Thursday, November 4, 2010 Eat, Pray, Love Posted by juphelia at 15:24

The first time I heard of this book, I thought the story reflects me. After all, the three words can easily describe me - eat, pray and love. So when I first saw that this would be turned into a movie and starring none other than Julia Roberts, I told myself it would be a movie worth watching!

And I am not wrong. The movie captures the essence of the book. Not many book-to-movie films actually capture the essence of the book, but this one did so successfully. Hence reviewing the book is just like reviewing the movie.

The author Elizabeth Gilbert wrote about the down period in her life - after a divorce, loss of her money and not enough jobs were forthcoming. So she decided to take a year off to "discover" herself so to speak.

She spent a few months in Italy, eating, enjoying life, learning Italian and drooling over cute Italian guys, while making some friends in the process. She spent another few months in India, trying to "find" herself, mediating. She met the guy Richard from Texas who taught her about life and mediation, and about life's problems. She then spend the remaining months in Bali, learning from her guru and meeting a dream South American hunk in the process.

Even though my experiences are not that similar to hers (for one, I have never been married), but I can understand her struggles. Many a times, people (men or women) have reached a crossroads. They go by life just within the motions, not really caring whether they are truly happy or not.

Only the really brave ones are able to break out of the monotony and wants a change for himself and herself. That will be when he / she starts discovering him / herself. Like Elizabeth, some may go travelling for some journey of self-discovery. If I can afford to take a year off, I do not mind doing what she did too!

In any case, this book is a pretty good read. I have not really come across any of Elizabeth Gilbert's books, but this seems to be her best book by far. The movie is not that far off too. Now I am looking forward to reading the sequel to this book which she recently published this year!

Sunday, December 31, 2006 The Diary Of Anne Frank Posted by juphelia at 11:05

My last book review of the year. I thought to write something that has touched and inspired me ever since young. I first read this book as part of the reading programme back in Secondary One, and I was hooked. The book itself combines history, education, pains of adolescence and eight Jewish people's survival during the holocaust known as the second world war.

Recently I acquired the complete version entitled "The Diary of Anne Frank : The Revised Critical Edition", which has all three versions of the diary (original version, Anne Frank's editions and her father Otto Frank's final edition for publications), her "Tales From The Secret Annex", as well as her only novel "Cady's Life" (which she did not manage to complete).

While re-reading and doing a more in-depth understanding of the book, I gained a better insight into her life, how she felt, the atrocities of war and the typical young adolescent girl's problems in growing up, first love and blossoming. I could relate to a certain extent, as I went through almost the same thing while growing up, but of course, I have been very lucky never to experience war, or be persecuted or had to go into hiding.

The book related to human nature in many aspects, shows the best and worst in people in situations, and the story itself is as life as ever can be. It is just like Anne Frank is living all over again, talking to people about her life and situation, just like the blogs of late.

I imagine if she is living in the modern world now, she will be blogging and communicating with everyone. But in this way, perhaps her diary will never get famous. Perhaps the book is so famous worldwide can be it was written by someone who passed away during the war, and also it was a fulfillment of her legacy by her father. If she is to have a blog rather than a diary which was published, would she have gained world wide fame?