Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia Reviews

• Would be zero stars if I had that option!

  
  By A28DA4HNDPAGHK on 2007-10-01
  Despite a great title and a decent premise, this book is both disappointing and aggravating from beginning to end. The author is self-absorbed and irritating, and her 'insights' into the people she meets and the places she goes are shallow and annoying. The endless reflection on the horror of a marriage that didn't seem that horrible to me, and the quest for spirituality that has Gilbert chatting with God in India made finishing this book a torment. Finding out that she got the book advance before heading out on her journey made total sense; the trip fit into the book proposal rather than the other way around. The fact that her giant spiritual journey to learn how to be alone ends with her pairing up with a Brazilian expat was the final straw; I certainly don't believe she grew or learned anything at all about herself on this quest. Get this book from the library if you have to read it; I'm seriously annoyed that I helped fund this venture by spending money on this drivel!
  
  

• Disappointing

  
  By A2YVDLNC4BT1DM on 2007-06-19
  I had seen all the good reviews on this book and since I am an avid traveler and reader, I was excited to read a memoir from an excellent writer. I was sorely disappointed.
  
  Foremost, I did not even finish the book which is rare for me. I made it halfway through India before I was so disheartened by Ms. Gilbert's narrative voice. There is a difference between sounding funny, candid and likable and sounding petty, conceited and fickle.
  
  While I was reading this book I was genuinely surprised by the lack of empathy Ms. Gilbert had for anyone. Every situation, every comment, every sidestory pointed squarely to herself and her personal problems. I was shocked that she had lived in Rome and India for months and had not been affected by the poverty and corruption. I suppose if you are so caught up in your own problems and all your own shopping and eating that it's difficult to understand that other people around you have far worse problems. Maybe, just maybe looking outside of yourself and giving of yourself you will find self-worth and purpose, self-worth that goes beyond buying new underwear or eating a gorgeous meal or bragging about having a meditation high.
  
  If you want to read a real journey of discovery, love, Italy and food, I would highly recommend Marlena De Blasi's A Thousand Days in Venice. Her narrative voice is far superior and she reveals larger truths from her personal experiences while getting to really know the local people and appreciating their culture.
  
  

• WASTE OF MY TIME!!!

  
  By AWP3SZN1ISXLQ on 2007-06-05
  I am dumbstruck that so many reviewers enjoyed this book. I have always wanted to do a similar trip myself, a trip I also called my "i" trip that additionally included Ireland and Israel. My trip will wait until I finish raising my small children, so I was hopeful she could transport me a little. In fact, I was excited to read of her experiences, insights, thoughts, adventures. As a suburban mom and freelancer who chose the life she opted out of for now (and how liucky I am to have that choice), I was still curious to learn what scared her about motherhood, what drew her to work and travel and how she would eventually deal with a possible balance. I am hopeful to support women who make unique choices and are willing to explore them. Only what she offered was, well, nothing.
  
  She is the most vapid, narcicistic, insecure, self-absorbed, spoiled brat I have ever had to listen to. I could not wait to get her whiny, foolish voice out of my head. I only finished this book because it was a selection in my book group, the group hated it as it turns out. Has this women ever thought about someone other than herself? If she has an insight about divorce or relationships or even how to give and receive love she certainly forgot to share it with her readers. She didn't show struggle or conflict or self-reflection about societies pressures versus internal longings. It sounds like she just got bored and cried a lot.
  
  Am I supposed to take her word for it that her marriage was unsalvagable and her husband so unworthy that she was smart to leave him? Did he abuse her? Hate her? cheat on her? drink? do drugs? Was he depressed -- or was that just her? She decided not to tell us why she would walk out and give up on a marriage. She isn't really deep enough to look at why she would abandon a person she promised to stick by. She doesn't explain her calling, her needs. Acutally she doesn't seem to learn anything. Or teach anything about the human condition or self-dicovery or how depression affects loved ones. Hard to like her -- or even want to read her -- at all when all she prattles on about is her weight fluctiations. Uh, when she finally gets to the third world country of India I wondered if she noticed the poverty and hunger? No, she complains instead about how hard it is to sit quietly in a room. I practice yoga myself and I think all her meditiation seems to have missed the point. Settle down, get centered sure, but then GO out and HELP someone, you creep!!! For awhile I thought this woman should, in fact, have a kid if only to teach her how to think about someone other than herself. But then I thought, maybe not. Might be too hard for her and then what? Jet off to Iraq to write about, say, army food, and abandon yet againj???
  
