Eat, Pray, Love

One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India, and Indonesia

By: Elizabeth Gilbert

Narrated by: Elizabeth Gilbert

Length: 12 hrs and 49 mins

Publisher's summary

Around the time Elizabeth Gilbert turned 30, she went through an early-onslaught midlife crisis. She had everything an educated, ambitious American woman was supposed to want: a husband, a house, a successful career. But instead of feeling happy and fulfilled, she was consumed with panic, grief, and confusion. She went through a divorce, a crushing depression, another failed love, and the eradication of everything she ever thought she was supposed to be.

To recover from all this, Gilbert took a radical step. In order to give herself the time and space to find out who she really was and what she really wanted, she got rid of her belongings, quit her job, and undertook a yearlong journey around the world, all alone. Eat, Pray, Love is the absorbing chronicle of that year. Her aim was to visit three places where she could examine one aspect of her own nature set against the backdrop of a culture that has traditionally done that one thing very well. In Rome, she studied the art of pleasure, learning to speak Italian and gaining the 23 happiest pounds of her life. India was for the art of devotion, and with the help of a native guru and a surprisingly wise cowboy from Texas, she embarked on four uninterrupted months of spiritual exploration. In Bali, she studied the art of balance between worldly enjoyment and divine transcendence. She became the pupil of an elderly medicine man and also fell in love the best way, unexpectedly.

An intensely articulate and moving memoir of self-discovery, Eat, Pray, Love is about what can happen when you claim responsibility for your own contentment and stop trying to live in imitation of society's ideals. It is certain to touch anyone who has ever woken up to the unrelenting need for change.

©2006 Elizabeth Gilbert (P)2006 Penguin Audio, a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc., and Books on Tape. All rights reserved.

Critic reviews

"The author's reading of this memoir adds depth; she's obviously not a professional narrator, but her vocal presence provides vivid color and quirky humor as she eats (in Italy), prays (in India), and finds love (in Indonesia). This is a delightful memoir that explores exotic countries as well as the author's heart and soul." (AudioFile magazine)

"Sustaining a chatty, conspiratorial tone, Gilbert fully engages readers in the year's cultural and emotional tapestry, conveying rapture with infectious brio, recalling anguish with touching candor, as she details her exotic tableau with history, anecdote and impression." (Publishers Weekly)

"Gilbert's sensuous and audacious spiritual odyssey is as deeply pleasurable as it is enlightening." (Booklist)

A story of progress not perfection...

When I started this book I was feeling a bit disappointed by the selfishness of Elizabeth but I was WRONG. There is a great lesson in this book and I am thankful I read it to the end. I think this is a wonderful book for anyone in transition but especially for the 20s crowd. I write that simply because we need to discover our true self as early as possible because when we deny it we loose out on so much of life. That doesn't mean you need to go to Italy or India to discover it but to search and be true to yourself. We need to understand our limitations. Elizabeth shows us not only the struggle to understand and forgive oneself but the courage to accept yourself for who you are, rather than WHAT YOU ARE SUPPOSE TO BE. Bravo! The author is the narrator which a real treat. Her candid journey through dysfunction to self nurturance to spiritual discovery to fulfillment is a worthwhile example for us all.

My only disappointment was there was no afterward in the audio, which I noticed the book had when I saw it at the bookstore. Many of the people in the book are described with such care, you care about them...consequently (since they are real people with fake names) you want to know how they are now.

Worth Every Minute

Funny, engaging, thought-provoking. Thanks so much for this book. It was timely in my life and has left quite an impression. The author's voice is beautiful and sexy. She shows her vunerability with ease and humor. I listened to it then re-listened to it with my wife. She bought two copies and sent them to her friends.

Wonderful

Loved listening, very relaxing and wholesome. Feel like I need to go on a journey to balance myself

So relatable

Liz's narration is so endearing, I feel as if I'm listening to a dear friend share her heart with me.

beautiful. Her voice is so calming and soothing.

Elizabeth's story speaks to my heart. I will adore this book forever. I am absolutely in love with this book. I've written down so many quotes from it and have found so many valuable lessons from it. Her story is so surreal but ironically, it's extremely real and true. my favorite books are surreal novels, and in this non fiction memoir I am able to enjoy that aspect of literature too. I have never related so much to an author before and I haven't even had a divorce, but her emotions, her findings, her views on God, spirituality and love all align with mine. incredible.

I think Liz and I were separated at birth

With the exception of the tedious droning - IMHO - of the narrative imitation (imitative narration?) of a few of the characters she encounters, Lizzy G. is refreshingly yet disturbingly vulnerable as she takes us through her pre-divorce epiphany and undoing. I could practically smell the curry and basmati rice .... as well as a few, less savory or fragrant odors perhaps emanating from beneath a passer by's underarm. Though my joints paid the price of my imagining the pain involved with sitting in statuesque stillness for hours at a time, I was relieved that it was only imagined, as my body/joints would never be able to tolerate that

Pure motivation to me...

A wonderful example of a woman who tears down, heals, and rebuilds herself. Her career makes me so jealous, but everything else is so human, so down to earth. And though we differ on a few spiritual beliefs, her story is so worth hearing. It's pure motivation to love yourself and take care of yourself and take drastic measures to get where you need to be mentally and spiritually.

Great book for people who love to travel

I loved the way the book was structured into countries and stories. The authors experiances would awaken the traveler in anyone ready for a little more adventure in their life. Definately makes you stop and try to spend a little more time looking inward at yourself.

inspiring

excellent and inspiring. i loved listening to her stories. I felt like i was there with her. it's very spiritual and uplifting. i recommend it to anyone.

enlightened

I enjoyed this book for several reasons. It was funny, she gave detailed factual information, and she taught about other cultures. Her finding self through yoga was inspiring and was very poignant.