Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia (Paperback)

by Elizabeth Gilbert (Author) "I wish Giovanni would kiss me..." (more)
Key Phrases: tandem exchange, meditation cave, kundalini shakti, New York, Ketut Liyer, Luca Spaghetti (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Gilbert (The Last American Man) grafts the structure of romantic fiction upon the inquiries of reporting in this sprawling yet methodical travelogue of soul-searching and self-discovery. Plagued with despair after a nasty divorce, the author, in her early 30s, divides a year equally among three dissimilar countries, exploring her competing urges for earthly delights and divine transcendence. First, pleasure: savoring Italy's buffet of delights--the world's best pizza, free-flowing wine and dashing conversation partners--Gilbert consumes la dolce vita as spiritual succor. "I came to Italy pinched and thin," she writes, but soon fills out in waist and soul. Then, prayer and ascetic rigor: seeking communion with the divine at a sacred ashram in India, Gilbert emulates the ways of yogis in grueling hours of meditation, struggling to still her churning mind. Finally, a balancing act in Bali, where Gilbert tries for equipoise "betwixt and between" realms, studies with a merry medicine man and plunges into a charged love affair. Sustaining a chatty, conspiratorial tone, Gilbert fully engages readers in the year's cultural and emotional tapestry--conveying rapture with infectious brio, recalling anguish with touching candor--as she details her exotic tableau with history, anecdote and impression.
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From The New Yorker
At the age of thirty-one, Gilbert moved with her husband to the suburbs of New York and began trying to get pregnant, only to realize that she wanted neither a child nor a husband. Three years later, after a protracted divorce, she embarked on a yearlong trip of recovery, with three main stops: Rome, for pleasure (mostly gustatory, with a special emphasis on gelato); an ashram outside of Mumbai, for spiritual searching; and Bali, for "balancing." These destinations are all on the beaten track, but Gilbert's exuberance and her self-deprecating humor enliven the proceedings: recalling the first time she attempted to speak directly to God, she says, "It was all I could do to stop myself from saying, 'I've always been a big fan of your work.'"
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics); Later Printing edition (January 30, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0143038419
• ISBN-13: 978-0143038412
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1,879 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #152 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

76 of 87 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Sex abuse at the ashram, June 2, 2007

By	mitra (USA) - See all my reviews

After a devastating divorce and personal breakdown, the author received a nice advance from her publisher to travel for a year and write this book. Where do I sign up??? But seriously, Ms. Gilbert writes beautifully, and her book has a nice balance of entertainment and depth. I especially admire the way she tackled writing about the non-dual, transcendant, samadhi experience universally described as indescribable.

I have one big beef with the author however. She fails to mention that the Swamiji she speaks of in such glowing terms, Swami Muktananda, developed some quirky habits late in life, such as molesting young girls and women on a gynecological exam table he had built for that purpose. I can't accept that an intelligent and well-read journalist like Ms. Gilbert could be unaware of these abuses, which are well documented (check any of the numerous websites for Siddha Yoga ex-members). I feel she has made a deliberate omission of her beloved guru's checkered past, and not given her readers the full picture. Maybe she thinks it is no longer relevant, now that he is deceased. But trust me, while Ms. Gilbert was having all those beautiful experiences, there are victims out there who will spend the rest of their lives trying to understand what they went through. Has the Siddha Yoga organization ever apologized to them, or even acknowledged that abuses happened? What about the victims' spiritual growth? They deserve better.

954 of 1,153 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing, June 19, 2007

By	R. Ernst "book addict" (San Diego, CA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I had seen all the good reviews on this book and since I am an avid traveler and reader, I was excited to read a memoir from an excellent writer. I was sorely disappointed.

Foremost, I did not even finish the book which is rare for me. I made it halfway through India before I was so disheartened by Ms. Gilbert's narrative voice. There is a difference between sounding funny, candid and likable and sounding petty, conceited and fickle.

While I was reading this book I was genuinely surprised by the lack of empathy Ms. Gilbert had for anyone. Every situation, every comment, every sidestory pointed squarely to herself and her personal problems. I was shocked that she had lived in Rome and India for months and had not been affected by the poverty and corruption. I suppose if you are so caught up in your own problems and all your own shopping and eating that it's difficult to understand that other people around you have far worse problems. Maybe, just maybe looking outside of yourself and giving of yourself you will find self-worth and purpose, self-worth that goes beyond buying new underwear or eating a gorgeous meal or bragging about having a meditation high.

If you want to read a real journey of discovery, love, Italy and food, I would highly recommend Marlena De Blasi's A Thousand Days in Venice. Her narrative voice is far superior and she reveals larger truths from her personal experiences while getting to really know the local people and appreciating their culture.

143 of 170 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A smug, self-absorbed writer, April 11, 2007

By	RTCotton "rtcot" (Kent, Ohio) - See all my reviews

I forced myself to read up to page 50 or so, only because this book got so many good reviews. But each page was agony for me. This author seems overly concerned with her image. She wants to appear as a hip, clever, wise soul-searcher. Instead she comes across as a self-absorbed, vain teen-ager. And I really, truly wanted to like this book--and was prepared to like it. What I wanted was a book with real emotion, real self-searching. Gilbert's search is superficial, her snide comments come across as unfeeling, and her writing is utterly self-conscious. Blech.