  If you have any insights of your own about the world we share and how to share with others in it, do not bother reading Ms. Gilberts book. There is nothing valuable there to find, outside of a silly, spoiled girls daily planner of what she did today and who she has a crush on. ugh. better to watch Sex and The City reruns!
  
  She seemed really proud of how good she is at making friends. I wondered how genuine she is or just glad to collect people like stamps or glass animals. I am certain I would not be her friend. I really could not stand her.
  
  

• HER OWN SEARCH - HER OWN VOICE, BOTH IMPRESSIVE

  
  By A3M174IC0VXOS2 on 2006-02-26
  
  Reading the subtitle of Elizabeth Gilbert's latest book, "One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia," one can only think well, she certainly knows where to look! Also, upon learning that this is her chosen way of recovering from a particularly acrimonious divorce and a trying-to-make-up-for-that-loss romance that didn't work, we might think how fortunate she is to able to seek solace in such intriguing places.
  
  Whatever our opinion of her reasons for this journey it has been established that she's a super writer (The Last American Man), and she brings all of her wit, intellect and stylish pen to Eat Pray Love. More than that, she brought a great deal of courage to her chosen task of traveling the world alone at the age of 34. She felt she needed a dramatic change, and it may be that she has found it.
  
  It's a pleasure to listen to this memoir/travelogue in her voice. Many will associate with her initial confession that she's not a very good traveler in that she suffers from various digestive interruptions. However, on the plus side she easily makes friends with anyone. As she puts it, "I can make friends with the dead." Or, if there isn't anyone around she claims that she could chat with a pile of Sheetrock. Whatever the case, she is a very lucky lady as her travel experiences prove.
  
  No Viva Italia for Italy because of Messina, a port town in Sicily that she describes as "scary and suspicious." Perhaps that's one reason why she's lonely and depressed there. But things definitely take a turn for the better in India and Indonesia, although her meditation needs a little more work.
  
  Did Gilbert find what she was searching for? Listeners may not be too sure but they'll certainly enjoy the trip!
  
  - Gail Cooke
  
  
  

• AMAZING!!!

  
  By A2M9VZCM4ILG67 on 2006-04-03
  This book transends genres to be a memoir, travel guide, self help, and philosophy book. For anyone that ever wanted to find their own path, this book is for you! Elizabeth Gilbert's writing is down to earth, funny, smart, and like the cool best friend you always wanted to be like. Buy the book, Its a great journey!
  
  
• There are much better books on love journeys and healing
  By A37NODCIL8PP75 on 2006-06-29
  "Eat Pray Love" can be compared to similar recent books by women who travel in the wake of devastating divorces, including "Around the World in 80 Dates," "An Italian Affair" and "A Thousand Days in Venice."
  
  "Eat Pray Love" seems to have the most limited outlook of any of the books in this genre. It's not clear what was so awful about Elizabeth Gilbert's first husband, except for the fact that he wanted her to be the mother of his children. In the three comparable travel memoirs above, the husbands in each instance behaved in demonstrably reprehensible ways. None were guilty of creating a vague angst in their wives.
  
  The author manages to _not_ have an affair in Italy, which may be a first for a female traveler given that Rome is the birthplace of women's sex tourism. (At least Gilbert admires the beauty of Rome's men.)
  
  She does attend a soccer game and provides an amusing translation of old man's "flower-chain of curses" directed at the players.
  
  Moving along to an ashram in India, Gilbert evolves spiritually after much effort to the point where she sees a blue light. This is a major "wow" for the author.
  
  You can get through this section of the book fairly quickly by skimming paragraphs replete with the personal pronoun. If you see a lot of "I" this and "I" that, you are in a section on spiritual insight and can just move on.
  
  In Bali, Gilbert, much like the author of "Tales of a Female Nomad," attaches herself to a local figure for an extended visit. She also falls in love with a Brazilian expat.
  
  You can't beat love in Bali, so this to me was a partial payoff for wading through Gilbert's earlier "letters to God." This section is sexy and fun, with amusing repartee with her Indonesian friend Wayan about Gilbert's extended celibacy and a well-observed side story about Wayan's attempt to take advantage of Western donors who want to buy her a house of her own.
  
  Despite the praiseworthy aspects of Eat Pray Love, there is a magazine slickness to the writing, a Manhattanite's myopia toward religion ("spirituality" is something to be pursued in an ashram, and defining "God" requires two pages of mushy verbiage) and politics (varied jabs at Republicans, all non-sequiturs).
  
