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| Author: Elizabeth Gilbert
Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Category: Book
List Price: $15.00
Buy Used: $2.13
You Save: $12.87 (86%)
New (157) Used (342) Collectible (6) from $2.13
Avg. Customer Rating:  1559 reviews
Sales Rank: 38
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 352
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 8.3 x 5.4 x 0.8
ISBN: 0143038419
Dewey Decimal Number: 910.4
EAN: 9780143038412
ASIN: 0143038419
Publication Date: January 30, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Well-worn copy. ACCEPTABLE with noted wear to cover and pages. Binding intact. May contain highlighting, inscriptions or notations. We offer a no hassle guarantee on all our items. Orders are generally shipped no later than next business day. We offer a no hassle gu
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| Customer Reviews:
 Terrible Terrible Terrible July 7, 2008
6 out of 9 found this review helpful
This was just awful. I echo the views of many who found her to be just self-absorbed and whiny. There are gimmicky silly devices all over everywhere (e.g., I've changed the names of everyone, oh but not of this Texan chappie, ok almost everyone; and I've omitted mentioning my spiritual guru in India because, well, I'm sure he doesn't want the publicity...).
I also could not bring myself to finish this...
Should've followed my instincts! July 7, 2008
5 out of 8 found this review helpful
This book has gotten a lot of hype and prominent bookstore placement...based not on good writing but likely a great publicist. Here's a narrator you can't even trust, let alone tolerate. Her skimpiness on the details for her ruined marriage gives readers the impression that the truth is being hidden from them in order to shape their impressions of her. Most likely this is the case because she fears readers might think for themselves instead of just listening to her side of things. Strike 1.
She's also an unreliable narrator because her circumstances are so uncommon to what most people experience in a divorce. It's rare for anybody to be able to flit off around the world with a wad of money when they feel that life has become too difficult. No, most of us experience tragedy (tragedy we have not caused, unlike Gilbert), and we have to muddle through. She doesn't acknowledge this or approach her writing with any recognition that yes, there are worse things in life than the problems she creates for herself. Strike 2.
I couldn't even finish this book, though I really tried. I can't immerse myself in a book where the narrator is so jarringly set on focusing you on herself. And the view is not great, it's irritating. The impression I get of her is that she is overwhelmingly, unshakably amused by herself. She's like a spoiled child who has been doted on and therefore expects others to automatically love her and agree with her skewed self-pity. "Don't you HATE that I had to give up my Manhattan apartment and my nice big house in the suburbs??" Strike 3.
Her "insights" about God and spirituality are shallow and depend on things that make her feel warm and fuzzy. I read The Diving Bell and The Butterfly while trying to read Eat Pray Love...the books are like night and day. Someone with no real problems going all to pieces, and someone who has lost everything and remains optimistic. I think I'll learn my lessons from Diving Bell!
 sweet, honest, open-hearted. July 6, 2008
3 out of 5 found this review helpful
I am surprised at the negative comments on this book. I don't know what those reviewers were expecting, but I found the book to be a light chronicle of one woman's journey in search of herself and a sane relationship with life. Gilbert writes with an open-hearted honesty. At times her style and commentary seem a bit child-like, or even childish, but overall I have found her telling of the tale to be engaging and sweet-spirited. I'm just past the point where she decides to stay a while longer at the Ashram in India. Her personal search for enlightenment bogs down a bit at this point, but I appreciate her effort to lead others through the labyrinth she explored. Maybe those who react so negatively have yet to appreciate the value of that kind of exploration. I can see how it might have struck me that way some years back.
 Loved this book July 6, 2008
4 out of 6 found this review helpful
I just finished this today. July 5 holiday weekend and spent 3 hours this morning reading because I could not put it down. This is the best book I have read in some time. Maybe this isn't for everyone, but I loved it from beginning to end. I have traveled as well, not to all the places she has been, but for me it was the insight into individual personalities, characters, that made it riveting. Yes she is self absorbed. But it is about her journey, so that makes sense. This is not a travelogue book, it is about an inner discovery as a result of mixing with people and experiences outside of her previous exposure to the world. If you are looking for a travelogue, go elsewhere. If you are looking to journey with someone through their highs and lows as they put their life back together and discover a world beyond themself, this is for you. I loved the characters. I loved the settings. I loved the entire book and hated when it ended. I don't know if this is great literature. But I think those who criticize this book are people who just don't get what she is talking about. Which is fine, but don't neccesarily judge it by them. If you have been through the feelings she has been through, you will relate to it, and it will have meaning to you. This is a great book for any woman who has ever allowed herself to become invisible because of a man they were with, and now wants to discover who she is on her own.
 Ramble on..... July 5, 2008
2 out of 5 found this review helpful
Moments of like and dislike. She tends to ramble on and on. The book starts to get really good and just like that...it's over. Probably wouldn't read again.
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