Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Italy, India and Indonesia by Elizabeth Gilbert Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Italy, India and Indonesia
Book Review: Refreshingly addictive
Summary: 5 Stars
I couldn't put it down. It was well structured, inviting, funny and came across as a very genuine book. Well worth a read.Book Review: I think Gilbert's next book and the Eat Pray Love film should be boycotted
Summary: 1 Stars
I am APPALLED by the fact that this book made it to the New York Times bestseller list and, apparently, will be made into a movie with....Julia Roberts (is this true?)
What does this tell us about American culture and values??? Why should such a shallow piece of work written by a self-absorbed narcissist receive such fame and accolades? I am truly mystified. This book was all about HERSELF. Poor little me who received an ENORMOUS advance to write this book before she even left the States. Who whinged and moaned and felt sorry for herself while in Italy, can you imagine??? She had no interest in visiting the fabulous museums, art galleries, churches, etc. but rather spend hundreds of Euros buying lingerie and eating amazing meals (by herself) in restaurants.
Here is an immensely PRIVILEGED young woman (yes, she is talented, she can write) who provides us with insights on what? Herself and her insecurities. What did we learn about Italy? Niente. Perhaps where to find the best pizza in Naples.
I couldn't get through her ramblings and vapid non-stop chatter in India (she talks too much). Nothing on the poverty or living conditions there or the plight of Indian women which I would have been interested in reading about. Indonesia was just more of the same. Did anyone notice that she didn't even touch on the tsunami disaster only to say that - thank god - it didn't reach her island when she was there??? So engrossed in HERSELF she doesn't notice, really, what's going on around her.
I wonder if she has read THREE CUPS OF TEA, that marvellous book about building schools in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Is THAT going to be made into a movie???
I would love to see Gilbert being sent to Iraq to cover events there. Amidst the dire reality, would she be moaning about having a bad hair day? Or, perhaps, she'd write 5 pages about her ambivalent feelings towards a soldier (or maybe an Iraqi) she thinks she has a crush on.
Gilberts is now an immensely wealthy woman because of the sales of this book. This saddens me because it illustrates how skewered values are in American society. All I can hope for is that she's donating a lot of her money to charities and very good causes.
Book Review: Forget the life coach and management books and just read this
Summary: 5 Stars
I'm nearly at the end of the book but couldn't wait to say what a thoroughly enjoyable, funny, and thought provoking read this book has been. I've read this as an atheist with an always enquiring mind. I've not felt pressured into following Ms Gilbert's beliefs - this is not a "Try this at home" or a "How to be successful" book, nor is it judgmental of any religions. This is Gilbert's very personal journey and it explains ideas and practices from most religions. I have an understanding of where she's coming from. It hasn't changed my views of the practised religions, but it has encouraged me to read further.It could also be titled "A tourist's guide to searching for God" as the descriptions of the places Gilbert visits could rank with any good book on tourism.
I read the 1 poor review this book was given on the Amazon review pages and was surprised to find the person thought the book "very American". After reading the intro chapter I was expecting the author to be British. The humour is self-deprecating - not something I usually associate with American authors.
Book Review: Chronicles a Journey of Joy
Summary: 5 Stars
This book was really hard to put down. It is an autobiographical story that I wished would go on, that I just did not want to end. And of course, it has not ended, because life goes on, it's just that we are no more allowed access to the inner workings of the author's innovative mind. This book is a great window towards viewing how great emotional pain can be transmuted to an experience of grace and blessing, and leading to the proverbial happy ending, a life, infused with much greater joy, variety and color, besides including worldly success and financial prosperity.
As seen on the cover, this book is about one woman's search for wholeness and healing after two 'failed' relationships. To this end, the author, Elizabeth Gilbert, gives herself a year to investigate three different milieus, each for a more or less equal period of time. The first period would involve feasting in Italy and learning the Italian language, the second, fasting in an ashram in India, and the last, in Indonesia, where she would seek a balance between the two extreme environments.
So, knowing that her basic aim is to heal herself, the author indulges in the epicurean pleasures that Italy has to offer. After four months of travel and partying she moves on to a form of monastic living that is austere in the extreme. She spent her days in service at the Ashram, beginning with menial chores, and going on at a later stage, to administrative duties. All this she did, while meditating several hours a day, practising the Vipassana form of meditation, which is not easy on the ego, as most people, familiar with it, know. She cleared this test of her life with flying colours, being blessed with the experience of Immanence, Finally, after these events, Elizabeth Gilbert, moves on to Indonesia, seeking a balance between the two extremes in living conditions that she has experienced. There, she makes a lot of new friends, becoming part of their lives, and finally achieving true love. The happy ending shows her jetting between continents to family and friends strewn all over the globe.
One important lesson coming across from the book, that I myself, needed to be re-minded of, is that it is the journey towards the goal, that is more important. That the means are even more important than the goal. That your commitment to walk the path that has been charted out, with sincerity is what draws desired circumstances to you, either positive or negative. That full fledged, hundred per cent commitment can and does bring rewards. Many of us have forgotten this in our lives, our cynicism has taken over and shuts out our inner selves with its protectionism. Cynicism does not seem to have affected Elizabeth GIlbert's experience in this book.
An outstanding feature of this book is the heartwarming intimacy with which it has been written. Always open to trying out new games, the author freely makes jokes against herself. Some of her games have amazing repercussions. In one such incident, the author plays a game with a friend, affirming one after one, that several important people would like her to have a certain desire granted. And lo and behold, it was! This particular game alerted me once more to the greatest and most well concealed spiritual secret of the century, 'We are all One'.
The after-effects of this book have stayed with me like a warm blanket. I feel I am a better person for having read it. And of course, I recommend it with all my heart.
Book Review: I enjoyed the EAT part the best!
Summary: 5 Stars
A lovely read and a moving tale which most women can relate to - especially the 'eat' bit where the protagonist re-discovers the jos of good food! I loved every minute of her time in Italy!