  Finally, the author (page 35) received an advance for this book, which makes it looks a little too pat how she enjoyed food in Italy, spirituality in India and love in Indonesia. All happens according to plan, or more precisely, the book proposal. Fortunately she met her Brazilian love Felipe in Bali or else the publisher might have been disappointed!
  
  With Gilbert's book structure apparently hinging on finding love in her third destination, Indonesia, Eat Pray Love ultimately comes across as somewhat false compared to other memoirs of love affairs involving traveling women. Other authors traveled first, fell in love, wrote later, and then found a publisher.
  
  Eat Pray Love started with the publisher's advance, and then Gilbert's travels apparently fell right in step with her book proposal. Travel's unpredictability never seems to have entered a too-perfect world.
  
  
• Blah, blah, blah, blah....
  By A22PEWTTFA33P8 on 2007-10-24
  I could not finish this book. When the author burst into sobs yet again in the middle of prayer, or a conversation, or walking down the street, or (more likely) on the floor of yet another bathroom, I gave up. This is the type of person you meet at a cocktail party and RUN in the other direction after a few minutes when she starts spewing out all her problems at you with no end in sight. Note to the author: I am your reader, not your psychotherapist. I really tried to enjoy the book and even like the author, but after slogging through a couple hundred pages of endlessly self-absorbed chatter, I was worn out and put the book in the Goodwill pile. When she writes, "I discovered my mind was not a very interesting place to be," I have to say, "Amen, sister!"
  
  
• Expected more. MUCH more.
  By A28GANT0U37G1 on 2007-03-19
  This book reminded me of a quote that's served me well in life: "It's a sign of maturity when you begin to fall out of love with your own drama." The author clearly hasn't reached this stage on her path to "enlightenment"!
  
  
• This Book Annoyed Me Immensely
  By A2TET6NKV3O9GV on 2007-02-06
  Desperate for something good to read after finishing 'Notes on a Scandal' (one of the best books I've read in a long time, possibly ever), I picked up this pile of twaddle in the local book store. I should have realized that the author would have about as much insight into depression, loneliness and feelings of alienation as a clam. You can't feel sorry for the author because she seems to have brought on her malaise almost entirely on herself.. Oh, that's OK honey, you take the house and the apartment that I paid for because I feel "guilty" about leaving you... Please! Is she deliberately trying to set the Women's Lib movement back 100 years?? This attitude is all very touchy feely, 'Yes, I'll take all the guilt and blame for something that isn't entirely my fault because society dictates that I'm supposed to be the submissive gender', but hardly a practical way to live in the REAL WORLD, which the author clearly has no clue about doing. She really has no reason to be depressed given the luck at being able to afford to travel to places most people dream about visiting once in their life, and all expenses paid! Not surprisingly, she really doesn't sound very depressed, we all cried and felt anxious after 9/11..Most women have battled with loneliness and depression, but most are forced to continue in their lives looking after families or children, or just struggling to keep a roof over their head. I bet, if you gave most of these women an all expenses paid trip to Italy they would start to feel better, without the help of a nasty cocktail of antidepressents like she was taking (I counted four different kinds, yikes!).
  
  In short, this book is not funny, or insightful, or challenging. Mostly it's just a series of obvious to the point of being cliched observations about breaking up and traveling in a foreign country. I honestly looked for more depth but it simply wasn't there. Please go eat some more gelato, and please, don't write any "voyage of self discovery books" again. Well, do, if there is a market for this stuff, but I'm personally amazed that any self respecting modern female would find this book anything but insulting.
  
  
• A lovely, lovely find...
  By A1Q7AQV64XZT1N on 2006-10-12
  I heard this book discussed briefly earlier this year on the Today Show and decided to order it since, at the time, I was in the throws of my own divorce. Ms. Gilbert chronicles her international journey of self-discovery with such amazing detail and tenderness and humor that I recommend this book to anyone who has found him or herself in a place or state that he or she would like to change or leave (I imagine, that's everyone!). The story is engrossing and the writing is skillful. I couldn't put it down, and I feel more empowered to follow my own dreams and heart after finishing the book. That's 5-star material if I've ever seen it.
  
  
• You must be kidding
  By A1LIH2EWTEP7K4 on 2007-01-07
  I cannot believe the positive reviews this book is getting. I have never read such self absorbed drivel in my life. The guru that she is talking about is the lightly veiled Guru Mayi, the celebrity guru for celebs who just can't get happy enough.
  
  The author is using this book to purge herself. She keeps saying she isn't going to talk about her divorce, but never shuts up about her divorce.
  
  I got through most of India and then called it a day. I have real books to read.
  
