So i saw the movie and now i Eat Pray and Love

First time i read 'Eat Pray Love', i was in one of those places where you have no choice but to read anything you can cos you're not going anywhere
Not prison.
But hey, hospital beds feel close.

A colleague had raved about it, how he loved it, and how his fiancee loved it as well. I had had the book for eons, but pneumonia provided a great excuse to bring it out, dust it, and read!

Did i like the book?

I think you could say i loved it.
It was, a fun book to read.

I loved the main character, the voice of the novel. I identified with her struggles and her thoughts and her seeming need to destroy where there was peace. I told myself, sometimes you have to breathe to admit you haven't been breathing all along. And no, perfect on paper isnt always perfect in real life.
Plus i loved the adventure, and i too wanted the 'nothingness' she was able to achieve. O we keep sp busy, always thinking, planning, meeting, planning to meet, that we forget to just be.

I loved Italy! Her time spent in italy was time spent with food, my first love. As she ate, i ate, and resolved that one day, i too will go have pasta and red wine, and learn italian properly.

I felt Italy should have been put in the middle because i found India tedious. Yet still i learnt the value of certain things; like silence, and finding your weakness is actually a strength.

I loved Indonesia, it was better than India for me, but still did not have the carefreeness Italy had. But it had an adorable singular character that made it worth it.

I read the book, sometimes a few chapters a day, sometimes because of visitors and fatigue, just one chapter a day.
And i raved about it to my friend and said i was so excited that it had been made into a movie and i simply must see it!

I do not know what changed between when i read the book and when i saw the movie, but if there was one thing the movie left me feeling, it was bad.

Don't get me wrong, the movie was excellent.
It had Julia Roberts, whom i am sure i pretty much have a crush on, and who is one of my top five actresses!
It had colour and food and humour and great people.
It captured some of the book but not all, and possibly not enough.
It brought things i had read to life, in ways i would not have, and indeed, did not picture it.

It did however, make me feel uncomfortable.
I remember walking in hand in hand to see that movie, and by the time it was done, there was silence. The awkward kind.
I remember sitting down excitedly beside the dapper gentleman who felt familiar, and by the time the movie ended, being barely able to say bye.
I remember wanting to go home and just sleep; somehow blot out the last few hours spent on popcorn and the movie.

Was it a terrible movie?
(Have you not heard a thing i said? NOOOO)

It was a lovely movie. It did what it was meant to do
It at once inspired you, yet left you uneasy. You immediately start to think about your own life as you watch our main character seemingly destroy hers then rebuild it. You ponder and wonder and just spend so much time thinking!
But you also laugh, and cry, and smile, and root for various people as the movie goes along.

Would i recommend it? Yes.
You should see it. If only for the fact that watching movies can't always be about thrilling the mind (inception) or the funny bone (the other guys).
Sometimes, a movie should do more- it should make you think.

I pray that when you do do that thinking, you will find yourself able to get out of it.
Im glad cos i saw the movie with someone who felt just as shaken about it, but still, we found a way to be okay.