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

Author - Elizabeth Gilbert ... [Goo?] [Posters]

This Paperback Book item from Penguin (Non-Classics) was reviewed on 29-Aug-2008.

Search ISBN:0143038419 offer from Abebooks or used books from Alibris. Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Italy, India and Indonesia Reference Book. Classifications : Authors Arts & Literature Biographies & Memoirs Subjects Books General Biographies & Memoirs Subjects Books Women Specific Groups Biographies & Memoirs Subjects Books Travel Biographies & Memoirs Subj . Click the following link to view the cover of Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Italy, India and Indonesia.

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1) Paperback Book Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Italy, India and Indonesia by Penguin (Non-Classics). A wonderfully written entertaining ,insightful and frank exploration of one person´s exciting and stressful, but ultimately joyful life. Her descriptions of places, persons and emotions bring the reader into her world and we are all the richer for it. It´s great reading for everyone but especially women..there is something in there that absolutely everyone can identify with. It made me decide to reread it once a year just to put life in perspective again. You´ll laugh out loud and cry and enjoy every moment.¤

2) Paperback Book Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Italy, India and Indonesia by Penguin (Non-Classics). I loved the concept of the book. Her adventures were memorable, her quest was admirable and it was all written with a witty tone that made it easy to devour this book. The only downfall to me is that I found the narrator/author to be quite annoying and overly self-absorbed. Unfortunately, this greatly detracted from the overall majesty of the book.¤

3) Paperback Book Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Italy, India and Indonesia by Penguin (Non-Classics). I loved this book. I´d recommend it for women of all ages, especially if they are searching for balance in life...well really, who isn´t?¤

4) Paperback Book Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Italy, India and Indonesia by Penguin (Non-Classics). I had first heard about this book and the author while watching an Oprah show. There were women on there who were so inspired by the book that they actually went on similar journeys to India and Indonesia. So, I thought to myself "Wow, this must be a very inspirational book with a profound message". The next day I ordered it in order to experience the journey for myself.

After reading maybe three or four pages I knew that the writing style of this author was not my taste. Her writing is chatty, for lack of a better word, conversational to a point of sheer boredom with metaphors that were simply bizzare. The writing was all over the place. You would be reading something about her time in Italy and in a moment you´d be ready about something that happened to her in New York. It was the same throughout the book. It did not have a natural ebb and flow to it.

Spending months in Italy as she states, I would think and hoped that there would be more creative expressions on Italy as a destination. It seems as if all she experienced there was eating pasta, pizza, desserts and having conversations with anyone and everyone which to be fair if that is your idea of pleasure then great, but I found it not very believable. She even mentions she did not visit any museums while there which I find a little strange. Ms. Gilbert also mentions that she changed the names of absolutely everyone in the book. I had to laugh when I read about Luca Spaghetti in Italy. I really wondered about it when she stated in the book that it was his real name. It just didn´t add up as did much of the book.

India was a little more tolerable in that through this uninspired verbiage the author employed you learned something about ashrams, yoga and meditation. What I learned about India through this period in her life was almost like reading from a reference book. No feelings emanating from the author at all in my opinion.

Indonesia I will have to say I enjoyed much more. Her writing at this point was a very factual and detailed account of the Balinese people, their customs and traditions however it was again like reading a guidebook. I have to admit though that the "four brothers" is something that struck me and will stay with me.

The job of a writer is to capture the reader so that your own feelings and experience flow through the reader. I never felt anything while reading this book. I was hoping to find something profound or insiprational. All I received from this book was a better understanding of meditation and the Balinese people.

The book is based on the premise of self discovery yet I never felt this throughout the book. Her descriptions and insights to different characters throughout the book were sometimes shallow and bordering on just plain rude. I don´t think her intent was to be rude or shallow but rather witty. The problem is it just didn´t work. Her wit is more sarcasm than anything else.

Another point I´d like to make is that after her bathroom floor meltdown when everything was slipping away and she had hit bottom so to speak she was given the money by her publisher to write this book. That being said I feel as if the lack of feeling and inspiration throughout this book comes from the fact that she was on a writing assignment to explore self discovery rather than experiencing this journey as a result of a devastating time in her life.

All in all, I was extremely disappointed with this book. I liked the fact that I learned a bit about another culture but other than that it was a wasted read.
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5) Paperback Book Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Italy, India and Indonesia by Penguin (Non-Classics). This book is for many people but especially for someone who has battled depression or for a friend/family member of someone working through depression -it really enlightened me to the plight of a person who is dealing with this disease...

Straight away Ms. Gilbert let´s the reader know in the introduction that she won´t discuss the details surrounding the breakdown of her marriage, and I respect that. A main point of contention for many disappointed readers appears to be connected with that lack of disclosure.

It is my humble opinion that Ms. Gilbert´s intent is to demonstrate that depression is about self absorption and this is her story of internal and external self discovery! No one can truly love another person or help another until they wholly love and accept their imperfect self. Getting to this level of understanding requires alot of self contemplation.

I found the book engaging, enlightening and uplifting. The characters were rich (I loved Richard from Texas!) and so vivid. I feel as if I spent time with some really wonderful people in three wonderful locations.

Ms. Gilbert´s growth was immense and I am anxious to read the next book.¤

6) Paperback Book Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Italy, India and Indonesia by Penguin (Non-Classics). This beautifully written, heartfelt memoir touched a nerve among both readers and reviewers. Elizabeth Gilbert tells how she made the difficult choice to leave behind all the trappings of modern American success (marriage, house in the country, career) and find, instead, what she truly wanted from life. Setting out for a year to study three different aspects of her nature amid three different cultures, Gilbert explored the art of pleasure in Italy and the art of devotion in India, and then a balance between the two on the Indonesian island of Bali. By turns rapturous and rueful, this wise and funny author (whom Booklist calls “Anne Lamott’s hip, yoga- practicing, footloose younger sister”) is poised to garner yet more adoring fans.¤

Page Updated: Robert N. Goolsby, 26-Sep-2008, 01430384199780143038412, 190-040-371-901-QIB-T6B-0QB-8

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