  
• A smug, self-absorbed writer
  By A32UAODZ0ZGA7G on 2007-04-11
  I forced myself to read up to page 50 or so, only because this book got so many good reviews. But each page was agony for me. This author seems overly concerned with her image. She wants to appear as a hip, clever, wise soul-searcher. Instead she comes across as a self-absorbed, vain teen-ager. And I really, truly wanted to like this book--and was prepared to like it. What I wanted was a book with real emotion, real self-searching. Gilbert's search is superficial, her snide comments come across as unfeeling, and her writing is utterly self-conscious. Blech.
  
  
• Easy reading style, uninspiring content
  By A3OHASSCUA97PC on 2007-10-03
  Her writing style is fluid, but her precious self-indulgence made it a painful read and embodies the entitlement "all-about-me" vein in the current culture in North America. That this book is currently #4 on the Amazon best-seller list is disheartening because it reminds me of how this generation of women in America could make a difference but instead are focused on getting their lattes in their SUVs on their way to yoga class. Me, me, me! Try reading "Three Cups of Tea" by Greg Mortenson to see what one person can accomplish in the world as a stark contrast to Gilbert's self-centered story.
  
  
• dishonest and poorly written
  By A285FIY6SLUD4B on 2007-04-14
  I've read several of the reviews posted here and though I couldn't finish this book, it seems to me that what's wrong with it is not so much the author's hollow-souled narcissism but her lack of intellectual seriousness. Someone gave me this book as a birthday present. That it has received a lot of attention is no surprise. Look at the drivel America reads. Light, shallow laughs, sex, food, not much real thought. That's the sum of this book. Feel-good rubbish that inspires not one iota of serious thought. Gilbert's slapphappy universe is one in which everything can be solved with pizza and fresh mozarella. Every paragraph contains at least one stock one-liner. This isn't literature. It's stand-up comedy of the worst kind. We've read it all before. She claims she can make friends with anyone. It's precisely that lack of discernment and depth that makes this story forgettable. The prose is laced with one cliche, one trite and cutesy obvservation after another. Some reviewer here said this book is not a book but a magazine article. Exactly right. I finally closed the book when I read that while in India she wanted to "valet park" a destitue family into a new life. It isn't just that the phrase is a silly toss-off modernism but that there's no true emotion in it. You'll never know how this woman really feels. Don't waste your money on it.
  
  
• Self absorbed, one dimensional, insulting
  By A1JETF7AMESH0R on 2007-10-07
  The concept is interesting, but the follow through is weak and false.
  We read this book for our book club last year and only one member had anything positive to say ("how liberating!"). The author has a crisis and gets paid to wander the world, 'searching' for herself. Italy was fabulous; who wouldn't want to spend three months eating through Italy? But stepping back from the 'memoir', who has that kind of time and money? Oh, yeah. A journalist getting paid to discover herself after she flees from her problems. Yes, we all would love to do that in some capacity, but it isn't possible (financially or emotionally) and it isn't really a healthy way to deal with Life. She is also without children, so that makes it easy for her to split.
  
  Most of the women reading this, _in_my_opinion_, have the 'American Dream'(2.2 children, mortgage, regular responsibilities, paycheck to paycheck) where people are affected by even the smallest changes. The author assumes that what she's accomplishing is constructive, and the Reader is taken along to learn from her mistakes and observations. MMMM, okay. I really felt it was a glorification of running away to weird experiences that only wealthy, unencumbered women can do. If you didn't like the Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood book because it was a novel about wealthy, drunk, abusive moms (hated it), you're probably not gonna like this one either.
  
  
• MAYBE SHE JUST NEEDED SOME GOOD SEX
  By A1K5H33ABTXW5F on 2007-09-04
  I have to agree with the reviewers who said they weren't wowed by this book. It was recommended to me by two friends who claimed it was the best book they read all year but I knew I was going to be disappointed as soon as the author said she wouldn't discuss the reasons for her marital unhappiness and eagerness to rid herself of her husband and, without taking a cleansing breath, fall into the arms of another lover. When he couldn't abide her neediness (which she described in the book's best line as "somewhere between a golden retriever and a barnacle"), she took her publisher's advance and went off to find God.
  
  So Ms. Gilbert went to Italy and ate lots of pasta. So she went to an ashram in India and learned to meditate. So she went to Bali, hit up all her friends back home to raise $18,000 in seven days so her healer friend could buy a house (which only made me think about how many starving children could have had school supplies in seven days), and found an older lover who, knowing which buttons to push, apparently allowed her to end her spiritual journey by finding good sex.
  
