When life gets you down, just leave the country.

Elizabeth Gilbert faces problems that many women experience but are afraid to admit. She is unhappily married to a man she loves, and she doesn’t want to be a mother. Her life didn’t quite turn out the way others had expected it to.

Now burdened with a disheartening divorce and a failed love affair, she desperately reaches for something that will hold her head above the currents of her despair. She sticks to her writing, her one true love, and uses it to face her daunting depression.

Gilbert invites readers along on her self-help journey that takes her to Italy, India and Indonesia. The reader can’t help but be entranced as she makes her own discoveries on this spiritual journey. She learns that she is quick to become enlightened. She shows that life’s pleasures come in many forms. Whether enjoyment takes the shape of exquisite food, a mouthwatering language, healing meditation or new friends, every little bit should be savored.

She learns that it is OK to indulge one’s self. She allows herself to follow her heart, make her own adventure, and be her own person. She says that she would rather be a faulty version of herself, instead of a perfect imitation of someone else.

Not only does this book prove to be a pleasure in itself, it is also the perfect motivation needed to embark on a journey to happiness and self-realization. No matter what country, the world should be appreciated. After all, the world is a comforting elder full of wisdom.

Rating: ****