Eat, Pray, Love
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puke hate rage
message 1:
by
Hedda
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Feb 14, 2009 03:03PM
This book should be used to equalize unstable tables.
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is really that bad?
I guess, well, yes, I think it is that bad. Some one gave it to me to read in order to heal myself after my long term relationship failed. The more I read the more puked, hated and raged, instead of eating praying and loving. I know many, many women have read this book and it set them free. I desired only to set the book free by tossing out the window.
hahahha I agree with you all the way Hedda, that book is terrible. It surely did not get a great review from me in my point of view the best place for it is left at the book store....
Thanks Toni. I thought I was the lone woman in my feelings about the book.
Hedda i don't think that a book can heal any person from a heart broken or after the end of a relationship. Maybe you were expecting something else from the book.oh well, i'm going to think about it. i was thinking to get the book and take some chances but..
Thanks hedda and toni.
I agree with Karencilla--I don't think the author thought she could heal people with her book. I notice a lot of people have a strong negative reaction to this book and I'm not sure why. Unrealistic expectations caused by all the hype? I enjoyed this book as an account of what this lady experienced. That's all it ever was and I think that's all she intended it to be.
i can't agree more with you Leslie. Maybe i'll give this book a chance
Well all the women that I came into contact with in the past three years all gushed and said, "Have you read Eat Pray Love?" I recieved a copy of the book and a cd of the book from women friends, so I figured what the heck. And I am afriad I didn't like it.
well, it's only matter of what you like or not. It happened to me, like half of the world recommend me a book and once i finish the last page i'm ready to burn the book and puke.
Personally, I am not a fan of this book either. Some of her travel tales are interesting and entertaining, but really, the place this book has taken among others, other women, who think there is something spiritual here baffles me. I suppose we can find spirituality wherever we choose to see it, and I'm fine with that, but this book to me was about a fairly spoiled woman who just wanted more and couldn't see what she had before her. I think one needs to start at home to find what's spiritual and important. But that's just me.
Well said Melaina...After reading this book I did some research about the author's background and WOW not surprised at all finding she had received an advance to write this story. Only someone with support could have spend a full year doing nothing but keeping a journal....and again how much is fiction....
Where was the spirituality there....her time in the India left a lot to be desired ( she babbled a lot about nothing) and Indonesia hey...(love sick puppy).....Italy hum.....(love the food). OMG are we seeing spirituality there because someone said so....
Again each believe in different things....and that is ok.
What a great book for a discussion.
I've read some other people's letters that seem surprised and even baffled that the author didn't pay for the trip herself. That's standard procedure for an established writer--which she was long before this book came out. Are you guys reacting against the hype surrounding the book or the book itself and the author? If it's the book and Elizabeth Gilbert, it seems kind of mean-spirited, to be honest.
If you are reacting against the hype, then you have a valid point. I never got the impression that Gilbert meant for her book to be anything except an account of her experiences. That's all it was! And it was an interesting account, I thought. I didn't read it expecting it to heal my soul, clean my kitchen, and get me a raise at work, I read it because I was curious about what she experienced. Nothing more.
Again, i have to agree with you Leslie. I bought the book and i have just read the first pages. I'm curious about her experiences just for fun, to enjoy the book not follow her as an example of what to do, what to feel or how to heal myself. Maybe the reactions about this books is because many people are expecting something extraordinaire that could change their lives.
What a sad book. Amateurish writing ability combined with loads of self-involvement. Shallow and pointless.
I think that's what a lot of this is--like the book or dislike it, whatever. It seems like somehow--maybe through manipulation of the press by the publisher to sell more books, maybe just a kind of a snowball effect--people have expected so much more from this book than it ever was meant to be. And then they read it and find out if wasn't at all what they thought it would be, they feel ripped off and angry. I hope you enjoy the book Karencilla.
And I also don't agree that the book shows a person obsessed with herself, anymore than a book about football shows an author obsessed with football. That's what the book was about--her journey, for a year, to these three places. Considering the fact that she was supporting herself as a writer before she took this trip and I think she even had two homes, I'm pretty sure Elizabeth Gilbert is very capable of writing about more than just herself.
I have to disagree...I felt she was totally self-obsessed! I wanted to grab her by the shoulders and say "Get a grip sister! Drop the pity party." Bits and pieces were somewhat interesting...but parts were just plain ridiculous! You could really have some great adventures with that trip--she had a few, but certainly the book was hyped beyond what it was!
