Eat, Pray, Love

I recently finished Fieldwork by Mischa Berlinski and am still so consumed by its beautifully crafted plot and unique perspective that I can't yet do a book review. However, last night I flung Eat, Pray, Love (I refuse to bend to the oh-too-cutesy lack of caps on the book cover...sorry Amy) across the living room and could hardly wait to arise this morning and tell you why.

Eat, Pray, Love (sorry, if I pan the book, you only get two links...the one in the first paragraph and the one linked to the book cover) is on every shelf. From my own personal experience at Kroger last night, I can tell you that it's easier to find this book in the grocery store than it is to find Steak-Umms. (Special thanks to Ruth. I ran into her at Kroger as I was limping around trying to find them and as I was getting ready to meet the manager in the frozen section, she emerged triumphantly waving a 24-pack that somehow eluded me during my three passes through aisle 11.) I am sure that this book will appeal to many who will delight in the author's self-indulgence. I, for one, and Amy for two, do not find her truth- and healing-seeking travels to be entertaining or insightful.

Since one of my feelings about the book is that it tends to be shallow, I shall be shallow myself and point out that the lovely Ms. Gilbert looks strikingly like the beautiful Elizabeth Mitchell who stars in Lost. Now, if I wrote a book and some boneheaded book-blogger decided to pan it, I would be completely mollified if she likened my appearance to that of a movie star. Besides, I linked to her web site so that my readers can visit and decide for themselves if this is just another example of me being a snobby, elitist reader. And by the way, Ms. Liz, I bought this book TWICE!!! Yes, I left my first copy in the laptop bag I bought at the Apple store and subsequently returned. So not only did I contribute to your royalties TWICE, I BAFAB'd inadvertently and foisted your work on a potential fan who shops at the Apple Store in Boca Raton.

I can't help but feel that her descriptions of how her marriage ended may have been somewhat doctored in hindsight. Who am I to say that an author is bending the truth to her own purposes? A reader, that's who I am. And also a master of self-justification myself, when I need to be. I'm sure that lots of women would happily take a long physical and metaphorical journey of self-discovery if they were fortunate enough to have a book deal waiting at the end of it and didn't have to worry about mundane things like earning money, paying a mortgage, etc.

I must admit, I did find some joy in the early chapters about her time spent in Italy. I long to visit Italy myself and after reading about Liz's experiences, I desperately want to have some of that pizza in Naples! I love Luca Spaghetti...the name, the person, etc. But I found it hard slogging through the self-absorption to get to the sensuous descriptions of mouth-watering food, the joy of hearing that someone else gains weight while traveling and the sound of the gently spraying fountains in the piazzas of Rome.

Chapter 16, with its awkward personifications of Depression and Loneliness, points out all that I didn't like about this book. As someone who has lived with depression for over 20 years, I can relate to someone like Tracy Thompson personifying our illness as The Beast.  But Elizabeth Gilbert's contrived metaphor in chapter 16 combined with her opinionated view of the use of often-life-saving medication made me feel like her "depression" was something she dabbled in and then decided would make for this cool personification thing. Didn't work for me. While I respect each person's right to make her own decision about treatment options, I worry when a book that is so widely read as this one reinforces the dangerous assumption that depression is some kind of weakness that can be overcome and that one should "strive" to be free of the medications that help so many people survive and thrive in spite of the debilitating effects of depression. I'll step off my pedestal now, but if you want to read more, I suggest you visit the category of Depression on my blog, read Tracy Thompson's books and have an open mind about an illness that is terribly misunderstood.

I usually try NOT to read other critics' comments on the books I review, lest I be swayed from my initial take on a book. But when I clicked on Ms. Gilbert's site, I couldn't help but notice the following:

New York Times: "If a more likable writer than Gilbert is currently in print, I haven't found him or her.

Let me introduce you to Anne Lamott, Alan Alda, Nora Ephron, John Grogan, Claire Fontaine, Laurie Notaro and Ruth Reichl to name just a few.

And:

Entertainment Weekly: "This insightful, funny account of her travels reads like a mix of Susan Orlean and Frances Mayes."

I've read Susan Orlean and she's no Susan Orlean.

I hope you are the person who found this book at the Apple Store...that is the kind of serendipity that makes life so much fun. I hope that if you have read Eat, Pray, Love, you either want to tear me to pieces for my insights or delight in finding another dissenter in the Eat, Pray, Love-fest. Let the comments begin!

Di

Comments

[haley]

I LOVE LAURIE NOTARO. Review one of her books (: she's the only one i know of in your whole blog.

[amy]

My book group was split, 50/50. As you know, I didn't finish it because I thought Ms. Gilbert was way too whiny for me. We did like the section on Italy. All of us talked about taking that kind of journey, and how nice it would be to have the money, time and resources to do so.

So, put me in the "flinging-it-across-the-room" camp. I'm interested in other points of view however...like, is there another author who has written a better book about self-discovery? Besides the incomparable Ann Lamott?

[JoAnn]

Include me in the "throw it across the room" camp, except that I restrained myself since it was a library book. I hate memoirs and don't know why I even started this one. Whiny and self indulgent is putting it mildly.

[Penelope Anne - The Mama Bear]

This is on my TBR list, and I am still planning to give it a try. Never know. Thanks for a honest review.

[Nicholas]

The title alone is enough to put me off. What's more, I saw it at Wal-mart on the shelf they reserve for "inspirational" books. That ensures that I will never read it.

[xnLUCY]

A lot of different people are looking for useful knowledge about this good post. Therefore, it’s possible to see new information if you go to freelance writer .