Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.92 AVERAGE
3.92 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
slow-paced
Absolutely adored this!!!!! Highly recommend🩷
hopeful
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
“…we still have enough space in our civilization for the luxuries of imagination and beauty and emotion—and even total frivolousness.” This quote really stuck out to me and felt really relevant to life as it is. I’d say that this book didn’t provide anything new, groundbreaking, or earth shattering to me as a “seasoned” creative. Instead, I read these points as reminders and maybe reassurance that I’m on the right path.
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
(Actual rating 2.5)
In a nutshell: This book is basically a collection of essays that inspire one to be creative… but also contradict themselves by being discouraging.
Recommendation: If you’re a creative person, especially a writer, I’d say this book is worth a read, but don’t take too much of what the book says to heart, because in my mind, it discourages artists.
This book was well-written and WAS inspirational in some ways but was discouraging in other ways which was disappointing. I’ll get to that.
Basically, this book is about what Gilbert calls “Big Magic,” living a creative life without fear of failure or what anyone else thinks in a collection of mis-matched essays. She refers to creativity as if it were a living, breathing thing that chooses to spring onto people and people either take it and use it or throw it back into the universe. In some ways what she says is interesting, but also kind of far-fetched and out there.
I don’t want to say this book is horrible because it wasn’t. I did enjoy the inspirational parts about creativity, how living a creative life is more interesting. And she does offer some sound advice, like not to quit your day job and expect your art to get you through because that puts a lot of reliance on your art and in a way can make your art suffer because in a way you have to demand it to be successful so you can survive, but you aren’t exactly in control of whether your art is super successful or not.
I do not like how she basically says creativity is about luck. She says she got lucky with Eat Pray Love and that it has less to do with talent, which is absolutely ridiculous. I think just the mere fact that someone can write a published book, whether it’s successful or not or whether it’s published by a big house or self-published proves they have some sort of talent and stamina. Am I a published author yet? No. I have a lot of respect for almost every author out there (except E.L. James… sorrynotsorry) because it takes a lot of dedication to write a book. It is hard work, especially if it’s personal because it is hard to delve back into hard times. It’s not all about luck. If you are going to sit there and tell me that J.K. Rowling’s work was all about luck you are a liar. To create an entire world and in depth characters that any age can enjoy? That is raw talent. Not luck.
She also says not to make your art your “baby” because it will get eaten up and spit out by critics and editors will force you to break it down to ensure it’s more successful. I’m sorry, my art IS my baby, it was born from my brain, my experiences. My friend didn’t write it, no one else wrote it, I wrote it. It’s my creation and therefore my baby.
Gilbert is also discouraging and constantly reminds readers :your art probably won’t be successful because it rarely is.” Thanks for that. Are you trying to cut down on your competition Gilbert? That hurts. Maybe I don’t care if my art is super successful, I just want to do it.
I also dislike how Gilbert pleads her readers not to create because they are creating their art to help people. Some people want to help others and don’t know how to other than creating art, like writing an insightful book or writing an inspirational song. If people weren’t creating to help other people there would be no “self help” section of a book store. What To Expect When You’re Expecting wouldn’t exist. Then what would the world be like? Tell me, Gilbert.
Finally, she discourages art degrees. And one could argue yes, you don’t need an arts degree to be creative, but it helps you in some ways. I majored in Professional Writing and loved it. What would the schooling system be without arts degrees like Film or Visual Art? Are people just supposed to learn how to be a filmmaker on their own or learn how to master the Adobe programs without help? Some art is helped put into existence by art degrees.
This review reads like I hated the book, but I really didn’t. Some of it was helpful and interesting and it was all well-written… I just don’t agree with some of her ideas is all.
In a nutshell: This book is basically a collection of essays that inspire one to be creative… but also contradict themselves by being discouraging.
Recommendation: If you’re a creative person, especially a writer, I’d say this book is worth a read, but don’t take too much of what the book says to heart, because in my mind, it discourages artists.
This book was well-written and WAS inspirational in some ways but was discouraging in other ways which was disappointing. I’ll get to that.
“Do whatever brings you to life, then. Follow your own fascinations, obsessions, and compulsions. Trust them. Create whatever causes a revolution in your heart.”
Basically, this book is about what Gilbert calls “Big Magic,” living a creative life without fear of failure or what anyone else thinks in a collection of mis-matched essays. She refers to creativity as if it were a living, breathing thing that chooses to spring onto people and people either take it and use it or throw it back into the universe. In some ways what she says is interesting, but also kind of far-fetched and out there.
I don’t want to say this book is horrible because it wasn’t. I did enjoy the inspirational parts about creativity, how living a creative life is more interesting. And she does offer some sound advice, like not to quit your day job and expect your art to get you through because that puts a lot of reliance on your art and in a way can make your art suffer because in a way you have to demand it to be successful so you can survive, but you aren’t exactly in control of whether your art is super successful or not.
I do not like how she basically says creativity is about luck. She says she got lucky with Eat Pray Love and that it has less to do with talent, which is absolutely ridiculous. I think just the mere fact that someone can write a published book, whether it’s successful or not or whether it’s published by a big house or self-published proves they have some sort of talent and stamina. Am I a published author yet? No. I have a lot of respect for almost every author out there (except E.L. James… sorrynotsorry) because it takes a lot of dedication to write a book. It is hard work, especially if it’s personal because it is hard to delve back into hard times. It’s not all about luck. If you are going to sit there and tell me that J.K. Rowling’s work was all about luck you are a liar. To create an entire world and in depth characters that any age can enjoy? That is raw talent. Not luck.
She also says not to make your art your “baby” because it will get eaten up and spit out by critics and editors will force you to break it down to ensure it’s more successful. I’m sorry, my art IS my baby, it was born from my brain, my experiences. My friend didn’t write it, no one else wrote it, I wrote it. It’s my creation and therefore my baby.
Gilbert is also discouraging and constantly reminds readers :your art probably won’t be successful because it rarely is.” Thanks for that. Are you trying to cut down on your competition Gilbert? That hurts. Maybe I don’t care if my art is super successful, I just want to do it.
I also dislike how Gilbert pleads her readers not to create because they are creating their art to help people. Some people want to help others and don’t know how to other than creating art, like writing an insightful book or writing an inspirational song. If people weren’t creating to help other people there would be no “self help” section of a book store. What To Expect When You’re Expecting wouldn’t exist. Then what would the world be like? Tell me, Gilbert.
Finally, she discourages art degrees. And one could argue yes, you don’t need an arts degree to be creative, but it helps you in some ways. I majored in Professional Writing and loved it. What would the schooling system be without arts degrees like Film or Visual Art? Are people just supposed to learn how to be a filmmaker on their own or learn how to master the Adobe programs without help? Some art is helped put into existence by art degrees.
This review reads like I hated the book, but I really didn’t. Some of it was helpful and interesting and it was all well-written… I just don’t agree with some of her ideas is all.
I didn’t want to like this book. I wanted to believe I had heard all this advice before. However, I found it inspiring and fun. Great read.
inspiring
medium-paced
If you're a creative person -- in any field -- or if you want to be a more creative person, this book will boost your mojo and get you excited about writing/painting/composing/whatever-your-discipline again. People seem to either love or hate Gilbert, and I am one of the former. I find her writing voice inspiring, funny, self-deprecating, curious, and full of wonder at the world. Her seemingly unorthodox notion -- that creative ideas latch on to us like succubi -- is actually quite an ancient concept. By the end of the book, she gets you believing it, too. I'm recommending this book to all of my friends who are seeking to live creative lives.
