Eat, Pray, Love in Pick-a-Shelf

Sep 02, 2009 Christina rated it liked it

Shelves: memoir, for-school, 2009-reads

When Liz's life is thrown into chaos after a messy divorce, another broken relationship, and the loss of every possession she owns, she decides it's time to take a year off just for herself - to Italy, India and Indonesia. To eat, to pray, and to love.

Having had no interest whatever in Eat, Pray, Love (but being forced to read it for class, anyway), I found myself surprisingly immensed within Liz's travels within the first third of the book. Perhaps because I could relate to the Italian element When Liz's life is thrown into chaos after a messy divorce, another broken relationship, and the loss of every possession she owns, she decides it's time to take a year off just for herself - to Italy, India and Indonesia. To eat, to pray, and to love.

Having had no interest whatever in Eat, Pray, Love (but being forced to read it for class, anyway), I found myself surprisingly immensed within Liz's travels within the first third of the book. Perhaps because I could relate to the Italian elements and therefore found an "in-joke" hilarity to the anecdotes she offered up. Perhaps because I'd love to visit Italy, and Liz ignited the flame once more. Whatever the reason, I loved it and couldn't wait to read more.

Her visit to India, on the other hand, provided the opposite reaction. I have no interest in religion, or finding a religion for that matter. I do have a sort of admiration for people who have such avid faith in their beliefs, but that's about the extent I'll go. Liz's stay in the Ashram, while enlightening, just about bored me to tears. There was too much history of the religion thrown into the text that had me tuning out, and I found myself skipping pages. There was an anecdote, however, I instantly related to, about how fast life passes us by, how we will never live through another September 7, 2009, how another day has been wasted, how soon everyone I know will be dead... I'm only twenty, and unless by unexpectancy, no one I know will die soon. But still, the terror is there, and I could relate to that story.

Coming to Indonesia, the final leg of the journey, my interest sparked once more. Humour brought the story back to life and I found myself enjoying the book again. I was disappointed in her love interest, (I thought for sure it would be the cute Welsh guy!) but thinking back on it, I guess this reflects real life more than we ever hope to admit. How often do we meet that interesting someone and instantly hit it off, only to never see them again? Real life, people. I think this was definitely a reality check for me, that life isn't a fairy tale; we don't ride off into the sunset with the fairy tale princes, but with guys who are actually willing to stick around. Whether 'fate' has anything to do with that, I guess is up to you.

So in conclusion - surprise, surprise! I actually liked this! I'm still trying to figure out what my word is though, lol. ...more

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Aug 02, 2009 Nicole rated it really liked it

Shelves: non-fiction, audio-book, 2009

I had heard many people recommend this book, but as someone who's generally happy with life, I couldn't understand why I wanted to read about someone else's soul-searching journey around the world. However, I finally gave in, and listened to it on audio, which Elizabeth Gilbert does herself.

The first parts I was blown away and couldn't believe how wrong I was. Despite the fact that you may be happy with live, the question of how did I end up in this situation really resonated with me. Despite th ...more

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May 13, 2010 Arlene rated it liked it

Shelves: non-fiction, biography-autobiography, travel, 2011-50-book-challenge

This book came with a lot of hype and a Julia Roberts movie. I still want to see the movie, mostly because of the locations and Julia Roberts. I was disappointed with the book, I don't think that it lived up to the hype.
This book is in three parts: Eat-which takes place in Rome; Pray-which takes place in an ashram in India; and Love-which takes place in Bali. She undertakes the journey after a crushing divorce and the break-up of the rebound love affair which follows. She has the resources to u ...more

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May 03, 2008 Sunflower rated it liked it

Shelves: nonfiction-2020-and-before

Bought this book because I was in a bookshop in Bloemfontein with a few spare Rand, and because the book seems to polarise people. I suspected I was going to be one of the haters, but the sassy American writing style had me entertained. Enjoyed all the reviews on this site, can see where they are coming from, but hey, this book appealed to my flakey side and I don't get to indulge it often. ...more

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Jun 24, 2008 Joanie rated it really liked it

Shelves: bookclub, memoir, non-fiction, south-shore-readers

I had heard a lot of mixed reivews about this book and I really didn't expect to like it but I did. Yes, the author is needy and kind of high maintenence but I still enjoyed reading about her journey, both literal and spiritual. ...more

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Nov 06, 2007 Natalya rated it it was ok

It was a little hard to get into the story at times and more often than not it was really hard to relate to the author. Overall it is a very well written book.

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