This book is a delicious adventure! After suffering through a difficult divorce, Elizabeth Gilbert decides to embark on a journey of self-discovery that takes her to Italy, India, and Indonesia (Bali) over the course of a year. Her story, told with wonderful humor and honesty, is one of extremes—self-indulgence, self-deprivation, and finally equilibrium. It’s a story about searching for God, searching for one’s identity and place in the world, and healing a broken heart.

Gilbert’s journey begins in Italy, where she freely indulges in all the culinary pleasures she can find. She studies Italian, learns about the culture by quickly making friends, including a sweet, young language study partner name Giovanni, and an accountant named Luca Spaghetti (yes, Spaghetti). She questions whether or not she deserves so much pleasure as her waistline expands from breakfasts of chocolate pastries and cappuccinos, Quattro Formaggi pasta, and the best pizza she can find in Italy.

Next, she travels to India for the very different experience of life in an Ashram. She learns, with difficulty at first, how to quiet her mind and accept the isolation. She’s assigned the tasks of scrubbing the temple floors, and, later on, welcoming new arrivals and helping them adjust. She meets Richard from Texas who gives her the nickname “Groceries” and doesn’t hesitate to offer advice like, “You gotta learn how to let go, Groceries. Otherwise, you’re gonna make yourself sick.”

Finally, she travels to Bali, to find the medicine man Ketut Liyer who had told her on a previous visit that she would someday return and study with him. One of my favorite parts of the book is when he teaches her to meditate by just smiling. “Even smile in your liver…smile all the way through,” he says. She befriends a healer named Wayan and her daughter Tutti, for whom she (through an email campaign to friends and acquaintances) raises $18,000 to buy a home. She rents a cozy house with a garden, and begins to open her heart again…better not spoil it for you. You’ll have to read this wonderful book to see how it all ends (begins?).

When I bought this book, I read a few of the reviews online. I found it odd that several reviewers felt that the author was behaving selfishly or, as one put it, was “too self-absorbed.” In my mind, a journey of self-discovery should be somewhat self-centered and introspective, shouldn’t it? I think many women are too afraid of breaking with the cultural norms to allow themselves this kind of journey, and I think that’s why so many women love this book. It speaks to a secret desire to take a journey and discover who we are, be a little self-indulgent, and feed our souls.

Bravo, Elizabeth Gilbert! Thanks for sharing your incredible journey with us!

Tags: India, Indonesia, Italy, meditation, travel, yoga