Oct 01, 2010 05:48 PM
20424 Views
Enough has been said about the book and even more about the movie. So the woman not only holidayed, meditated and met the new love of her life half way across the world- but she made tons of money writing about it, and even more by getting a movie made out it- starring no one less than the Queen of Rom-Com! If you are not in love with the tale, you definitely are jealous. Maybe even punching yr door in rage. Kicking the wall at least? Our lives of course are a far cry from hers. No one of course wants to go through a painful divorce, but a year off to vacation seems too much. And a new boyfriend served on a platter in beautiful Bali, eh, toooo much. So why am I writing? cuz I'll rather write than punch something !
First of all, let me begin with saying that this is strictly a chick zone. That warm fuzzy feeling that generates in parts you didn't know exist – will not happen if you are a man. Or a pragmatic woman with balls of steel. If you remotely expect rolling your eyes reading details of why she blubbered & bawled every freaking night before falling off to sleep, sir this story ain't for you. Yes it is written by a drama queen. Or rather the Queen of all drama queens. And we may be hiding sheepishly under our rock-solid exteriors but we all have probably had a brush with this sort of phase in life some time. Whether with our own selves or at least some one we know.
The over analytic narrative of her depression isn't always sombre though, there are funny bits too. Like when she dug into manic rationale for her depression "What is the root of all this despair? Was it psychological? Temporal? Genetic? Cultural? Astrological? Artistic? Evolutionary? Karmic? Hormonal? Dietary? Philosphical? Seasonal? Environmental? Or did I just need to get laid? What a large number of factors constitute a single human being!"- Hilarious!
The Italy part of this book gets my thumbs up, I could completely relate to the urge to travel the world without a care about anything. Who cares about how high load of high glycemic index foods can directly impact yr WIP thunder thighs. How learning the local language could be the most exciting thing you are destined to do. How hanging out with the locals can be doubly exhilarating than the regular Joes back home. How time just passes by, without a set routine, without worrying about the traffic, work-life, relationships. How time just passes by doing nothing much. What is a vacation, if its not for 3 months? Damn.
The Meditation in India part was slow, necessary step to proceed to the third part. It is not so intriguing to read about her struggle to achieve "thoughtlessness" during meditation, in order to push all that distressing overanalysing out of the window; to discover the eternal sunshine of the spotless mind.
After jump hop skipping this part I reached for Bali with all my hopes pinned on falling in love with the place. But unlike Eli Shafak's The B*stard of Istanbul that had planted a burning desire to visit Turkey, and the yearning to smell, taste Turkish cuisine; "LOVE" did nothing to me. I found it clinical and the connect missing. Ditto her new love life. Javier in the movie could be a saving grace though.
So for a pragmatic person like me, this book's a mixed bag, some parts great some not so much. But the book overall does have that chicken soup for the soul quality, something that makes women around the world from Meg Ryan to Hillary Clinton love it.
