Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.48 AVERAGE
3.48 AVERAGE
reflective
slow-paced
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
I can understand literally any review of this book.
From 1 star (“this privileged woman wrote a book that was so kitsch, with a writing style so cloying that it made it want to vomit”) to 5 stars (“Elizabeth Gilbert’s experience resonated with me deeply; I feel like a path forward has been shown to me and now I want to travel the world and get my life in order”). They all make sense. It just depends what you’re trying to get out of it.
For my part, I found that Gilbert is so friendly, so *chummy*, that it’s easy to read this as mawkish and trite. If you go looking for mixed metaphors and hackneyed turns of phrase… you’ll find them in abundance. If you’re looking for a great piece of literature… this ain’t it.
And yet… I enjoyed it. I’m glad I read this book. I had heard that it was better than the movie, and indeed it is. It is escapism par excellence, if indeed escapism is *the thing* that you’re looking for here. With a surprising amount of substance—Elizabeth Gilbert went through a lot.
Some assorted thoughts:
- I get the complaint that she’s a super privileged woman who got a book advance to travel around the world; that doesn’t really bother me. She owns up to it, both in the original text and in the foreword to the 10th anniversary edition.
- Some of the bits about god and traditional medicine read as a bit woo for my tastes, but it’s a memoir. It literally has “pray” in the title. You get what you came here for.
- I am a touch jaded in that I looked up Gilbert’s biography before reading the book and learned that she separated from the love interest about a decade later. Not quite the fairytale ending it is depicted as, either in the book or especially in the movie, but so goes life.
- On the plus side (for me), I learn that she’s actually queer, which she might not even have known at the time of writing the book, but it shows up sometimes, subtly, and was delightful context.
Tl;dr: If you are looking for high-brow literature: this book is not for you. If you want to learn about a woman’s journey of self-discovery and you’re interested in meditation and lowercase-g god and you think that might inspire you: you might love this read.
From 1 star (“this privileged woman wrote a book that was so kitsch, with a writing style so cloying that it made it want to vomit”) to 5 stars (“Elizabeth Gilbert’s experience resonated with me deeply; I feel like a path forward has been shown to me and now I want to travel the world and get my life in order”). They all make sense. It just depends what you’re trying to get out of it.
For my part, I found that Gilbert is so friendly, so *chummy*, that it’s easy to read this as mawkish and trite. If you go looking for mixed metaphors and hackneyed turns of phrase… you’ll find them in abundance. If you’re looking for a great piece of literature… this ain’t it.
And yet… I enjoyed it. I’m glad I read this book. I had heard that it was better than the movie, and indeed it is. It is escapism par excellence, if indeed escapism is *the thing* that you’re looking for here. With a surprising amount of substance—Elizabeth Gilbert went through a lot.
Some assorted thoughts:
- I get the complaint that she’s a super privileged woman who got a book advance to travel around the world; that doesn’t really bother me. She owns up to it, both in the original text and in the foreword to the 10th anniversary edition.
- Some of the bits about god and traditional medicine read as a bit woo for my tastes, but it’s a memoir. It literally has “pray” in the title. You get what you came here for.
- I am a touch jaded in that I looked up Gilbert’s biography before reading the book and learned that she separated from the love interest about a decade later. Not quite the fairytale ending it is depicted as, either in the book or especially in the movie, but so goes life.
- On the plus side (for me), I learn that she’s actually queer, which she might not even have known at the time of writing the book, but it shows up sometimes, subtly, and was delightful context.
Tl;dr: If you are looking for high-brow literature: this book is not for you. If you want to learn about a woman’s journey of self-discovery and you’re interested in meditation and lowercase-g god and you think that might inspire you: you might love this read.
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
ok, i mostly only read the "eat" chapter, because i wasn't into all of that spiritual crap. ...but it was delicious!
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
adventurous
challenging
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced