i picked up the book eat pray love about 2 years ago. everyone was talking about it in my chick circles. i read the first 1/5th of the book and had to put it down. i hated the narrator. she was shallow, entitled and not a good writer. she came off as a whiner and a complainer looking for an expedient solution to the challenge of self exploration.
i am no snob and do not eschew Oprah book club selections. nor am i against travel as a means of getting a fresh perspective. but i think it’s a load of crap to think that you can pick up and cure yourself of life’s existential problems in a mere matter of months by eating a load of pasta and banging a bunch of exotic dudes. the true explorer learns to live and sit with oneself in the real world. in the day-to-day; in the depth of genuine, ongoing relationships. it may not be glamorous or a ticket to extreme fame and wealth, but it is one’s own.
since my short-lived experience with the book, several people in my immediate circles have asked if i read it. i said yeah i tried but had to put it down. at dinner last night P said her esteem for people drops a notch if they recommend that book. i loved that, and snobbily agreed (ok yes so i am a snob). when i heard that julia roberts of all people will be playing the lead in the movie adaptation my revulsion was reaffirmed. and javy, how could you do it?
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I read the book and it reaffirmed my distaste for American tourists who want to go do yoga in India. Give me a break.
Nevertheless, I went and saw the movie version of Mama Mia. I saw Under the Tuscan Sun after barely making it through that book. I’ll probably see this movie, too.
I’m lame like that, Cols.
I own it.
You do own it Laus and you are anything but lame. I will not see it in the theater sheerly because of my disdain for Julia Roberts. But I will scarf it down like a bag of cheetos the minute it hits Netflix.
agreed!
& agreed.
Have no idea what you are talking about but “banging exotic dudes” doesn’t sound all bad.
i like your post. i read that book and was so annoyed by the narrator- i agree she was so entitled and self-centered. I kept reading trying to figure out what all of the hype was about and never found out.
i received the book as a gift and immediately donated it to the library.
i just don’t have time to read about people gazing at their navels.