Books I Want To Talk About discussion

Please discuss the third part of Eat Pray Love, in which Elizabeth travels to Indonesia.

I'm not entirely sure why, but this was probably my least favorite of the three parts. Don't get me wrong, I liked it a lot. I enjoyed hearing her take on the different people she met and her description of the different cultures. It just seemed like it was a different "voice" compared to the other parts.

Dini, as you said in another thread, you're from Indonesia (not Bali). What are your thoughts about this section?

Yeah, Robbie, I'm from Indonesia. Have lived all my life in the bustling capital, Jakarta, and have never been to Bali. It's like being French but never been to Paris. Shame on me.

I can't really decide which part of the book was my favorite, but I enjoyed part 3. I like the descriptions about Bali because there are some cultural aspects that I didn't really know about, despite their vague familiarity. It was also interesting to see things from a foreigner's point of view. There are, however, aspects that I'm not proud of, such as the rampant corruption and the survival tactics of some people by 'milking' tourists of their money.

What I don't like about part 3, though, was that it just seemed too much like a fairy-tale ending. You know what I mean? She meets a man and they both live happily. I mean it's great for her, obviously, but somehow it felt too perfect for me. I thought Liz showed her true worth and is strongest as a person when she was alone and had to pick herself up from the mess. That said, at least she found him after she found herself again.

I agree about the ending. I sort of hoped this thing with Filipe would be a fling. If she had gone home, never seen him again, and still felt fine with herself, I would have felt better somehow.

As for the corruption and "milking" of tourists, I don't necessarily see those things as unique to Bali, Indonesia or anyplace in the world, really.

I admit to feeling a little bit like it would be nice to escape to someplace like Bali for a while, like some of the ex-patriots that lived there, even though I haven't gotten into a lot of trouble or anything!

I kind of liked the medicine man's idea about what to do with arguments about religion--say "I agree with you" then go home and pray to who you want to. Except I wouldn't want to lie. Perhaps the 'smile and nod' would do :)

Yeah, Robbie, that's what I love about this novel: the open-mindedness towards faith and religion. I'd personally smile and nod as well ;)

I also found the ending a little "too good to be true." I wonder, are Liz and Fillipe still together in 2008? And is he really that perfect? Does he never fart? I do love the way he counseled Liz in her friendship with Wayan. Most people would have said, "She's using you, ditch her." I admire the way he gave her insight into Wayan's world view, and helped her steer the course of that friendship so that it worked out for everybody. He was a very wise man. And Robbie, I agree, that this dichotomy of true friendship and gratitude coupled with a kind of survival instinct "milking" exists worldwide, especially in the third world, but even in our own country. As for corruption, I've lately changed my view a little on that. In so many cultures, the concept of "baksheesh (sp?)" (bribery or "oiling the machinery") is prevalent and widely accepted. Western culture has declared it corrupt, but maybe those other cultures are just more honest than ours, where we hide it in campaign financing, slush funds, tax shelters, etc.

Dini, I think it may be human nature to not "sight see" close to home. My husband and I lived in Orange County in southern California and never went to Disneyland (although I'd been as a teenager when I lived in San Diego). As a child, we lived in Arizona and never went to the Grand Canyon. I live within 5 miles of several world class museums and almost never go to them, although when I'm in San Francisco, Chicago or New York, museums top my sight seeing list. So I'll make a deal with you, you go to Bali and report back, and I'll go the the Heinz History Center and report back!

I, too loved this book's openness toward all faiths and especially toward the spiritual journey. I like to say God doesn't care what road you take to God, God just wants you to get on the road.

I think perhaps, when the medicine man advises Liz to avoid religious argument by saying "I agree with you," then go home and pray to who you want, he wasn't so much encouraging lying as the finding of some common ground. That can be difficult to do, especially when the other party isn't at all interested in common ground, but just being right. (Or loudest.) Still, it's something I work on. But the smile-and-nod is good, it keeps lines of communication open.

I like your take on things, Deborah. The thing I liked most about the book was that I could take what I wanted out of the 109 "lessons" and ignore the rest.

BTW, who cares if she and Felipe are still together.

BTW, I'm sure Felipe farts but why would I want to read about it?

More people have been killed in the name of "God" than for any other reason.

Deborah, when I do go to Bali I'll surely report to you! :)

Ed - you bring up an interesting point, vis a vis people being killed in the name of God. That is certainly true in the case of the Inquisition, the Crusades and the interpretation of jihad by Islamic extremists. But Hitler (whose objection to Jews was not necessarily religious,but ethnic, although he willingly used religious prejudice), Stalin and Pol Pot had no particular religious axes to grind. And the ethnic cleansing in the former Yugoslavia, as well as the genocide in Rwanda and Sudan, were and are not primarily religiously motivated. So I don't know how the math actually works out.

I am certain that God does not want nor does God approve of violence. So anybody committing violence and murder in God's name probably has some serious, as Desi Arnez put it, "'splainin' to do!"

I agree that the ending was not what I expected or wanted, this not being a chick-lit beach read.
I don't think anyone expected her to find a Prince Charming, and it's a little annoying when you've been cheering her on for taking care of herself all by herself.

But I guess in the end we are all just human.
We may fall in love several times in a lifetime, or just once, but for most of us (especially women), love is definitely on ongoing quest that never really takes a break, even when you're on a different journey of self-discovery.

I wonder if the Prince Charming ending made Gilbert worried as to what people would think of that. Just a random thought.

Deborah,

I've heard the assertion many times. I think if one goes all the way back into history that it holds true. Put another way, God is on the side of the winners. Every war has a religious component. If you read the letters and diaries of the Civil War Generals, for instance, you will find that both sides were sure that God was on their side and believed they were doing God's work.

So we are not just talking about religious wars here but any wars in which God's help was asked for or assumed. That pretty much covers them all.

I don't know what God's attitude towards violence is but I do know that humanity is, in it's very nature, open to violence as a way of solving problems. That's why there is so much armed conflict through history and why there is so much armed conflict going on right now.

I hope that now that the human race has the ability to destroy itself that somehow we'll pull back from the brink. I'm 50-50 on the proposition.