this book was on opera show, on all the english bookstores shelves in carefour & green plaza.
and in some websites it has some positive reviews, so i took the decision to read it
and i managed to buy it just before i went to sharm and i said to my self "5 days of swimming and reading only" and yes i managed to finish 75% from the book in those 5 days
and now after finish it all
i want to say something about it.
the book is about "
One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia"
nice introduction, who doesn't want to have everything?
the writer made a decision to have both pleasure and devotion, and balance between both.
the book is divided into 3 sections, first is about the writer journey in ITALY for 4 months, where she went there looking for pleasure, and her pleasure was in learning the ITALIAN language which she considered a musical note and in eating pasta, pizza, .. etc over and over and over.
second is the journey in INDIA for 4 months, in a yoga ashram where she was trying to reach god, and to be connected with the divine power.
third part is the journey in INDONESIA for 4 months, where she was seeking balance between pleasures and devotion.
in the first few pages she tells her story, and it's a misery, she was out of divorce and a bad love affair, but honestly i think we all need this journey despite our reasons or background.
people have zillion reasons to seek balance. most of us in the east and in Egypt are religious people, we took religion seriously BUT we are not good people though
and more we took "tahyess" seriously too :)))
in ITALY part, i was wondering sometimes how eating can be a pleasure that someone devotes 4 months for it, but again it's how she feels not me, anyway in this section she was talking about how she decided to do what she wanted to do always, how to take a decision "i'll have a good time today", she didn't care much about museums or churches seeing, OMG if i was there i'll take a picture of every brick in every wall of every building there
the idea of having fun and enjoy yourself is wonderful and honestly i get jealous (i hope one day i get the chance to do it)
in INDIA part, she spent all the time in yoga ashram, where step by step she learned how to meditate to reach for god. and i think it was something useful to learn about how an ordinary person can get so spiritual. in some points, her description of what she's feeling is really inspiring.
to know how a person can evolve from a very practical down to earth person to be a very spiritual person how can sent a prayer to the divine and get an immediate response
till this point, that woman was my hero, god she had it all, i hope everyone reads this book, i already started to tell my friends about the book
and was extremely anxious to get to the balance part
well, i had 2 questions in my mind while reading the book:1- when facing the real world again , will she be able to keep her level of spiritual? will the jungle get to her?
2-why there's a "love" in the book title, she was talking about being balanced as an individual, is love part of the formula?
in INDONESIA part, she was just living in peace, in this part the writer gave lot of information about the Indonesian community and the Balinese traditions, it was useful part. and this kept going till the half of it, and then BOMB, the love began
the writer met a person and fall in love with him, just like that, in this part i felt disconnected from the book
well, in the journey of balance she was seeking pleasure and she got it, and then she was seeking god and she had a deep strong spiritual experience, now she is seeking balance and instead of taking all her pieces together she starts a romance .. isn't too soon for that?
does she already balanced as an individual so she can make such a decision
plus, it's like a kids book, where you read about the good boy who prays a lot so he succeed in the exam.
this is not a novel, where i can critique it's a true story, so there is no place to change the facts. all i'm saying is, as a balanced seeker, she had to face the real world first using what she gained from her journey before start a new romance
but ending the book by this story did lowing the book to be a classic novel instead of great personal experience journey
Conclusion: the book has LOT of information and great moment of human being evolving to be better, just don't read the second part of indonesia
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