LitPicks - June '07 

Seeking wholeness: this month's works revolve around those who seek to piece together broken hearts, fill empty souls, and mend divided identities.      

A Lighter Touch | Wonderfully Written | Great Works      




Eat, Pray, Love
Elizabeth Gilbert, 2006
338 pp.

By Molly Lundquist

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single woman in possession of a broken heart must be in want of a meal.   —June Austin

Elizabeth Gilbert takes that famous maxim to extraordinary lengths in her smart, delightful book and heads to Italy, where she eats four-months worth of pasta, gelato, calamari, stewed rabbit, pickled hyacinth bulbs, and the best pizza in the world. In the process she puts on 15 pounds, which should endear to pretty much everyone over 30.

Having lost twice at love, Gilbert is an emotional train wreck, so she embarks on a year-long spiritual journey, dividing her time equally between Italy, India and Indonesia. Her pursuit of pleasure and devotion is both funny and serious. The goal is not only to mend a broken heart but to repair a bruised, confused and empty soul—to find and accept her true self. 

Gilbert writes with irresistible wit, but she also writes with wisdom and well-researched knowledge. She has done her homework, and passes on fascinating information about Italian history, Balinese culture, Hindu philosophy, as well as her own views on spirituality.

Gilbert has developed the habit of sobbing on bathroom floors, just about anywhere, and at times her self-absorption is tiring. But she’s ready and willing to poke fun at her own foibles and, most of the time, gets us to laugh with her. This is someone you’d love to meet—and reading her book is the next best thing.

Be sure to download our Reading Guide for Eat, Pray, Love.

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The Bone People
Keri Hulme, 1985
464 pp.

By Molly Lundquist
This a powerful, gripping book, with sharply drawn characters who tug at every heartstring. But I need to insert a disclaimer here: it’s not an easy book, and it's not for everyone. 

Hulme’s long-windedness, her strange flights of prose or poetry, can feel excessive at times. There is also a violent episode that is particularly disturbing, although it's critical to the plot. Thankfully, the characters achieve love and wholeness at the end. It’s what you hope for and what propels you onward to the last page.

The story is driven by a gradual movement toward personal redemption. Three unlikely New Zealanders form a bond of love and friendship—Kerewin Hulme, a lonely, alienated artist; Simon, a white-haired mute boy; and Joe Gillayley, the boy’s adoptive father. Their three lives become entwined as, separately and together, they work their way to self-forgiveness and peace. 

Hulme received the coveted Booker Prize for this work, though some suggest the publicity regarding her near-heroic search for a publisher may have influenced the judging. True, as some critics say, the book is unwieldy—and, as one reviewer pointed out, crammed with enough symbols and metaphors to make your head spin. Yet those faults are also a source of much of its mystery.

Despite its drawbacks, I recommend The Bone People. It's one of the great reads: haunting and often mesmerizing. You'll find yourself unable to shake off its characters, flawed yet lovable, who will stay with you long after you finish this book.

See our Reading Guide for The Bone People.

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Till we Have Faces
C.S. Lewis, 1956
313 pp.

By Molly Lundquist
Dismissed at first by critics, Till We Have Faces is now thought by some to be one of Lewis’s most profound works. Certainly it is mysterious, complex, and imaginative—and on any level a wonderful read.

Faces is a retelling of the ancient myth of Psyche and Eros. If you’re unfamiliar with the original story, get hold of Edith Hamilton’s classic Mythology (a book you might want for your personal library). But here’s a stripped down version: Psyche’s extraordinary beauty angers the gods, who demand that she be sacrificed on a mountain top. Eros (Cupid) falls in love with, rescues, and builds her a palace. Eventually, Psyche’s jealous sisters find her and convince her to disobey Eros. Psyche does so, is abandoned by Eros, and wanders the earth, weeping, in search of redemption. And that's only the first part of the myth.

Lewis's story is re-imagined and told from the point of view of one of Psyche’s sisters. Orual stands in stark contrast to Psyche: so disfigured that she veils her face. Orual writes her story as an accusation against the gods, whom she accuses of raining down misery on a feckless human race. Her argument is called theodicy, a branch of theology that asks the ageless question, why do bad things happen to good people?

The work has stunning implications, both theologically and psychologically. The symbol of covering one's face is to deny the true self, but it might be best to use Lewis’s own words:

How can [the gods] meet us face to face till we have faces? The idea was that a human being must become real before it can expect to receive any message from the superhuman; that is, it must be speaking with its own voice (not one of its borrowed voices), expressing its actual desires (not what it imagines that it desires), being for good or ill itself, not any mask, veil, or persona."

CS Lewis in a letter to Dorothea Conybeare

This is a rich, fable-like work: easily readable yet surprisingly deep. Include it on your list of "must reads." It should generate considerable discussion for any book club.


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