Love

The work of a self-indulgent, narcissistic, shallow dilettante. That is the way Eat, Pray, Love was described to me when it first started making national waves. Ordinarily, I would have dismissed this condemnation and checked it out myself. But the source of this damning review was not only one of the most open-minded people I know, this was the person who first taught me to crack open my tiny little mind and stop seeing everything and everyone in black and white. Subsequently, I have had no interest in this book at all, even blackballing it from a book club.

Fast forward to the first week of July. I dropped by the library to pick up some audio books for the drive to North Texas and found myself reaching for “Eat, Pray, Love.” I can’t explain why I picked it up. Or, how I was smart enough to listen to the Janet Evanovich on the way out of town; waiting for EPL until after three days of inactivity, trapped inside by rain, quieted the non-stop frenzy in my head enough to allow me to really listen. I’m just grateful.

It didn’t take me five minutes of the first disc to fall head-over-heels in love with this book. I highly recommend the book and the audio version. Elizabeth Gilbert’s search for grace is one of the most beautiful and moving stories I have ever encountered. I still marvel at the seemingly random events that brought this story to me at this particular moment in time when so much of my life is completely unmoored. And, again, I am grateful.