“Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman’s Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia” by Elizabeth Gilbert

Yay or Nay?

Yay²! (84%)

Consensus: A thought-provoking, entertaining & inspiring travelogue even if all the good fortune seems a bit too contrived.

Genres: Biographies & Memoirs | Non-fiction | Travel Memoirs

Description: A celebrated writer’s irresistible, candid, and eloquent account of her pursuit of worldly pleasure, spiritual devotion, and what she really wanted out of life.

This beautifully written, heartfelt memoir touched a nerve among both readers and reviewers. Elizabeth Gilbert tells how she … [more]

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12 Book Reviews for “Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman’s Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia” by Elizabeth Gilbert

There are far too many invaluable insights in this gem of a book to mention…. Gilbert has a gift for storytelling and a knack for making us feel like we are welcome passengers on her journey.

Published in Book Reporter | Reviewed by Alexis Burling | Full Review
Gilbert’s writing is chatty and deep, confident and self-deprecating. She’s a quick study and doesn’t worry about leading readers down uncharted paths. That makes her work engaging and accessible but sometimes gets her and the rest of us lost in space.
Published the 19th day of February, 2006 in San Francisco Chronicle | Reviewed by Don Lattin | Full Review
Gilbert is prone to hyperbole … and an excessive reliance on italics. She can be self-congratulatory and self-absorbed, which I suppose is an occupational hazard with a spiritual memoir like this. Yet Gilbert is also an irresistible narrator – funny, self-deprecating, fiercely intelligent…. All of the people who propel her story seem almost fictional because their words and actions are so perfectly crafted and her good fortune seems limitless.
Published the 23rd day of February, 2006 in Salon | Reviewed by Lori Leibovich | Full Review
The only thing wrong with this readable, funny memoir … is that it seems so much like a Jennifer Aniston movie [Actually, it appears they decided to cast Julia Roberts instead. - Ed.]…. Because she never leaves her self-deprecating humor at home, her journey out of depression and toward belief lacks a certain gravitas…. She can’t seem to avoid dressing up her feelings in prose that can get too cute and too trite…. She’s a gutsy gal, this Liz, flaunting her psychic wounds and her search for faith in a pop-culture world, and her openness ultimately rises above its glib moments.
Published the 12th day of February, 2006 in The Washington Post | Reviewed by Grace Lichtenstein | Full Review
Elizabeth Gilbert is great at describing extreme states of feeling. All those highs and lows that other people fall back on calling “indescribable,” she describes with intense visual, palpable detail. She is the epic poet of ecstasy…. She is innocently trusting, generous, loving, and expressive.
Published the 19th day of February, 2006 in The Boston Globe | Reviewed by Barbara Fisher | Full Review
She candidly shares her observations and emotions as she grows from a woman shattered, lost, and confused to one rejuvenated, confident, and in love…. With a free and easy style, this work seamlessly blends history and travel for a very enjoyable read. Highly recommended.
Published the 1st day of March, 2006 in Library Journal | Reviewed by Jo-Anne Mary Benson | Full Review
Despite a few cringe-worthy turns … Gilbert’s journey is well worth taking.
Published the 22nd day of February, 2006 in Entertainment Weekly | Reviewed by Jessica Shaw | Full Review
One fine – sometimes startling – book…. It is foremost an intimate account of a spiritual journey. But it’s also a zippy travelogue with rich, likable characters and laugh-out-loud humor…. This deeply personal story is fun and inspiring. Join Gilbert as she eats, prays and loves. You will laugh, cry and love with a more open heart.
Published the 24th day of February, 2006 in The Rocky Mountain News | Reviewed by Sarah Peasley
She suffers from an addiction to cleverness – but her account of her time in India is beautiful and honest and free of patchouli-scented obscurities.
Published the 19th day of February, 2006 in Time | Reviewed by Lev Grossman | Full Review
There’s something irritating about Elizabeth Gilbert’s memoir…. At least two-thirds of it is envy…. She leavens self-involvement with self-deprecation, confessional with humor, and spiritual enthusiasm with Rabelaisian earthiness…. As she slyly acknowledges, much of her spiritual journey is hard for a skeptic to follow. (Here’s where the other third of this reviewer’s irritation comes in.)
Published the 26th day of February, 2006 in Raleigh News & Observer | Reviewed by Charlotte Jackson | Full Review
If a more likable writer than Gilbert is currently in print, I haven’t found him or her…. Gilbert’s prose is fueled by a mix of intelligence, wit and colloquial exuberance that is close to irresistible, and makes the reader only too glad to join the posse of friends and devotees who have the pleasure of listening in…. What’s missing are the textures and confusion and unfinished business of real life, as if Gilbert were pushing these out of sight so as not to come off as dull or equivocal or downbeat…. While I wouldn’t begrudge this massively talented writer a single iota of joy or peace, I found myself more interested, finally, in the awkward, unresolved stuff she must have chosen to leave out.
Published the 26th day of February, 2006 in The New York Times | Reviewed by Jennifer Egan | Full Review
The spirited conversational tone … while often glib, is irresistible…. It’s a theme rife with cliche, but her storytelling skills are a cut above the fray.
Published the 21st day of January, 2010 in The Washington Times | Reviewed by Ann Geracimos | Full Review