Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert.
Genre: Non-fiction.
Goodreads rating: 3.45/5.
Nudity/Sexual Content: Some, not a lot.
Settings: Italy, India and Indonesia.
My rating: 1/5
Publisher: Riverhead Books.
Verdict: Do not read it. Even if you read for fun and do not look for good writing, do not read it. If you treasure your time, do not read it. Just do not read it.
Ever since the day I read about this book, I wanted to read it,that is probably the reason why I bought another paper back version of this book, although the fates had spared me the torture and misplaced my previous incomplete copy. Oh well.
Eat Pray Love is a novel, a memoir actually of a woman who has just hit rock bottom after her messy divorce and decides to re-define the meaning of life according to her and not the pre-defined notions by the people around her (mainly her sister, her friends, her ex-husband) as she quotes from the Bhagavad Gita, 'It is better to live your own destiny imperfectly than to live an imitation of somebody else's life perfectly...' She accomplishes, or believes to have accomplished these feats by travelling through three countries - Italy, India and Indonesia, or the 'Three Is',' as many of her acquaintances frames it.
That is basically the plot. I cannot elaborate further without disclosing parts of the book.
Now let me go to the real reviewing, I will be going from country to country, just like Elizabeth, or Liz did. Or did she?
Italy:- The trip through Italy was a good read. She described it well, and since it was the beginning it was easier to sympathize with her. Sure, she had a rough while and she deserves four months of gluttony, learning a new language and useless ranting, its only fair.
India:- But, then she went to India. About ten chapters in, I had had enough! (The chapters are really short, so don't think of being able to make through ten chapters as a good thing) She visits an Ashram in India where she hopes to achieve enlightenment in a period of six weeks and then parade around India to complete her four month cycle in every country.
Oh the torture! The way she ranted on and on about how undisciplined she was, and how her cuckoo maniac brain kept exaggerating little twists and knots(Hello? Ever heard of cramps?) to make her believe energy was actually flowing through her. I don't know much about Yogic traditions, but being able to achieve spiritual enlightenment when one is so engrossed in worldly traditions at the same time just sounds plain bogus.
You get through this too, though. If you are a reader, at this point, you just want to know how is it going to end. How after this is she going to meet her love?
Indonesia:- Cue in Indonesia. She arrives in Indonesia because an old man had told, rather predicted for her that once she would come back to Indonesia and then become his disciple. Yes, while all of us our struggling in life to pay our tuition fees she is able to sell two houses, pre-sign a book deal and travel all across the three Is' to Indonesia just because some old guy told her so. There she also meets the love of her life and makes a friend by the name of Armenia who she helps financially. And then it just ends with her uncertainty clouding the whole book so she could leave scope for another book.
Oh these money-hungry authors.
The best bit for Elizabeth though is, it is a memoir so no one can really question the strange number of coincidences and unrealistic happenings of this book. Good for her, bad for us.
Have you read Eat, Pray, Love? Let me know what you thought in the comments section or e-mail me at doaboutnothing@gmail.com and if you raise a point I did not mention, I will mention it and give credit where credit is due.
Have you read Eat, Pray, Love? Let me know what you thought in the comments section or e-mail me at doaboutnothing@gmail.com and if you raise a point I did not mention, I will mention it and give credit where credit is due.
