Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across 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 Across Italy, India and Indonesia
Book Review: A Blessing
Summary: 5 Stars
I first heard about this book after seeing the author, Elizabeth Gilbert, on the Oprah Winfrey show. I brought the book shortly thereafter and started to read it right a way. It became too painful, however, for me to continue reading it when Elizabeth Gilbert was describing her relationship with David. I stopped reading it and placed it my headboard.
The reason why, at that time, it was too painful for me to read Eat, Pray and Love was because the relationship I was in, which had been an on-going relationship for more than six years, was heading south and I didn't know what, if anything, I could do to prevent it from ending. I wasn't in the proper frame of mind to read the book at that time nor was I in the proper frame of mind when the relationship *did* end, painfully so, and left me devastated and suicidal for several months.
About a month ago I picked up the book again and, this time, it was a blessing. As I read the book, I saw myself clearly mirrored in what Elizabeth Gilbert was describing and realized that was why I found it so hard to read the last time. Unlike Elizabeth Gilbert, I haven't found myself yet but continue to grow as I read and mediate.
There are two areas of the book which are my favorites. One is when she is in India and the other is when she is talking to the medicine man in Balise. I found so much profound wisdom in those two sections that most of the pages are yellow instead of white. :-)
As I started to get close to the end, I found I didn't want to read it anymore. Not because it was too painful to read; not because I wasn't getting anything out of it but just the opposite. I didn't want to finish reading it because I didn't want the book to end. Elizabeth Gilbert writes from the heart. She writes with a great deal of warmth, love and with a sense of humor; most of all at herself. You feel, as you read the book, that you have found a friend.
For those who wrote reviews and didn't like the book, maybe they weren't in the right frame of mind when they read it. My advice is to read it again; you just might be surprised by what you get out of it a second time around.
Book Review: great!!!
Summary: 4 Stars
I was very happy with the service and the quick shipment of the book I ordered. I would certainly order from there again. Thanks so much.Book Review: popular reading taste
Summary: 1 Stars
It's difficult to imagine that this book is a bestseller. After about 50 pages I was bored with her ramblings and unimportant self-focus. Geez. This is what sells in the US these days? I guess it tells us something about our consciousness and level of sophistication around literature. (This book is NOT literature.)Book Review: Very enjoyable book
Summary: 4 Stars
I heard about this book being discussed on the Gail King XM radio show several months ago and was intrigued by the interview. Having been through a divorce and walking through an airport on my weekly business travels, I purchased the book on a lark. I found the book amazingly easy to read and quite enjoyable. Liz Gilbert's ability to take you through her divorce and subsequent worldwide travel to only find her true inner-self was truly uplifting and entertaining.Book Review: Don't let the 'Pray' part keep you away from this book!
Summary: 4 Stars
I hated to finish this book.
I think the reason this book is so intensely popular is because even though most of Elizabeth Gilbert's readers can't identify with the logistics of her journey (she took a year off and traveled the globe because she was depressed!), but because they enjoyed her attitude about being open to change. She's serious, yet hilarious, open, yet emotionally crippled -- all at the same time.
At times, the book felt like a travel journal. It was very interesting to me to learn so much about way different cultures live. Whether the national focus is on good food (Italians and their pasta and wine), a good relationship with their 'God' (Indians and their meditation) or, well, the people she interacted with in Indonesia are just too odd to categorize. The author was able to melt into each culture and share her experiences through good, old-fashioned American girl talk. All while searching for some kind of comfort within her own skin. She simply wanted to be happier and put herself through some pretty far out methods in order to come out on the other side of her unhappiness.
As for the religious connotations (particularly while in India), I hope readers who aren't particularly 'believers' can plow through those references and enjoy her process. What she experiences is quite funny and, at times, pretty insightful. She started the book with a general belief in 'our' God, so was willing to see how other cultures find greater comfort through their spiritual relationships with 'theirs'. However, for me, this wasn't religious reading (again, particularly the section about India because that's where her entire visit was about finding a spirituality that works for her). It was so far out from any kind of bible thumping that most of us normally avoid that it was a good read - if that makes sense? When she moves on to Indonesia, the beliefs that the people had were downright hilarious.
If you find your head reeling because you just can't 'buy' the meditation stuff, fast forward through a paragraph or two, but don't give up. You might miss a few nuggets where she comes up with some pretty wonderful insights about life, but still, it'll keep you moving through the book instead of saying "this isn't for me", ya know?
I found myself wanting to highlight a sentence here and there. An "aha!" that made me want to be able to read it again when I feel lost the next time, etc. Or something funny that I just appreciated as a writer. In any case, I've found a new author to read, she feels like a woman I could have drinks with and laugh, cry or just get a kick out of. If this book ever was turned into a movie, it would be beautiful and hilarious and raw all at once. I'm thinking...Sandra Bullock or anyone who can pull off vulnerable and funny at the same time.