  I have to wonder about those readers who found the author's search for God enlightening and life-changing. What makes them (or the author) think the meditation-induced trances were conversations with God? Maybe they were nothing more than simple states of mental serenity. Maybe they have more issues than any book can meet. I think the publisher who expected a travel book was robbed but those readers who enjoy this kind of thing are making the publisher loads of money anyway.
  
  
  
• Disturbing
  By A18WZK1Y0UR6PK on 2006-03-05
  I would rate this book two stars or less, except for the fact that Gilbert can indeed write. The problem is she's a shallow twit, and what she thinks passes as wisdom earned along her journey is complete twaddle, except that a good meal, good sex and a little peace and quiet can calm the soul. The book reeks with personal details, a level of self conscious confession that sounds more like a narrative from "Sex and the City." I hope she feels better after dumping this stuff on us page after page. As a reader, I couldn't thumb through it fast enough.
  I found myself growing impatient with her immaturity, and a kind of arrogance that keeps people like her flitting through a spiritual walk, one that is all about what she can get out of it, particularly the need to feel special. Mid-way, I found myself unable to trust her judgement or her journey, so in the end, I found her story more disturbing than inspiring. I thought I was buying a travel book with some interesting insights into these locales. Instead, it really turned out to be a sort of New Age Harlequin romance. Yuck.
  
  
• No Nirvana Will Be Found Here.
  By A1IHT31N8RLPN8 on 2007-09-25
  I thought this was a memoir? It often came across as shallow narcissism to the point of wondering if it was fiction? Despite, the fine descriptions & a bit of wit. The author was clearly basting herself in a bath of self pity. All three parts seemed like an extended escape from her chaotic life back in the USA., where she went through a divorce. In brief, she needed to find herself & wanted to feel special. She ate well in Italy, practiced meditation in India, & in Indonesia tried to balance herself between selfindulgence & seeking Nirvana through more meditation. She clearly is unhappy & probably needs something other than her anti-depressants to help herself? I give it three stars because, it was a short descriptive read. But, in conclusion this was far more sad than inspirational.
  
  
• There was a lot of potential....
  By A1G97AAF51KL2R on 2006-08-18
  I picked up this book after rave reviews from a book club and for the first half of it I could not figure out why they liked it so much. I felt the author came through as extremely immature and somewhat shallow- I found the section on Italy read a lot like the diary of a girl who just graduated from high school going to see Italy before she went off to college. Oooh, cute boys, drinking wine, do you think that cute boy thinks I'm cute?However, there were some really lyrical and amazing passages sprinkled in with this so I kept on reading. You could really see how she developed as a person as she went through India and on to Bali. Her account of the ashram and how it changed her was interesting, I could totally sympathize with her difficulties getting her mind to shut up during meditation! While it was somewhat enjoyable to see that progression I didn't find her interesting enough to keep me enthralled with the book.
  And she really did give short shrift to places she had been. I know this book was not supposed to be a travel guide but more of her personal journey but as someone who has been to both Italy and Bali (funny enough I was there in Ubud the same time she was!) I don't think she did any justice to the beauty and magnificence of either of these places which is what I found most disapointing. To only concentrate on the food in Italy is such a pity considering the beautiful architecture, and to not talk about Balinese food more...I just felt there was so much more to be conveyed! It really was like reading a 20 something's diary and as I've often felt when I have looked back on my own journal entries, they aren't all that interesting to people other than you. There were a few sections that really grabbed me so overall it was a worthwhile read but not a strong recommendation.
  One last thing I would like to mention in response to the person who didn't like the political references, I actually felt she really downplayed the prevalance of these discussions. As soon as anyone, fellow travelers and locals alike found out we (my travel buddy and I) were Americans, ALL they wanted to talk about was the election and the war. It was really exhausting after a while.
  
  
• Glib, narcissistic and lightweight
  By A27R5XFBEZ6FPF on 2007-05-14
  I picked up this book on the strength of good reviews and found myself wanting to throw it at the wall. The author is a fine writer with a good sense of humor who seemed to want to write about her journey to self fullfilment, spiritual awakening and happiness. Instead she came off as a priviledged, slightly spoiled writer who needed an excuse for a writers advance so she could travel for free. She reveals herself to be a spiritual narcissist who obsessively navel gazes. While many passages are light hearted and funny and she is oh, so very clever and witty!! there was no real depth, no real meaningful questions asked or answered except for how she could get more breaks and be FULFILLED. It seemed like an extended article for SELF magazine. Instead order books by Kathleen Norris or even Anne LaMott for God's sake!
  
