Eat, Pray, Love
- Elizabeth Gilbert
- Elizabeth Gilbert
The author's journey
from an abysmal state of mind, to discovery of happiness and love, is
not as inspiring or enriching as I expected to be. But it makes for an
engaging read, and did give me something to ponder on. I alternately
appreciated and abhorred her.
At first, her decision to divorce her husband, and step out of her seemingly well-settled life, appalled me - how can someone just run out on their responsibility? But after a while, it made me think why should any person be forced to seek their contentment and happiness in the norms approved by the other people, even if these others constitute the majority of the society? And could it have been a really happy relationship, if the husband was unaware or unwilling to help her overcome her consuming depression (and that he could fall low enough to extract a settlement wiping out her savings).
I appreciated her courage in admitting to her problem of depression, and stepping out of a relationship in which she felt suffocated. I'm not commenting on whether she was right or wrong in feeling so, but the fact that she did try to take charge of her happiness.
Her writing style is charming and witty. I specially liked the way she has related her experiences in Italy, and to some extent, those in Bali. However, one glaring shortcoming is that in her explorations of these three different cultures, she is just the privileged, protected tourist, who experiences them in a superficial manner, with no attempt to understand or connect to it. This is particularly true of India, where she stays the entire time in the ashram, living a privileged life, isolated and sheltered from the realities that lied beyond the walls of the ashram. She also comes across as a self-indulgent individual, glorifying her own "special" self through out the book. And I'm sure the readers could have done without the extensive details of her intimate life.
A sense of reality is missing from her travel memoirs, and I think that is easily explained when you remember that she is being paid (a handsome amount) to visit these places and recount the story. She is not a real traveler, who would want to truly experience the place. This is no journey of "enlightenment", as it is projected out to be. If it was undertaken with the aim of self-discovery it fails miserably, it is more of a study in self-gratification. But, as a collection of adventures and misadventures, related in an engaging manner, it is an entertaining book.
An interesting book indeed, but I didn't quite get what all the fuss was about. Definitely not what I will put in my must-read list.
At first, her decision to divorce her husband, and step out of her seemingly well-settled life, appalled me - how can someone just run out on their responsibility? But after a while, it made me think why should any person be forced to seek their contentment and happiness in the norms approved by the other people, even if these others constitute the majority of the society? And could it have been a really happy relationship, if the husband was unaware or unwilling to help her overcome her consuming depression (and that he could fall low enough to extract a settlement wiping out her savings).
I appreciated her courage in admitting to her problem of depression, and stepping out of a relationship in which she felt suffocated. I'm not commenting on whether she was right or wrong in feeling so, but the fact that she did try to take charge of her happiness.
Her writing style is charming and witty. I specially liked the way she has related her experiences in Italy, and to some extent, those in Bali. However, one glaring shortcoming is that in her explorations of these three different cultures, she is just the privileged, protected tourist, who experiences them in a superficial manner, with no attempt to understand or connect to it. This is particularly true of India, where she stays the entire time in the ashram, living a privileged life, isolated and sheltered from the realities that lied beyond the walls of the ashram. She also comes across as a self-indulgent individual, glorifying her own "special" self through out the book. And I'm sure the readers could have done without the extensive details of her intimate life.
A sense of reality is missing from her travel memoirs, and I think that is easily explained when you remember that she is being paid (a handsome amount) to visit these places and recount the story. She is not a real traveler, who would want to truly experience the place. This is no journey of "enlightenment", as it is projected out to be. If it was undertaken with the aim of self-discovery it fails miserably, it is more of a study in self-gratification. But, as a collection of adventures and misadventures, related in an engaging manner, it is an entertaining book.
An interesting book indeed, but I didn't quite get what all the fuss was about. Definitely not what I will put in my must-read list.
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