Elizabeth Gilbert's Eat, Pray, Love is the sharing of her life at a time when everything crumbled, and she began her journey to find the true happiness and fulfillment for which she yearned.

Gilbert's journey took place over one to two years, depending on when you start counting in her story. The book is written going forward and backward in time, while separating her story in three sequences. This may leave the reader dizzy at times.

Her quest began after she spent months lying on the bathroom floor every night, crying and trying to convince herself that she needed to end her marriage. After a very miserable divorce - her depiction will leave you unable ever to consider marriage just because you won't want to live through the divorce she describes - she was involved in a relationship that clearly wasn't getting her closer to her "happiness" goal.

Through a certain turn of events she ventured to Italy, India, and the Indonesian island of Bali to seek a balance between the world and her spirituality.

Her time in Italy was spent learning to understand what pleasure was and how to enjoy it. The pleasure she chose to pursue was through food and language. Lots of food. She consumed so much pasta and gelato, that she gained back all the weight she had lost through the divorce proceedings.

When not eating she attended language classes and, after a few months, was able to communicate and understand French, "the love language," in a beginner's kind of way.

Leaving Italy, Gilbert moved to India where she lived on an ashram and studied under a guru, learning mantras and meditation. She met a Texas man, Richard, during her time of devotion in India, and the two formed a friendship that helped to add practical thoughts and common sense to her everyday life struggles.

She focused on her prayer life - or communication with whatever divine spirit she concluded was out there - with direction from the guru and practical application from Richard. It was the time in the book where her thoughts about her struggles appeared to clear, and felt less chaotic than in the beginning of the book.

The reader can tell the continued conversation Gilbert had with herself was followed by a much more peaceful spirit, and the depression she consistently expressed in the first part of the book began to recede.

After leaving India, Gilbert went to Bali to find balance and to bring together all she had learned from her journey. She met several characters during her stay, including Felipe, who helped her bring together the love and acceptance of self that she had been seeking the entire time.

The book was a difficult read because the subject matter was beaten to death. Gilbert described a depression that was serious and noteworthy; but, after reading over and over about her constant episodes of lying on the bathroom floor and crying night after night, the reader might become depressed by proxy.

Her writing was lengthy and detailed, which I normally like because details paint pictures and add texture to a story. But reading the book became painful and filled with anguish, because it didn't appear any substantial progress was made during her journey of self-discovery.

All the doubts and fears Gilbert uncovered are the same as those everyone experiences in one way or another as we journey day to day. I was also distracted by her inability as a female to problem-solve better.

I was drawn to her story at some level just because she expressed very well how loneliness, depression, anguish, helplessness, feel; it's just that it took a long time for her to quit singing that song and go on. I wanted to tell her, Find some solutions, seek some answers. Deal with your insecurities that we all have, and get in a better place quicker.

I recommend this book if you are at a crossroads in life and you want to know what not to do to find answers and solve problems. Otherwise, don't assume that it meets the standard needed to really grab your attention and give insight, just because Oprah recommended it.

Copyright 2007 Metropolitan Community College