Thursday, November 18, 2010

Book Review: Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert


The one thing I think I liked about this book and now movie was its title and the cover. I watched the movie with much anticipation but Alas!, I was disappointed, not so much in the execution, but the fact that it was long and boring despite a great concept, locales and a lot of strong characters! I tried the book then, thinking books are usually better than movies, but again I was disappointed. EAT PRAY LOVE was supposed to be a celebration of life, and was supposed to uplift me. It turned out to be one big rigmarole by an unduly supposedly depressed woman who ranted on and on and on about what a nervous wreck she had become and how brave she was facing everything alone. Had she left the part of her depression out for atleast half of what is in the book, I would have been much happier reading it! She wondered what went wrong, all throughout the book, so did I..even granted that she wasn’t ‘normal’ and like ‘all other women’ who enjoyed happy and married monotonous lives with their families, I didn’t get right upto the end her reasons for a mental breakdown!

Besides the part of her sad sad life, I didn’t really find the rest of the book very uplifting either and I didn’t get any vicarious thrills out of her wolfing down pizzas and gelatos at Naples or her absolution in India or her finding her ‘balance’ in Bali. What I did glean though is what I might like to see and experience in the places that she has talked about. Like I said before, most of the characters were really good, especially Kekut in Bali, but apart from that I got heartily tired of reading Elizabeth Gilbert’s whining!

Perhaps I have been too critical since I have been reading too many classics off-late. All in all, this book might perhaps help people with serious problems (hopefully not boyfriend ones) try new things and inspire them to lead happier lives by letting go, but as a read for people with perfectly peaceful lives, it might get a tad boring.