Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Title: Eat, Pray, Love
Author: Elizabeth Gilbert
Publisher: Penguin
Publication Date: January 30, 2007
Pages: 334
from Goodreads:
In her early thirties, Elizabeth Gilbert had everything a modern American woman was supposed to want--husband, country home, successful career--but instead of feeling happy and fulfilled, she felt consumed by panic and confusion. This wise and rapturous book is the story of how she left behind all these outward marks of success, and of what she found in their place. Following a divorce and a crushing depression, Gilbert set out to examine three different aspects of her nature, set against the backdrop of three different cultures: pleasure in Italy, devotion in India, and on the Indonesian island of Bali, a balance between worldly enjoyment and divine transcendence.
Review:
Elizabeth Gilbert just got a divorce with her husband.  Then she broke up with her boyfriend.  Deeply depressed- she longs to find solace with God and maybe get some balance in her life.  Liz decides, in order to do this, she must drop her job and life in New York and travel for the year in search of ultimate peace. 
First, she travels to Italy and starts her journey by eating the best food in town- she slowly begins to recover from her depression.  Then, she goes to India and finds peace with God, living in an Ashram.  Then over to Indonesia where she has visited once before. 
This novel holds a wonderful structured concept, but by the end seemed a bit too personal to me.
Have you ever had a feeling that you are reading something that was way too "grown up" for you?  Well, that was my feeling by the end of this novel.  I really want to see this movie- so I vowed that I needed to read the book first.  These sort of books should come with warnings: I am nonfiction.  Beware of real people and real events.  This is NOT a work of fiction.
I only found it was nonfiction about half way through, reading the copyright page.  It totally took me by surprise.  Besides required reading from school- I barely touch nonfiction.  I was actually proud of myself for finishing the entire book.  
So, what was the "grown up" part?  Well, after I found out how it was nonfiction, then all of this was real.  That this work of art (because this novel was an amazing work of art) was actually someone's life.  After it got into Elizabeth Gilbert's sex life, I started thinking that that was a bit too personal to be reading about.  Besides that, which is only in the end part, I enjoyed every minute of it.  
This book makes me want to travel the world and find these people and get their autographs.  I loved this book that much!  It makes me inspired to do something, anything!  I loved it!
For the rating- it seems a bit odd rating someone's life, like their character or plot, so:

Cover: 3

Writing Style: 5

Overall: 4



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2 comments

  1. You should definitely get into non-fiction a bit more - sometimes the 'it's real' feeling can have a good impact, rather than a bad.

    Hope you enjoy the movie :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh, really? I honestly had no idea this was nonfiction.

    ReplyDelete