There is enough beauty there to warrant it.It was more her interpretation of what it means to open oneself to pleasure that bothered me and seemed very narrow. Despite it being a bit of a superficial assessment, I have no problem with Gilbert associating Italy with pleasure.

I felt that Gilbert projects herself so strongly onto every place and every person she encounters that I'm not sure what she really learnt along the way.Īs delightful as the Italy section was to read, I felt like she never really stepped out of herself to understand the country on its own terms and to move beyond the stereotype. Still, for a woman who abandons everything in search of a true spiritual experience, she leaves most of the important questions unanswered. When I first started reading the book, I couldn't help rolling my eyes and thinking 'Here we go, another tale of a precious, privileged woman who is unsatisfied with her life.' I stuck with it though and was charmed through the Italy section by Gilbert's humor and down-to-earth writing style. I didn't hate Eat, Pray, Love, but it left me really unsatisfied. In the end the overall effect was rather like sitting at a party listening to someone tell a long involved story all about themselves, and you're alternately annoyed and fascinated and you want to get up and leave but she's just so entertaining that you keep telling yourself you'll leave in the next minute-and so you end up sticking through the whole thing. I couldn't decide if I loved it or hated it and it seemed like every few pages I'd go from thinking Gilbert was delightfully witty to thinking this was the most horribly self-absorbed person to ever set foot on the earth. In the end the overall effect was rather like sitting at a party listening to someone tell a long involved story all about themselves, and you're alternately annoyed and fascinated and you want to get up and leave but she's just Wow, this book took me on a roller-coaster ride. Wow, this book took me on a roller-coaster ride. It is certain to touch anyone who has ever woken up to the unrelenting need for change.more She became the pupil of an elderly medicine man and also fell in love the best way-unexpectedly.Īn intensely articulate and moving memoir of self-discovery, Eat, Pray, Love is about what can happen when you claim responsibility for your own contentment and stop trying to live in imitation of society’s ideals. In Bali, she studied the art of balance between worldly enjoyment and divine transcendence. India was for the art of devotion, and with the help of a native guru and a surprisingly wise cowboy from Texas, she embarked on four uninterrupted months of spiritual exploration. In Rome, she studied the art of pleasure, learning to speak Italian and gaining the twenty-three happiest pounds of her life. Her aim was to visit three places where she could examine one aspect of her own nature set against the backdrop of a culture that has traditionally done that one thing very well. Eat, Pray, Love is the absorbing chronicle of that year. In order to give herself the time and space to find out who she really was and what she really wanted, she got rid of her belongings, quit her job, and undertook a yearlong journey around the world-all alone. To recover from all this, Gilbert took a radical step. She went through a divorce, a crushing depression, another failed love, and the eradication of everything she ever thought she was supposed to be.

But instead of feeling happy and fulfilled, she was consumed with panic, grief, and confusion. She had everything an educated, ambitious American woman was supposed to want-a husband, a house, a successful career. She had everything an educated, ambitious American woman was supposed to want-a husband, a house, a successful ca A celebrated writer's irresistible, candid, and eloquent account of her pursuit of worldly pleasure, spiritual devotion, and what she really wanted out of life.Īround the time Elizabeth Gilbert turned thirty, she went through an early-onslaught midlife crisis. Around the time Elizabeth Gilbert turned thirty, she went through an early-onslaught midlife crisis. A celebrated writer's irresistible, candid, and eloquent account of her pursuit of worldly pleasure, spiritual devotion, and what she really wanted out of life.

Eat pray love audiobook part 9