Eat Pray Loveby Elizabeth Gilbert, , Search Cheap Books, Discount Books, ISBN 0143038419

Customer Reviews:

Well Written

I am honestly suprised at how many bad reviews this book got. I really enjoyed it and so far given it to 2 people who agree it is very well written and entertaining. This is a very easy read and i couldn't wait to pick it up to see what happened next.

I think Gilbert's next book and film on Eat Pray Love should be boycotted

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 North American culture and values??? Why should such a shallow piece of work written by such a self-absorbed narcissistic writer 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 whined 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. 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???

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.

Probably easier to be the author than one of her friends

What a self-indulgent, self-important book and author! Children are withdrawn and shy until she speaks to them. She causes the blind to see, the lame to walk. Give me a break. While reading of some people's sincere path toward enlightenment can make for great literature, this book reads more like a slacker's guide to making yourself the centre of the known universe.

Ranting Tale

Driven to despair by a punishing divorce and an anguished love affair, Gilbert is left in a state of depression. In an attempt to get her life back on tract she goes to Italy to learn the language and revel in their cuisine, to India to meditate in an ashram, and to Bali Indonesia to reconnect with a healer that she had previous contact with.

This novelist journalist chronicles her intrepid quest for spiritual healing throughout her year of travels, documenting a memoir of her journey and experiences in order to find balance in her life. Not everyone will relate or agree in her methods. Gilbert's over descriptive narrative can be boring at times as she talks a lot about nothing. This book is shallow and superficial, a ranting tale of a self absorbed person running off and escaping reality in the hope of finding oneself in other cultures. This may appeal to dreamers and rich immature adults wanting a reason to escape; very few have the luxury to travel the world for a year. Is this fiction or fact? I find it hard to believe it received so many positive reviews.

Narcissism at it's Best

After all the reviews and hype I was anxious to read this book. I liked the title and thought it would be interesting to go along with the author's journey of self discovery, but as the voyage progressed I found myself drowning in her expression of self love, self importance or in physchoanalysis terms 'regression into adolescent sexual behavior'(webster's dictionary) If the story had been edited into half or two thirds of the length it might have worked. While some passages were quite poetic and lovely, they were few and far between. Geneally I found it too narcissistic, self absorbed and egocentric.

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