Sunday, March 22, 2015

Audiobook / TBR Pile: Eat, Pray, Love

Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia by Elizabeth Gilbert is a memoir. The subtitle tells the basics. After her divorce, Gilbert took a year-long trip to try and find balance in her life between love, pleasure, and devotion. This book is her re-telling of what happened in that year-long excursion.

(picture taken from Goodreads)

First Impression: What has really struck me so far is Gilbert's honesty. I really thought she might have romanticized her story a bit (basing my opinion solely on TV commercials for the movie version and the recommendations from friends of mine who are serious romantics), but she doesn't. I love her open, honest, casual writing style and how she sprinkles bits of history and language in her story. She talks about her divorce (though not in detail, which I appreciated) and her struggles with depression and loneliness. The pure experiential way she approaches the memoir helps me to see and feel her story. Personally, I love the Italian language and the very idea of Italy, so I may be somewhat biased at the beginning here. A Room with a View, Only You, Dante...these are all reasons I have been mesmerized before, and Gilbert is basically giving me justification for this loving stupor right now.

Conclusion: This was a fun read about a writer who basically turned her entire life around when she turned 30. I was a little surprised by some of the other reviews I read on this book. I think some people were expecting it to be a great spiritual or life guide for them, and it's not. In truth, it was easy for me to read this just as a memoir, because Gilbert is nothing like me. I couldn't even try to place myself in her position. But learning little things about the places she traveled and the history of those surroundings was a bonus for me. And I was a big fan of this audio version since it's narrated by Gilbert herself. This lends a more personal connection to the story, and the natural inflections in Gilbert's written and spoken language are easily found.

Recommendation: If you enjoy casual memoirs about people taking chances and changing their lives around, this is a good pick for you. If the occasional bawdy reference or discussions of divorce or religious practice make you uncomfortable, this probably isn't a great read for you.

Eat, Pray, Love is my second read for the 2015 Audiobook Challenge and my sixth read for the 2015 TBR Pile Challenge. This is also one of the book prizes for my Recent Reads Giveaway! There's still one day to enter, so go here and leave a comment before time runs out!

12 comments:

  1. After reading your review, I become unsure about the real reason of my dislike about this book. Maybe, I lost interest in reading random person's story (I'm not familiar with Gilbert), especially when I don't feel into their journey. I was just interested in the third part (I was curious about her thought about my country).

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    1. Oh, right. The book is primarily about her. I mean, she mentions features of the places she is visiting, but it's primarily about where she is in her journey. I probably wouldn't have cared for this book a year or two ago, but I've been getting more into memoirs lately. You might want to try more travel writing set in Bali rather than biographies? Those can be more fun and universally interesting for readers, I think.

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    2. I do read some biographies and memoirs, but I'm a little bit picky about certain theme/person/profession. Maybe you're right, the book came to me in the wrong moment.

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    3. Yeah, I'm picky to some extent as well. And I generally get annoyed with mid-life crisis type books. But the fiction ones annoy me more, because they get all mushy and, "How did my life get this way?" I liked that Gilbert was more honest and solution-oriented. That being said, she was just a bit past the point where I would have been annoyed with the decisions and stuff. If you pick it back up, proceed with caution.

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  2. I'm glad you liked it! I haven't been enthused to read it since I watched the movie and didn't really enjoy it. Don't get me wrong, all the actors do an amazing job! And I loved getting to travel vicariously with Elizabeth. But something about the story just put me off? I can't explain it. :/ But I AM glad to hear that the book reads more as a casual memoir than a big spiritual-type journey. :)

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    1. I know what you mean. There were some decisions Liz made, and I was like, "Why the heck would you do that?" Like I said, nothing like me. I've heard that the movie was quite different than the book, but usually people say they liked the movie more...so maybe you shouldn't read it. ;)

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  3. This is the first review of this book that I've read that has made it sound like I'd be interested in reading it. Still not high on my list, but now I'm no longer feeling like, "Wow, that doesn't appeal to me at all."

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    1. Maybe try the audiobook version, Hamlette? I was kind of on the fence like that, too, but I've found that audiobooks make it easier sometimes. You don't have to work for it; someone just tells you the story. Also, since Gilbert narrates it herself, I just really felt like it added something special to the book.

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    2. I'm just not a big audiobook fan. One, I like to hear the voices I choose, not an actual voice. Two, I can't listen to them around my kids unless I know they're clean... and I'm always around my kids.

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    3. I know what you mean, I can only listen to mine in the car on my way to work. This one is not completely clean, so you probably don't want to listen to it in front of your kids.

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  4. I read Eat, Pray, Love based on how wonderful everyone said the book was... I don't know... Maybe it was the hype (or my expectation of Eat, Pray, Love), but I didn't enjoy reading this book.

    The funny part was that my mom hadn't read the book, but had wanted to see the movie version of Eat, Pray, Love. I didn't want to see the movie after reading and not liking it, but went anyway as my mom really wanted to see it. I actually loved the movie version better than the book, which is a first for me.

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    1. Yeah, I still haven't seen the movie, but I'vI've heard it's quite a bit different. Some of it might just be all of the background and extra commentary you don't get. I've also heard from most people that if they were expecting a lot, they didn't like the book. I know that has happened with me a few times with other books.

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