# Eat, Pray, Love, by Elizabeth Gilbert **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 31, 2008, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eat-pray-love-by-elizabeth-gilbert/479401 "2008-12-31T21:07:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![I\_Have\_Hippos\_In\_My\_Garden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/4491bb/32.png) [@I\_Have\_Hippos\_In\_My\_Garden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Have_Hippos_In_My_Garden)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2008, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eat-pray-love-by-elizabeth-gilbert/479401/1 "2008-12-31T21:07:47Z")
I am enjoying this book so much. I am nearly three quarters of the way through and it has really got me thinking. Has anyone else read it? What did you think? ---
**Author:** ![stucco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e56c9b/32.png) [@stucco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stucco)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2008, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eat-pray-love-by-elizabeth-gilbert/479401/2 "2008-12-31T21:29:46Z")
I actually enjoyed _Eat, Pray, Love_ a lot more than I thought I would. I was expecting it to be very chick-lit, but really like Elizabeth Gilbert’s writing style. It’s very smooth and she seems to give the write amount of detail. It would be pretty awesome to get paid to travel around the world and write about it. ---
**Author:** ![Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hazle_Weatherfield)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2008, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eat-pray-love-by-elizabeth-gilbert/479401/3 "2008-12-31T22:18:14Z")
I loved it! And the ending was gorgeous! ---
**Author:** ![GingerOfTheNorth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/cdc98d/32.png) [@GingerOfTheNorth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GingerOfTheNorth)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2008, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eat-pray-love-by-elizabeth-gilbert/479401/4 "2008-12-31T22:28:23Z")
I enjoyed it. I passed it along to a kid I work with (“kid” being a young twenty-something college graduate - sheesh I’m old). ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2008, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eat-pray-love-by-elizabeth-gilbert/479401/5 "2008-12-31T23:32:22Z")
A dissenting vote, but I’ll leave it at that as not to take the thread in a different direction. If you’re enjoying it, that’s lovely! ---
**Author:** ![I\_Have\_Hippos\_In\_My\_Garden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/4491bb/32.png) [@I\_Have\_Hippos\_In\_My\_Garden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Have_Hippos_In_My_Garden)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2009, 10:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eat-pray-love-by-elizabeth-gilbert/479401/6 "2009-01-01T10:07:51Z")
> [@](#): > > A dissenting vote, but I’ll leave it at that as not to take the thread in a different direction No, that is fair enough. I’m interested to know why though? I am suprised by how much I am enjoying it too though, **Stucco**. I thought it would be a lot more religion related, but it gives a wide variety of humour and fact. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2009, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eat-pray-love-by-elizabeth-gilbert/479401/7 "2009-01-01T13:36:48Z")
I didn’t care for it, though I agree it was well written. (I picked it up off the porch of the beach house I was sharing with 8 other people – still not sure who was reading it – and read it straight through.) I found the woman way too full of herself. Sorry – this was a year and a half ago, I don’t remember anything more specific than that. Other than – how nice, I wish **I** could afford to take a year off my life and go live abroad doing whatever the fuck I wanted. ---
**Author:** ![beckwall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b487fb/32.png) [@beckwall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beckwall)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2009, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eat-pray-love-by-elizabeth-gilbert/479401/8 "2009-01-01T21:50:23Z")
Enjoyed it in this order: 1)Love 2)Eat 3)Pray (enjoy may be too strong a word for that section, more like tolerated). Not sure I would recommend it to too many of my friends. YMMV. Maybe I like things a little bit grittier (see below). On a whole different scope, I just finished Madness by Marya Hornbacher, who also wrote a book about her eating disorder as a teenager. Wow. Now that woman can write something fierce. Five stars for that one. Not an easy read, but well worth the time and effort. ---
**Author:** ![Fionn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Fionn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fionn)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2009, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eat-pray-love-by-elizabeth-gilbert/479401/9 "2009-01-01T21:54:16Z")
I thought it was a wonderfully written book, and I heartily recommended it to people I knew. I’ve often thought of her description of the New Year’s Eve in India, of the feeling that they were pulling the new year toward them with all of its triumphs and tragedies. She might have been a bit full of herself (who else writes a memoir?) but overall she seemed like a person who would be great to know. ---
**Author:** ![carlotta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/898d66/32.png) [@carlotta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carlotta)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2009, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eat-pray-love-by-elizabeth-gilbert/479401/10 "2009-01-01T22:30:21Z")
Yeah, I ate it up. I was VERY JEALOUS of her. I would even spend four months in an ashram in India (and probably benefit from it too) if I also got to spend four months eating whatever I wanted in Italy and four months in Bali with a yoda-like medicine man (never mind the Brazilian), but she gave such a good description of what a basket case she was that I was willing to not begrudge her great good fortune. My very favorite bit is the football match with the old man behind her and her eating up every word of magnificent Italian swearing. This part (the whole book really) is better in the audio edition which she reads herself. Be sure to check out the FAQ on her webpage when you are finished. ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2009, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eat-pray-love-by-elizabeth-gilbert/479401/11 "2009-01-02T02:52:41Z")
