One of my favorite books was turned into a movie and I loved it! You know how you read a book and then the movie comes out and you are disappointed….not so with Eat Pray Love starring Julia Roberts. And when we say starting Julie Roberts we mean she is in every frame of the movie!!!
Eat Pray Love was a book by Elizabeth (Liz) Gilbert that I read a few years ago while starting to take yoga classes. Liz was married when she had a meltdown on her bathroom floor. She prays to God not having done that before. She has a line where she says that she was close to starting her prayer with “I’ve always been a big fan of your work”. I find that funny. Often people know that God is there and that he is “working” throughout lives but isn’t it hard to acknowledge that, especially during the bad times. Liz is a writer and, after figuring out that she doesn’t want to be married, she decides to go on a yearlong journey through three countries to find herself. Ah, but she is smart by getting an advance from her publisher so she can write a book about it as the nasty divorce left her with nothing.
Julia Roberts plays her character fabulously in the movie. Seeing her truly “star” in a movie was fabulous to see. She handles the major issues that Liz went through in the book with such poise.
The journey goes like this:
Italy – what can be said but EAT! Liz finds herself eating and learning the beautiful Italian language while enjoying the friendships she finds there. A lot is made of the eating (and gaining weight) but both Liz and Julia are rather thin.
India – PRAY! Liz spends time in her “Guru’s” Ashram. This is the Guru that she was introduced to by her rebound boyfriend in New York after her divorce. As a teacher of yoga (at The Avenue, Ginghamsburg Church every Sunday at 7:30 pm), I understand the importance of meditation or prayer. However, I find it extremely difficult to understand prayer to anything but God. The difficulty Liz has during meditation is true for many of us.
Indonesia – LOVE! Liz goes to Bali to relax and enjoy life. She feels that she has come close to finding herself through these travels when a yummy man comes into her life. Also, she returns to a medicine man she had met years earlier who predicted that she would “loose all her money and get it back”. Well, I would say, she got it back and Julia Roberts played her in a major motion picture!!!!
