What on earth do you do when the sky is falling around your ears, you have recently clunked your husband of six years and the gorgeous lover you caught on the rebound implies that you just might want to catch the next bus out of town?  Well  . . .  you might just want to kill yourself or go into therapy for a few years or catch the next plane to Italy, India or Bali.  Maybe even all three!  Elizabeth Gilbert, best-selling author and journalist, tells us how she literally got up off the floor, quit crying, reassessed her miserable life and flew off into the wild unknown in search of herself in her exceedingly enchanting book,  Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia.

Elizabeth was miserable, just plain old miserable and from the looks of things she really didn't have any cause to be shedding those big crocodile tears next to the commode every night, but she did it anyway.  She had a great house, a loving husband, a fabulous career and loyal friends who would stand by her in any crisis.  Her depression was crushing her spirit and destroying her life.  She began to pray in earnest for some help.  God just simply slapped her upside the head in that bathroom and nudged her to find her soul.  Elizabeth Gilbert was going to give it all up and take a chance on herself. 

She slowly began to unravel the threads that tied her to her unhappy life and flew to Italy to begin her soul search (and eat pasta and pastries up the ying yang).  Later she would be off to India and Indonesia.  She was going to have to look under every rock in the universe to find herself.  Elizabeth could "make friends with the dead" as she stated and so she did  . . .  a ton of them.  She made friends with everyone from Giulio to a guru and of course there was Richard, who would add a bit of spice to her life.  "Man, they got mosquitoes 'round this place big enough to rape a chicken."  That was Richard.  Ah, it was a spectacular journey of one woman's search of self, but if you want to hear more you're just going to have to pick up a copy of this book!

I loved this book and only found myself slightly bored for a few minutes while reading about her experiences in India. Gilbert can write about the human experience, her own of course, like no one I've ever read.  She bares her soul to the extent of embarrassment, something that few of us would be willing to do even though most of us are haunted by the same demons and problems.   She sometimes has an Erma Bombeck lilt to her writing and I often found myself smiling or laughing to myself.  If you've found yourself crying next to the commode, just pick up a copy of this book and I can almost guarantee you'll be sitting on it instead . . .  to read, laugh, love and find yourself.  It's a real page turner!