Eat, Pray, Love: What's Your Word?

   By drodriguez  Sep 14, 2008
109

New York Times Bestseller Eat Pray Love, has elicited its readers to tell whomever they can, be it stranger or friend, that they “must read this book.” Divided into three parts, each verb in the title corresponds to a country, each of which serendipitously, begins with the letter “I”. And since this is a personal journey for its author Elizabeth Gilbert, this is not so much a coincidence as an affirmation that she’s doing exactly what she needs to be doing.

Part One, Italy is the land where Gilbert perfects her conversational Italian and all the while, Eats. She consumes her food with a passion, seeks out the best each city and region has to offer, her exchange with residents is equally passionate, if not about food, then about living and loving and being.

In part one, her Italian friend invokes the theory that, “every city has a single word that defines it, that identifies most people who live there. If you could read people’s thoughts as they were passing? you would discover that most of them are thinking the same thought. Whatever that majority thought might be ? that is the word of the city.”

Apparently Rome’s word is SEX. (And since the Vatican is technically not part of Rome, its own word is POWER.) New York: ACHIEVE. Los Angeles: SUCCEED. The conversation between the two takes the theory down to smaller entities, ultimately to Gilbert’s. What is Elizabeth Gilbert’s word? At that point, after her year-long journey, she doesn’t know, and as she concedes on this page, that is truly the reason for her traverse around the world. (Ultimately she does find her word, and it’s a pretty good one.)

What is your word? Have you found it? What would you need to do to find it?

Make a Comment

 
SHARE
Comments
mustangmomma by mustangmomma | Gravette, AR
Dec 08, 2008

I enjoyed the book and got some insight from it, but wouldn't put it on my "Favorite book" list. My word for today would be "seeker". It changes daily due to my mood or what is happening in my life. I think that is called living...lol. For those of you who didn't care for the book...that's ok. I think we bring to a book as much as we take out of it and that makes a difference between liking or not liking one.

littleme by littleme | MARBURY, AL
Dec 03, 2008

I can think of one word for me right now . Blessed is my word.

dlbenn by dlbenn | Norwalk, CT
Nov 17, 2008

I was disappointed with the book. Perhaps there was just too much hype about it. Personally, I found Elizabeth's constant whining about her life annoying. How many people can afford to take a year off to travel around the world so they can get over a bad time in their lives? If she thinks her life was so bad, she should walk in someone else's shoes for a while.

leela by leela | douglasville, GA
Oct 13, 2008

I THINK MY WORD IS BLEESED TOO!BECAUSE I DO SERVE AN AWESOME GOD!!!!!!!!!!

leela by leela | douglasville, GA
Oct 13, 2008

I WOULD LIKE TO READ THIS BOOK. WHERE CAN I FIND IT ?

jjcary78 by jjcary78 | Simpsonville, SC
Sep 26, 2008

I have been wanting to read this book and can't wait to get started.

stpak03 by stpak03 | Easton, PA
Sep 22, 2008

It's an inspiring personal journey that not many of us will ever have the chance to make... unless we too find someone to write an expense check. That aside, there are great lessons to take away and valuable insights for us all.

ConcreteDoll by ConcreteDoll | Milton, MA
Sep 18, 2008

I love this book so far. I'm a little more than half way though. My mom read it and liked it so she gave the book to me.

nanners520 by nanners520 | LINO LAKES, MN
Sep 17, 2008

I loved this book! Journey stories tend to peak my interest. This book was inspiring, though I didn't agree with it completely. Finding yourself is great, but does it really take a worldwide journey to do so? It seems a bit unrealistic for most... though I did enjoy the fun read!

poorbabi by poorbabi | Oakland Park, FL
Sep 15, 2008

I read this book recently. I loved it. There was parts that got long winded but the whole story was inspiring.

deletion by deletion | CHICAGO, IL
Sep 03, 2008

I haven't found my word yet, but I intend to. This book actually inspired me to quit my miserable job as a lawyer in order to try to find some inner peace.

amy1234 by amy1234 | Hoboken, NJ
Aug 20, 2008

EAT PRAY LOATHE.

what a load of self-absorbed cr*p. Horrible book.

toobusytoday by toobusytoday | Coopersburg, PA
Aug 14, 2008

This book is so self centered it's amazing. Read A Thousand Splendid Suns after reading Eat, Pray, Love and see what's going on in the real world. Or give me a million dollars and I'll travel around the world and discover myself. :)

oregonmushrooms by oregonmushrooms | Keno, OR
Jul 23, 2008

This book was incredible, I will read it again. I wish I knew how to meditate. My word would be SEEKING. I am always seeking to better understand things, and am always looking for things to learn about. I still have not connected to the fact that I am not my thoughts, I wish I could afford a CD to teach me how to meditate, there are a ton out there, but I would love to have one by Elizabeth Gilbert

tishatoone by tishatoone | Topeka, KS
Jul 22, 2008

Good read, kind of slow. Not everyone has the resources to pick up and travel to find themselves. But did offer some good insight.