I agree-I think the hype is the problem. People read this book thinking it was so much more than it was, then felt angry and disappointed that it fell so far short of their expectations. I enjoyed the book as an account of the year Elizabeth Gilbert had--an unusual year, a year most of us don't get when our marriages end, but wouldn't we like to? I wonder if part of the negative reaction is envy. Gilbert was in an unhappy marriage and ended it. Then she got to go on this amazing journey, all expense paid, since she was a well established writer already, and had these interesting experiences in exotic places and then found love at the end of the year. Most of us have to clean up the mess, work more or find a job, keep taking care of our kids, pay lawyer bills, move to a smaller place--all things more dreary than Gilbert's trip.I enjoyed the book for what it was, but I did find myself wishing that each section would end a little sooner than it did, it dragged in some places.
I'm just sort of baffled by the intensity of the negative reaction to this book--and I'm just as baffled by people who act like it's the Holy Bible, Part 2.
I find it interesting when a book or person or event is this polarizing. I think it says a lot more about the people doing the reacting than it does about whatever is being reacted to.
I thought I was the only one who wanted to burn this book! The book club I was in read it and were going on and on how wonderful it was.... I forced myself to read it half way, then threw it across the room and said "FORGET IT!!" For a well established writer, I found her long winded, boring and extremely self absorbed.
One thing ...Gilbert is laughing all the way to the bank with that one.....
Toni... soo true... Maybe I should write a book on my life as a housewife with 4 girls and a pup! lol
lol right Jennifer...
I think a lot of people 'hate' this book because they can actually tell the author is FOS.
I read about a quarter of the book and literally could not finish it! I just could not get into it, and I never do that with a book. I usually always finish a book I start. It is not that the book was poorly written, it was just really slow in my opinion. I could not stand to read how the main character was making love to spaghetti any longer.
It was not at all bad. But again, reading all of the comments and scrolling down, getting more furious with some of the comments, I realize and understand we all have different opinions, interests and expectations. Some really thought this book was the Holy bible and that it would vanquish all of their problems, but some were able to enjoy the book for what it really was; a very long canvas of experiences. I was really tempted to go to Italy, India and Indonesia, and I could actually reccommend the book without puking, hating and raging in envy. People have to understand that books are only useful and nurturing for the mind, not for society and our poor lives. Though it can be a little self-centered, it also teaches us in some way, that we don´t have to travel all over the world as she did (can´t deny it would be nice to do so), only to find hapiness. We can find hapiness in the simplest things, and maybe all we need is to open our doors to it. And windows and every slot we can. Readers should understand that, and only that. To those who didn´t like it, well don´t read it, good for you. But stop building a shield of puke and hate and aboherrence to such a wonderful book that many who read your comments may actually like. Also, I advise a doctor: since when is the press and all the hype right? Care to be a little optimist, people.
I hated this book. My friends (females all) who read this book, mostly hated this book or were profoundly indifferent to it. I'm writing a review of this creature of many heads but I've so much bad to say about it that I can't seem to finish.I found an occasional entertaining bit, but they happened about once per part, and her descriptions of the countries she visited were horribly prone to stereotypes, not to mention that her "religious doctrine" was something I couldn't disagree with more. Ugh.
And the film was worse.
I'm one of the people who really enjoyed this book. Was she very self-indulgent? Yes, but I don't have a problem with that. Before I started reading the book, I knew it was a memoir about her spiritual and physical journey, and that the book was about a year of complete self-indulgence. If I didn't want to read about that, I wouldn't have read the book.Can I travel around the world for a year, discovering myself? Heck, no. But I don't resent that she was able to do that. And I do believe she realizes how lucky she was to have the opportunity.
I enjoyed reading about her travels and her discoveries. I came away from the book with a feel-good mood and an appreciation for her journey. There were parts of the book that didn't appeal to me as much as other parts, but that is true with about anything I read. Perhaps I liked this book more than some because I read it before I read all the hype about it.
I don't consider this book my "Bible" and didn't expect it to change my life, but I did enjoy it, and wondered about what I would do had I been in her situation. I agree with one of the earlier posters that some of the comments are mean-spirited. If nothing else, most people who read the book come away with a strong opinion of it, on one side or the other, and that makes for some interesting discussions.
I haven't seen the movie so have no comments about it.
I agree, the strong opinions everyone has about it are very tempting, as to creating a discussion. I´d really like to see the film, and I´m a big fan of Julia Roberts, so I´m sure I will like it. Though, the movie, I´m sure, will not compare to the book in its greatness that I percieve while reading it. I respect the mean-spirited comments, but that doesn´t mean I agree with them.
