September 30, 2007

  • I absolutely adored the first section of this book which was of her travels through Italy (mostly Rome).  Of course, I am quite biased as Italy is my favorite European country, having been there on six separate trips in the last five years!  I found her experiences in Italy magical, although nothing too extraordinary really happened.  It is just my own daydreams of lounging about in Italy, learning the language, eating great food, and meeting friendly Italians coming into the equation.  Thus, I was a bit let down once that section of the book was over and she moved onto India where her life swung to the other end of the spectrum consisting of pre-dawn yoga sessions and following the blue light to god (not quite as fun in my book).

    This is a mostly light-hearted read of one woman's journey in repairing her soul after coming out of a failed marriage and rebound romance.  She spends a year taking care of herself and really getting to know herself.  Not enough people have the luxury of doing this (she does, as a successful writer) but you can really see that this is an experience that everyone can benefit from.  Especially in this day and age where you have so much going on that you don't take enough time to take care of numero uno, yourself.  And didn't someone once say that a life not examined is not worth living? 

    It also makes me think that the usual gap year that the Brits and Aussies take in their early 20s is pre-mature.  Those trips must generally be spent in alcoholic stupors with not much life examination as a by-product.  Such a trip should be delayed and taken when you've been through a bit more of life and could really use a breather.

    Three and a half out of five    m99220377