> [@susan](#): > > A dissenting vote, but I’ll leave it at that as not to take the thread in a different direction. If you’re enjoying it, that’s lovely! +1. I found the premise intriguing and the travel (and insights) to be well written and fresh. The ending of it knocked it down into chick lit for me. I won’t say more–not wanting to spoil it for others. It’s worth a read. It’s not worth raving about…(not that you’re raving, but I’ve heard women do so). I think it might be a book that is absorbed differently depending on where you are in your life. I am in my 40s, not my 20s–this matters in how the book is viewed, IMO. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2009, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eat-pray-love-by-elizabeth-gilbert/479401/12 "2009-01-02T03:10:11Z")
As a woman of a certain age, I agree. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2009, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eat-pray-love-by-elizabeth-gilbert/479401/13 "2009-01-02T03:48:07Z")
Good point. I also didn’t like it (see post #7) – and I’m in my 50s. ---
**Author:** ![Girl\_From\_Mars](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3da27b/32.png) [@Girl\_From\_Mars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Girl_From_Mars)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2009, 8:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eat-pray-love-by-elizabeth-gilbert/479401/14 "2009-01-02T08:47:51Z")
It was an OK read - I took it on a lazy beach holiday and it was about all my brain could handle. But it by no means measures up to another book about chucking it all in and heading away which I loved (and convinced me to spend a year overseas myself), called [Without Reservations](http://www.amazon.com/Without-Reservations-Travels-Independent-Woman/dp/0375758453) by Alice Steinbach. Then again, perhaps it was a matter of right book, right time. ---
**Author:** ![I\_Have\_Hippos\_In\_My\_Garden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/4491bb/32.png) [@I\_Have\_Hippos\_In\_My\_Garden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Have_Hippos_In_My_Garden)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2009, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eat-pray-love-by-elizabeth-gilbert/479401/15 "2009-01-02T19:23:12Z")
> [@](#): > > I think it might be a book that is absorbed differently depending on where you are in your life I hadn’t thought about this until you mentioned it and I think it is a very good point. I’m in my 20’s and still yearn to experience and and learn some of the things she describes in her book. > [@](#): > > Be sure to check out the FAQ on her webpage when you are finished. Thank you **Carlotta** , I will do that because there are things I’m wondering about. For example, she goes on about all the weight she puts on in Italy but then never mentions if she loses it again in India and Indonesia, but the heat and vegetarian diet must have had an impact on her. ---
**Author:** ![Improvisor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/50afbb/32.png) [@Improvisor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Improvisor)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2009, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eat-pray-love-by-elizabeth-gilbert/479401/16 "2009-03-20T21:51:09Z")
Interesting take from a man’s perspective: [Link](http://www.worldhum.com/features/travel-books/one_mans_odyssey_into_eat_pray_love_20080211/) I have to wonder, too, about the her not talking about the reasons for the divorce and the damage that she left behind by walking out on a marriage. Seems to be a very fanciful way to lead a life and just ‘run away’ from it all. I think we all have dreams about doing that, but the rest of us either don’t have the money to do it, or decide the proper and adult way to live life is to deal with the issues head-on. ---
**Author:** ![Long\_Time\_First\_Time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ad7895/32.png) [@Long\_Time\_First\_Time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Long_Time_First_Time)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2009, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eat-pray-love-by-elizabeth-gilbert/479401/17 "2009-03-20T23:50:35Z")
I really enjoyed it - I thought she had very good insights and expressed herself well. I finished the book thinking that she was kind of a ditz, self-involved person and while I’d love to read things written by her, I had no desire to meet her nor felt jealous ---
**Author:** ![carlotta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/898d66/32.png) [@carlotta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carlotta)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2009, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eat-pray-love-by-elizabeth-gilbert/479401/18 "2009-03-21T13:56:50Z")
**Improvisor** , thanks for that link. I laughed myself to tears over this line: “Slowly, I see that I am learning tons about how to better live through a life that has been lacerated with the painful emotional legacy of success, wealth and leisure.” Now might be a good time to alert you all to the parody of _Eat, Pray, Love_, [Drink, Play, F@#K](http://www.amazon.com/Drink-Play-Anything-Ireland-Thailand/dp/0802170528/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1237643449&sr=8-1) written from the imaginary perspective of her ex-husband. (disclaimer, I haven’t read this yet) ---
**Author:** ![maikai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/53a042/32.png) [@maikai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maikai)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2009, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eat-pray-love-by-elizabeth-gilbert/479401/19 "2009-03-21T16:36:32Z")
Will someone spoil the ending for those of us who have no intention of reading it? ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2009, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eat-pray-love-by-elizabeth-gilbert/479401/20 "2009-03-22T16:20:37Z")
> [@pulehoopo](#): > > Will someone spoil the ending for those of us who have no intention of reading it? She finds True Love with a wealthy, older man so ALL her problems are solved at the end of the book. Neat! I love the man’s version, btw. Great link. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eat-pray-love-by-elizabeth-gilbert/479401.md?page=2)