I don't resent her ability to travel the world for a year. If I were inclined to abandon my current commitments, and really wanted to make the same thing happen, I probably could have wrangled it financially, albeit with difficulty. However, I find that my self-satisfaction and contentment involves such minor things as not ditching my spouse, being useful and making something of my life that doesn't stagnate, not dodging responsibility, and in general keeping an eye for all these little uncomfortable things people call commitment and consideration.The thing that truly made me despise this book on a level incomparable with almost any other bit of literature is just how petty, egotistical and self-absorbed the author felt she had to be in order to find her "happiness". And that happiness trumped everything and anything in her path. The episode with her husband, especially, made me dislike her. No matter how much she tried making him look like a schmuck, it just wasn't working, and all you got was a woman who hit her midlife crisis early, and randomly dumped the poor guy. And she didn't even have the guts to admit it, instead trying to portray herself as trapped in an unhappy marriage and righteously absconding.
And, heck, if I get adventurous and my wanderlust kicks in, I can go to Italy for a week. I don't need to make an homage to egoism out of it.
some of it was OK, but on the whole, very self-indulgent.
I'm relieved to learn that I'm not the only one who didn't care for this book. I can't even bring myself to rent the movie version.
Sandra, the movie is great. I hated the book. For someone who is supposed to make a living writing, she did a poor job. Very sad. Good story , terrible writing. But Julia Roberts was amazing and the script saved it. Good movie.
It was an okay travel book. Either way I didn't "hate" it since I actually finished reading it.
Steven wrote: "What a sad book. Amateurish writing ability combined with loads of self-involvement. Shallow and pointless."
I have to agree with you Steven. By the end of the book I was so tired of her self-absorption that I was just happy to be finished. I have heard that this is one case where the movie is better than the book, but based on my thoughts about the book, I'm not likely to ever find out.
It´s actually surprising how mean-spirited and superficial the comments of the book are...the book was good, a little self-indulged, but good. If you get past the shallowness and seek deep inside the meaning of the book, you´ll find it´s not that bad as you think. It is actually great in sense, perspective and writing ability. I´ll take my risks to say this, but this was an awesome book.
Not one of my favorites either...far from it. In fact I kinda despised the main character...thumbs up from me on your title :)
It´s definitely not excellent and what some would call 'best seller'(though it was new york times bestseller) but it was definitely worth reading. It was either that, or twilight...Guess I made the right choice. lol.
I thought the book was a little self-indulgent. I kept seeing it on the shelves, that should have given me a clue, no one was buying it. Did not see the movie, heard it was good, Julia Roberts in the starring role.
I'm one of those that enjoyed the book. I love reading all types of books, whether it's fiction or not. I haven't seen the movie, but I will add it to my Netflix for a girls night.
Camila-I agree with your comment about seeking the deeper meaning of the book. I enjoyed this book, but I did not enjoy the movie as much.
Hedda wrote: "This book should be used to equalize unstable tables."Couldn't have said it better myself.
Only the food section of the book in italy was enjoyable. the rest was too self indulgent. Good for her, but no thanks to reading about it.
I don't think that I got that far in the book to read about the cuisine of Italy.
Hedda wrote: "I guess, well, yes, I think it is that bad. Some one gave it to me to read in order to heal myself after my long term relationship failed. The more I read the more puked, hated and raged, instead o..."I so agree with you hated this book and author's poor me attitude. I did not finish and thought about throwing it away Not everyone has the money or desire to run away from their problems in life ughh...
Toni wrote: "One thing ...Gilbert is laughing all the way to the bank with that one....."sad she made money off this crap and off women who were looking for true insight and instead got feed this garbage
I really didn't like this book either. Got to the early stage of the second section and realised that just because I start a book I actually don't have to finish it. (That's how often I give up on a book I start!). I gave the book away and hope it has found a happy home elsewhere.
I didn't get all the rave reviews either. Read it for a mili-second, and her whining attitude made me think I can read better novels out there than this.
Camila wrote: "It´s definitely not excellent and what some would call 'best seller'(though it was new york times bestseller) but it was definitely worth reading. It was either that, or twilight...Guess I made t..."
Camila, I agree with you. This book was really good. You need to seek deeper for the meaning, not just expect to make mean comments which are actually, superficial.
I am so glad I read this book, I like it and I enjoyed it. I can say, it showed that happiness is inside of us. We just can't look for it and attacb it to our bodies. But, we need to make things that will help happiness to appear and try to stay in that state.
Though the fact of traveling, is actually great, Gilbert wanted to demonstrate to us, that happiness and balance, comes when we less search for it. And, that we should appreciate each piece of our (sometimes) poor lives, and fill it with many rich moments, where we can grow as persons and achieve our happiness (without the need of a book or movies).
The only thing Eat Pray Love did for me was make me realize that I do not whine as much as she does. Also that just because you have money does not mean you need to waste it on trivial stuff to support the whining. I was disappointed and sad that there are people out there with such little reason for living and joy.
The movie was great. They took all that out. No whining! Julia Roberts was wonderful.
The movie was great. They took all that out. No whining! Julia Roberts was wonderful.
