Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
WOW, I never could have imagined how much I would appreciate this book, and enjoy reading it, especially for a school book!!! I could not put it down. Hearing the experiences of Elizabeth Gilbert in her year long journey to find herself kept me enthralled for so many pages! She showed so much discipline while at the ashram by getting up so early and sitting still for so long with few social relationships. It seemed like such a daunting task to be so regimented and disciplined, but it turned out to be good thinking time. At first, it was very hard for Liz to practice these meditations, but she figured out how to block her negative and wandering thoughts, which taught her two things. One: that she was capable of doing what seemed impossible, good for character building and identity finding; and Two: the clear head provided a canvas for Liz to think about herself and what truly made her happy; another way to find herself. In comparison, she then went to beautiful Bali, Indonesia, where everyone is friendly and beautiful and read to help. There are many opportunities for relationships in Bali; mentor, friendship, and romantic relationships. Liz took the time to find a medicine man that she once met in Bali, he remembered her, and put her to good fun work keeping him company and teaching him English. Liz also found a friend Wayann (a healer she met through the medicine man) and they too started to visit daily. Liz was able to help her out by buying her a house, showing Liz her own generosity. Lastly, Liz met a Brazilian man Felipe through a friend of Wayann who absolutely adores her and is completely devoted to her, supporting her self and self esteem. It was a beautiful way to end the memoir of struggles: with solutions. As a final thought, as I was reading Eat, Pray, Love, I wondered to myself how Liz could recount each of these events with such detail, and have enough material for such a novel. For one, she funded the trip by selling the rights to the book before traveling, so she knew to keep detailed notes. Secondly, she had a journal that she would write in everyday, to track her deepest personal thoughts, a way to get everything bad out and only keep the good in. It proved as an excellent reference for this excellent novel.
Sunday, January 6, 2008
Outside Reading - Week 7, Post A
Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
VOCAB
caustic (156)-capable of burning, corroding, or destroying living tissue
brooding (156)-preoccupied with depressing, morbid, or painful memories or thoughts
FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE
1. "...falling through layer after layer of illusion, like an Acton-comedy hero crashing through a dozen canvas awnings during his fall from a building" (200). This is a simile, Gilbert is comparing slipping out of meditation to falling from a building in a comic strip.
2. "At that moment of realization, that's when God let me go, let me slide through His fingers with this last compassionate, unspoken message..." (200). Gilbert is using a metaphor relating slipping out of meditation to God releasing his "grasp" on her; because God did not physically touch her with fingers, this is a metaphor.
3. "The place in which I was standing can't be described like an earthly location. It was neither dark nor light, neither big nor small. Nor was it a place, nor was I technically standing there, nor was I exactly 'I' anymore" (199). This is imagery describing the "indescribable" feeling of being in total bliss and completely balanced.
QUOTE
"Let's cross over" (331). This is the final sentence of Elizabeth Gilbert's memoir. It is the English meaning for the Italian word Attraversiamo, Liz's favorite Italian word. She has found happiness and now is ready not just to cross the thresh hold of the boat she is on with her new lover, but she is ready to cross over to a new being, one that is self accepting and stable.
THEME
If I had to pick an overall theme for this book, I would say, You may feel like your identity is lost or missing, but once you find it, you'll realize that it was always somewhere deep inside of you.
VOCAB
caustic (156)-capable of burning, corroding, or destroying living tissue
brooding (156)-preoccupied with depressing, morbid, or painful memories or thoughts
FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE
1. "...falling through layer after layer of illusion, like an Acton-comedy hero crashing through a dozen canvas awnings during his fall from a building" (200). This is a simile, Gilbert is comparing slipping out of meditation to falling from a building in a comic strip.
2. "At that moment of realization, that's when God let me go, let me slide through His fingers with this last compassionate, unspoken message..." (200). Gilbert is using a metaphor relating slipping out of meditation to God releasing his "grasp" on her; because God did not physically touch her with fingers, this is a metaphor.
3. "The place in which I was standing can't be described like an earthly location. It was neither dark nor light, neither big nor small. Nor was it a place, nor was I technically standing there, nor was I exactly 'I' anymore" (199). This is imagery describing the "indescribable" feeling of being in total bliss and completely balanced.
QUOTE
"Let's cross over" (331). This is the final sentence of Elizabeth Gilbert's memoir. It is the English meaning for the Italian word Attraversiamo, Liz's favorite Italian word. She has found happiness and now is ready not just to cross the thresh hold of the boat she is on with her new lover, but she is ready to cross over to a new being, one that is self accepting and stable.
THEME
If I had to pick an overall theme for this book, I would say, You may feel like your identity is lost or missing, but once you find it, you'll realize that it was always somewhere deep inside of you.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)