  
• Why they hate our freedom
  By A4KY98I81JC0F on 2007-09-27
  "Eat, Pray, Love" is an almost perfect embodiment of everything wrong with America circa 2007, so it's fitting that such a tome has been so widely and indiscriminately embraced by aspirational post-yuppie women. An unabashed emissary of the culture of selfishness and the cult of the individual, our protagonist decides to dump her husband and "just take a year off," indulging in noncommittal and shallow adventures entirely divorced from any greater sense moral, ethical, or intellectual purpose. Forget that there's an illegal, undeclared war that's resulted in the deaths of thousands upon thousands of innocents, forget all people living a subsistence existence, forget all the people that have to work for a living - she's "just gonna take some time out for me." Remember when that meant simple and humble pleasures, rather than a year of non-working and unthinking vacation as lifestyle, with a little fake religion and fake nonthreatening indulgence thrown in?
  
  Elizabeth Gilbert is the herald of a new age of crass, unthinking American indulgence and excess, truly a new low for humanity at large. When the next 9/11 happens, it will be because of people like Gilbert, living blissfully unaware of the the way that the rest of the world views their lifestyles, mentality, and condescending market/tourist mentality toward everything not in their backyard. "Eat, Pray, Love" is why they hate our freedom.
  
  
• The journey has only just begun...
  By A3SEMZJASV0PWL on 2007-07-26
  As I sat at our bookclub discussion of this book, I looked around our table at each of our lives' journeys thus far (we are all in our 40s). Collectively, we have dealt with cancer, caring for aging, ill or early loss of parents, financial issues, dysfunctional families, children with physical or neurological challenges, etc. We are just ordinary girls who find strength where we can - through friends, faith, inner-selves and own self-worth.
  
  I agree with the author that each of us has our own path to follow. Each path can be inspired by a variety of reasons and can be guided by a combination of experiences, religions, and thought processes - influenced from within or by anything around us. Not really sure what the cause of the author's depression was (there seemed no apparent cause)...which leads me to believe that this author suffers from inherent emotional imbalances or deep insecurities. This author's journey was laced with self-absorption rather than self-reflection...and there's a big difference between the two. I kept hoping the book would redeem itself - hoping that the author would find real clarity, and attain her goal of finding herself (and her self-esteem). Unfortunately, the book delivered the ultimate let-down in that she completed her search for "salvation" not through her meditation and closeness with the universe and God...but rather through the focused, one-way attention from yet another MAN in her apparently long and growing history of co-dependence. This may have even been okay - and a nice way to wrap up her year's journey - had there been any reciprocation of Felipe's focused efforts and physical pleasures. There was no intertwining of souls or culmination of her year's lessons encompassed into this new relationship. The relationship seems rather superficial actually (which, again, may have been okay if the book had been titled "Eat, Pray, Physical Pleasures"). Helping a Balinese family purchase a home was the only altruistic thing in this entire book that the author did for anyone other than herself...and not really certain how genuine that effort was (even though it was accomplished) based on the rest of the book.
  
  What message was the author trying to deliver by writing this book? Did this book enlighten any of us within our bookclub? What will happen if Felipe leaves the author? Will she fall apart again? Will she cry endlessly about her "difficult" life? Perhaps her journey is not yet over...perhaps it has only just begun. Perhaps this book teaches us that the journey continues for all of us. Perhaps the author will write a genuinely worthy book of reading in another decade or two.
  
  
  
• grow up
  By A6IATTVRY6GEU on 2007-09-17
  Elizabeth Gilbert turns 35 during her year of self absorbed indulgence. Her time in Italy read more like that of a run away teenager eating, drinking and lusting for Italian men while missing the great opportunity to study the ancient civilization, art, religion and culture that exists in Rome. In India she talks obsessively about "her guru" (who we never meet) and the difficulty to unselfishly be introspective. Bali shows Elizabeth having so much sex she must reach for her collection of antibiotics. Her behavoir is immature and reckless. And, of course, she did all this on the publisher's dime - imagine had she genuinely taken this journey, kept diaries and THEN pitched it to her publisher.
  
  
• What the?
  By A3AW7GLEJA80N5 on 2007-11-09
  So THIS is what all the noise is about? I guess I too could write a "memoir" about my trip to Italy and all my great meals and drone on and on about my ex boyfriend. The India section? Total impenetrable stereotype. Indonesia? Hunh? Another work from a moneyed, privileged NYC writer that makes women appear superficial. I'm embarassed to have bought this.
  
