prettyredshoes
Eat, Pray, Love | August 12, 2011
Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I was surprised to see how many people gave this book a low rating, but thinking back on it, I can understand certain (or even most) readers’s negative response to Gilbert’s more self-absorbed moments. I can’t decide myself if Gilbert is, at times, trying to be just relentlessly honest so as to paint the most accurate description of not-so-pretty moments, or if she really is that self-absorbed. I feel like I’ll need to read another book or two by her to decide.
This is also certainly not an experience that I feel like I can relate to. I mean sure, I love travelling, but very few people can decide they are unhappy and just jump on a plane to Italy. This was only possible because Gilbert was already a successful writer and so could make that kind of self-righteous journey. Most people never have a year’s worth of time or resources to go “find themselves.”
I’m choosing to give this book a high rating because despite my reservations about Gilbert’s tone and sometimes irrational immaturity given her age and success (again, should I admire her honesty?), I felt like a part of Gilbert’s journey all throughout Italy, India, and Bali. The dialogue she constructs for the characters is a bit long winded and overdone at times, but she does well to reinvent the accents and dialects of her characters. I also found her insights into yogic mediations and Baliese rituals and cultural traditions to be beautifully written and terribly interesting. I also believe that her maturity develops throughout the book. Yes, at the beginning, Gilbert is self-absorbed and pathetic, but isn’t that the point? She sets out on this journey to transform herself into a different person, and over the course of the book finds herself in situations to help others, and with each week that passes, she becomes more and mores self-aware and “balanced,” and so by the end, she worries less about herself and focuses more being a part of a community.
Leave a Comment »
