Eat Pray Love

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I actually loved the book and the movie ... and I dislike narcissism as much as the next person. She is writing about getting over a painful divorce and the way I read it, she takes full responsibility for her role. I thought it was very honest ... the way you get when you just can't stop sobbing. she was probably clinically depressed. And I think she is also honest that she was incredibly privileged to go on that journey. Was fun to read about. Having read all of her other books, I can confirm she is a very talented writer. I also love her stance on creativity.

I am simply amazed that she wrote other books and that someone actually read them.

She's actually kind of a really fantastic writer. Her interviews especially. EPL is an outlier in her work.

[Anonymous]

We've become a nation of navel gazers. worse still, the people on FB who quote the navel gazers. Is there anything more pathetic than someone worshiping someone worshiping themselves? Nope. false idols all around.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm so glad I'm not the only one who thinks Gilbert's a tool. Cheryl Strayed is another one.

So glad to hear someone else say this. I feel like I'm the only person I know who hated Wild. I refuse to watch the movie.

[Anonymous]

Well, I really liked the book and movie Wild. I could relate to both the problem and solution. Eat Pray Love repulsed me especially after my therapist suggested it when I was struggling in my own marriage. How could one relate to a person with the freedom to ditch everything and go to Bali? Needless to say, I stopped seeing the therapist. I began to realize that this type of author is a STORYTELLER and what one is reading might not necessarily align with the truth.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The film is better than the book, which probably won't make you feel better. It's all just a love letter from Elizabeth Gilbert to Elizabeth Gilbert. She sure loves how genius she thinks she is.

I can watch the film, but I cannot ever read that self-obsessed book again.

+1. I threw the book across the room. That was a first for me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm so glad I'm not the only one who thinks Gilbert's a tool. Cheryl Strayed is another one.

+1, Wild was similar, but better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Learning that she apparently had a book deal to write Eat Pray Love before she began her travels colored my view of the book.

you obviously dont understand how writers work . yes, they seek contracts . they need to make money . so she wrote a book proposal about her search for peace post - divorce. so what? she didn't know the outcome. good for her for approaching this as work. but work and the quest for peace/enlightenment are not mutually exclusive.

[Anonymous]

I liked Wild. It wasn't prettified at all. In fact Cheryl Strayed and Elizabeth Gilbert aren't much alike ... unless you think that all women writers writing about their lives are the same.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I actually loved the book and the movie ... and I dislike narcissism as much as the next person. She is writing about getting over a painful divorce and the way I read it, she takes full responsibility for her role. I thought it was very honest ... the way you get when you just can't stop sobbing. she was probably clinically depressed. And I think she is also honest that she was incredibly privileged to go on that journey. Was fun to read about. Having read all of her other books, I can confirm she is a very talented writer. I also love her stance on creativity.

I am simply amazed that she wrote other books and that someone actually read them.

She's actually kind of a really fantastic writer. Her interviews especially. EPL is an outlier in her work.

I agree. It got her into the chick lit category, but her other writing is really different. I really liked The Signature of All Things.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The film is better than the book, which probably won't make you feel better. It's all just a love letter from Elizabeth Gilbert to Elizabeth Gilbert. She sure loves how genius she thinks she is.

I can watch the film, but I cannot ever read that self-obsessed book again.

OMG no the movie is the worst thing EVERRR

I LOVED the book when I read it at 22. I'm sure if I read it now I would roll my eyes hard.

Whether people love this book or hate it tells you a lot about them and where they are in life. It's like a Rorschach test.

I actually could see myself as potentially having liked it IF I had read it at 22. At 35, with a little more perspective on life, marriage, and relationships, I thought it was awful. I thought she was awful. What a terrible person to walk out on an apparently very nice husband who loved her and wanted to work things out, just because she was bored.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but in the book didn't she say she and the ex were at an impasse because he wanted kids and she realized that while she loved her nieces and nephews, the thought of becoming a mom was something she just couldn't do? I'm a mom who always knew I wanted to be a mom, and yet I sympathize with this a lot. If she knew deep down she didn't want to have children, wasn't it better that she let her husband go so he could have kids with a woman who wanted them?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I liked Wild. It wasn't prettified at all. In fact Cheryl Strayed and Elizabeth Gilbert aren't much alike ... unless you think that all women writers writing about their lives are the same.

I don't recall anyone saying that they were the alike except that they're both self-indulgent tools who seem to be able to justify whatever it is they want to do. It's a shame you got your feelings hurt because we aren't all enthralled by "Wild."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The film is better than the book, which probably won't make you feel better. It's all just a love letter from Elizabeth Gilbert to Elizabeth Gilbert. She sure loves how genius she thinks she is.

I can watch the film, but I cannot ever read that self-obsessed book again.

+1. I threw the book across the room. That was a first for me.

I'm PP, and that's so funny! I remember I went on a road trip with a friend when the book came out. She had bought it, was reading it, but left it at home, but loved it so much so far that she bought ANOTHER copy on a 3-day trip because she couldn't wait til she got home to keep reading.

I bought it used, for a quarter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The film is better than the book, which probably won't make you feel better. It's all just a love letter from Elizabeth Gilbert to Elizabeth Gilbert. She sure loves how genius she thinks she is.

I can watch the film, but I cannot ever read that self-obsessed book again.

Yes to this! I can watch the movie (even though I dislike both Elizabeth Gilbert and Julia Roberts), mainly for the scenery in Bali and Javier Bardem. The book was intolerable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Well, I really liked the book and movie Wild. I could relate to both the problem and solution. Eat Pray Love repulsed me especially after my therapist suggested it when I was struggling in my own marriage. How could one relate to a person with the freedom to ditch everything and go to Bali? Needless to say, I stopped seeing the therapist. I began to realize that this type of author is a STORYTELLER and what one is reading might not necessarily align with the truth.

oh, come on. What is truth anyway. I'm sure her ex husband's version is very different than hers, but no less valid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The film is better than the book, which probably won't make you feel better. It's all just a love letter from Elizabeth Gilbert to Elizabeth Gilbert. She sure loves how genius she thinks she is.

I can watch the film, but I cannot ever read that self-obsessed book again.

OMG no the movie is the worst thing EVERRR

I LOVED the book when I read it at 22. I'm sure if I read it now I would roll my eyes hard.

Whether people love this book or hate it tells you a lot about them and where they are in life. It's like a Rorschach test.

I actually could see myself as potentially having liked it IF I had read it at 22. At 35, with a little more perspective on life, marriage, and relationships, I thought it was awful. I thought she was awful. What a terrible person to walk out on an apparently very nice husband who loved her and wanted to work things out, just because she was bored.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but in the book didn't she say she and the ex were at an impasse because he wanted kids and she realized that while she loved her nieces and nephews, the thought of becoming a mom was something she just couldn't do? I'm a mom who always knew I wanted to be a mom, and yet I sympathize with this a lot. If she knew deep down she didn't want to have children, wasn't it better that she let her husband go so he could have kids with a woman who wanted them?

Yes, you are correct and I empathized with this too.

The other thing between them was that her first husband rarely worked. He was constantly reimagining himself - trying on new "careers" and a professional student. I'd think that after a while that would make me insane. I definitely couldn't have lived with that at all.

There were things about the book/movie that I liked/related to and other things that I totally didn't. I don't think it was a total waste of time. I think that if you asked 10 different people their impressions of the film you'd get 10 different answers. It's just one of those stories that strikes different nerves in different people.