  
• agreed
  By A2RC8G5SM5TF3R on 2007-12-04
  I couldn't get through the first thirty pages of this book either. A year after I gave up on it (not just gave up, but was utterly exhausted, irritated, and distressed by it) the author is on Oprah in a room full of women who call "Eat Pray Love" their bible. I logged on to find out if I'm the only person who found Elizabeth Gilbert to be, well, self-absorbed, self-obsessed, afraid of her own company, unable to see outside of her own drama. I am relieved to have found so many similar reviews. It makes me sad that women cling to this book as some kind of instruction manual on how to find rightness in their lives. P.S. Ms. Gilbert makes the same impression on Oprah as she did in the book.
  
  
• Ultimately disappointing
  By A2E2IWXGG01GIL on 2006-05-04
  This book starts out wonderfully. The writer is smart, funny, and the woman can write! She says, early on in her travels, that she can make friends with anyone, and you believe her because she is so engaging and vibrant, and her stories are compelling and fun to read. You are willing to listen to her say just about anything because she says it in such an entertaining way. But somewhere, in the middle of the book I started to get tired of the stories. Everything works out, nothing goes wrong, and there appears to be very little true soul searching below the surface. The book is being hailed as a spiritual journal, but it really never gets below the veneer of anecdotes. The author is good company, but her journey is ultimately disappointing.
  
  
• UMMM, NOT SO MUCH. In fact, very, very very little, and that's being generous.
  By A1D39FYIE28RTH on 2006-12-31
  WHAT??? This author is incredibly selfish and I hate to sound mean, but she's pretty unevolved. She chose to leave her husband to travel the world (like college kids choose do to, dump their boyfriends to travel to Mexico for Spring Break. Why didn't she think ahead, think of her needs and wants and future desires BEFORE she got married. Silly girl) and then writes a very, very long book trying to get people to buy her book, to feel sorry for her (because she kept describing how upset her husband was and how "nasty" her divorce was. This was entirely her own doing, how could I possibly feel sorry for her??) and then find balance in our lives. This book is slated as a book to show people a "happier, better" way to live, by travelling. I'm ALL for travelling, believe me, but the author was paid to travel for the year by Penguin Books, her publisher. Gilbert wants us to travel the world to find peace and balance in our lives but who can do that? She was able to do so because her publisher paid for everything...She seemed very unevolved because she admitted that her depression came from the way she behaved in relationships and how men took advantage of her generosity, but, instead of learning from her mistakes in the way she treated men each and every chance she had, she went down the same path each time of pampering them like a mother would. She never learned her lesson but then makes a lot of money to write about it in her book, wanting us to feel sorry for her. Impossible to do so when her only problem in life is men and never learning from her mistakes. Honestly. Give me REAL problems do deal with and then I can have sympathy for her. I also swear she made up the whole "Richard from Texas" sections, what kind of nickname is "Groceries??" Please, it all sounded so highly contrived and fake. I cannot say enough about how self-centered, selfish and unevolved this woman is, so writing a book telling the readers a great way to find balance and love in this world is just such a slap in the face to us. Let me help you ou by summarizing this book: eat good food and not care about the calories. If you need help in life and are confused, meditate and pray. Love people in the correct way, not in the overly-generous way. There, that's the whole book. Save your money and buy a real book from a person with real troubles and real insight into life. She needs to become much more evolved in life and start thinking about real problems besides how she should act in relationships so she won't get depressed and NOT write books making us waste our hard-earned money on such trash. Get a real life Gilbert!!
  
  PS-I was tortured by listening to the unabridged audiobook. This Gilbert woman read the book aloud and read the conversations she had with the non-Americans in very non-American accents. It seemed extremely patronizing to me. She read their sentences in their broken English instead of correcting their grammar. I'm all for authenticity but the way I heard the words come out of her mouth seemed highly patronizing of these people. She's lucky enough to have found people in Italy, India and Bali to speak English with her but instead of making these highly intelligent people sound intelligent, she portrayed them as imperfect English speakers. She was almost mocking them. I couldn't believe the audacity of Gilbert to characterize her so-called best international friends by making them sound like bad English speakers. It almost sounded as if she did this in order to make herself sound smarter than they. Uggghhh.
  
  PSS - She spoke about how she stopped taking her anti-depressants in Italy-cold turkey. From what I know this is a highly dangerous practice. Weening off of anti-depressants should be supervised by a doctor and controlled by the doctor, not just stopped as Gilbert did. She made it sound like she gave up chewing her sugary gum or something. If you are in this position, DO NOT do what Gilbert did. I can't believe she didn't offer advisory warnings in her book to her readers. I hope nobody just stopped taking their tablets just as she did. Very wreckless and irresponsible of her.
  
  OK, forgive me for rambling. It's New Year's Day and difficult for me to collect my thoughts. I just can't wait to sell my copy and salvage at least some of my wasted money! LOL!
  
  
• Such shallow self-discovery should be saved for our teen years.
  By A3FXCXQD9U2MOX on 2007-10-08
  I picked this up at an airport while traveling and opened it on the plane. I started rolling my eyes on the second page and pretty much didn't stop rolling them until I stopped reading. This is basically the author's self-indulgent and clicheed 'search for herself' that reads like every other wealthy, overindulged 30 or 40-something woman's mid life crisis.
  
  In the beginning she leaves her husband and marriage and indulges in a quick rebound relationship that (she will tell you, with some shock) did not work! Imagine. And then she decides to find herself by traveling to three geographical locations where she will indulge in some particular part of her inner self.
  
  Along the way, she meets cardboard cut-outs. Well, she will tell you that they are people, but they are more like a combination of character-composites and wishful thinking. The old woman on the bench in the park who dispenses wisdom and then hobbles away into the mist. The young Italian boy who - as he struggles to learn English - also dispenses wisdom beyond his years and points her further along her path. If these were written as fictional characters you wouldn't believe them. Written as real autobiographical experiences, they are cringe-makingly annoying. And there are more of these 'characters' at every turn, she would have you believe! Though for the record, I don't believe she meant them as an insult to the readers' intelligence. Maybe she thought they were metaphors.
  
  Anyway, her journey continues beyond Italy, and when I realized I had two more countries to visit with the author's angst and shallow self-discovery and pretend real people met with the express purpose of reflecting what she would like to 'learn' (lessons that most of us will have learned far earlier in life before more interesting lessons presented themselves) - I had to give it up.
  
  I know it's categorized as autobiographical, but there's little reality or wisdom to be found here unless it is of a 'Cosmo's Guide To Finding Yourself - see page 131 for details!!!' variety. Actually come to think of it, it may have been perfect for that medium.
  
  
• Sex abuse at the ashram
  By AHX1LLT6CQRDU on 2007-06-02
  After a devastating divorce and personal breakdown, the author received a nice advance from her publisher to travel for a year and write this book. Where do I sign up??? But seriously, Ms. Gilbert writes beautifully, and her book has a nice balance of entertainment and depth. I especially admire the way she tackled writing about the non-dual, transcendant, samadhi experience universally described as indescribable.
  
  I have one big beef with the author however. She fails to mention that the Swamiji she speaks of in such glowing terms, Swami Muktananda, developed some quirky habits late in life, such as molesting young girls and women on a gynecological exam table he had built for that purpose. I can't accept that an intelligent and well-read journalist like Ms. Gilbert could be unaware of these abuses, which are well documented (check any of the numerous websites for Siddha Yoga ex-members). I feel she has made a deliberate omission of her beloved guru's checkered past, and not given her readers the full picture. Maybe she thinks it is no longer relevant, now that he is deceased. But trust me, while Ms. Gilbert was having all those beautiful experiences, there are victims out there who will spend the rest of their lives trying to understand what they went through. Has the Siddha Yoga organization ever apologized to them, or even acknowledged that abuses happened? What about the victims' spiritual growth? They deserve better.
  
  
• The Idle Rich
  By ABLU9RQRCLR9Y on 2006-12-18
  If you are looking for a book that describes the life an idle, affluent, rich woman then this is the book for you. It should be titled I EAT FOR ME, I PRAY FOR ME, I LOVE FOR ME. My journey on a totally self cented, indulgent year abroad to figure out WHY THE WORLD DOES NOT REVOLVE AROUND ME. This book is a road map for how to live a totally self centered life and make money too.
  
  She has insightful thoughts on mental illness and her travels in Italy are entertaining. From there on in it is down hill.
  
  Her political views are appauling. She has more sympathy for a Bali illigal imigrant in the US that has been deported because he is an illigal imigrant then she does for the 9/11 victims fot the WTC bombings. She care more about fundinga home for a woman in Bali that is a money scam but she is too niave to figure this out on her own. How passe to donate money to good honest international or national charity.
  
  In the end she is the same person as at the beginning of the book, minus all the guilt for being so self centered.
  
  
  
  
  

• Love in the Time of Cholera (Vintage International)
• Choose To Be Happy: A Guide to Total Happiness
• Stern Men
• Pilgrims
• The Last American Man