Interesting Article on books like Eat, Pray, Love

[TulipsAndSunscreen]

http://bitchmagazine.org/article/eat-pray-spend

This article really resonated with me. I did not like the book (other than that the story was interesting) for exactly these reasons! Interested to see what anyone else thought.

[Auspicious]

I haven't read Eat, Pray, Love itself, but had come across that article and agree that it offers a lot of good food for thought on the "priv-lit" genre.

[MDPhDWife]

I am just beginning to read the book and will come back and post on both the article and the book when I'm done.

[SoonerTexan]

Haven't read the book, but love the article, especially the analysis of Oprah. I always thought it was hilariously odd that American women take diet and marriage/relationship advice from the poster yo-yo dieter who never wanted to get married.

[TigerLily]

Awesome! I haven't read the book, but I saw the author speak and wondered some of the same things. It sounds like she had a really great time, but it really isn't realistic for most people financially. and a lot of us wouldn't really be made happy by leaving our husbands and traveling around the world doing cool exotic things alone. not me! I would rather take care of my family...(most of the time anyway)
I'm in a med spouse bookclub and we are reading The Happiness Project. http://www.happinessprojecttoolbox.com/the_book.html It's a little more realistic, but it still obviously won't just make people happy. It has goals for each chapter though like, get more sleep, sing in the morning, make time for friends. For me, things like that make me feel happy!

[HouseofWool]

I had a post all written up and it got eaten...

The gist of it is is this. I really liked Eat Pray Love as well as Committed. That said, I don't see them or any other books in this particular genre as a self-help book, more of a memoir kind of thing. I couldn't finish the article because it was overwhelming negative.

Gilbert didn't write the book intending that hoards of women would follow her path, but rather to document what she did with hers. It was more about finding herself after being completely consumed by her marriage and its subsequent demise. At worst, I think it shows that all of us (who have read the books at least) are a bit voyeristic, wanting to see what someone else has done to screw up their life.

[SuzySunshine]

Gilbert didn't write the book intending that hoards of women would follow her path, but rather to document what she did with hers. It was more about finding herself after being completely consumed by her marriage and its subsequent demise.

I liked the book, I also liked the article - I think the issue is Oprah, not the author. She turns everything into a self help venue, I can't watch her anymore.

[TulipsAndSunscreen]

I liked the book, I also liked the article - I think the issue is Oprah, not the author. She turns everything into a self help venue, I can't watch her anymore.

I liked the book too, as a memoir. Although she does seem a bit preachy about finding yourself. I think Oprah is the main problem, I do think you should strive to make your life good and try to improve trouble spots but I hate that there's NO contentment with anything. Isn't anyone on her show content in ANY aspect of their lives? It just seems to encourage ever more desperate striving.

Same. I liked the book as a memoir. I though Elizabeth Gilbert was pretty honest about the fact that she was really lucky and her journey was not a realistic way for most people to deal with their problems. I never saw it as a self-help book. Nevertheless, I agree with the general gist of the article. I hate the Oprahfication of feminine empowerment, commodification of faux wellness.

[Flynn]

I thought the book was okay. I kept thinking during her travels "this is all well and good but it's NOT real life -- it's vacation!"

I liked the first two parts but when it became analytical towards the end I honestly thought it got pretty fluffy.

She was unhappy due to HER choices. Hers. Don't want a baby? Want a divorce? Okay that's fine but don't paint yourself as the victim. Nobody forced you to get married and if you were ticked your husband wanted a baby -- so do the majority of men who marry I bet. It's not like that was a crazy conclusion. I think I even remember reading she was on board for kids -- but then changed her mind. I'm all for saying "this isn't for me" before you take the plunge but don't play the victim roll.

I'm not a fan of the book but will see the movie. I am always curious how they adapt a novel to a screenplay.

[HouseofWool]

I guess I didn't read it as her painting herself as a victim, but documenting the despair that she felt. I saw it as "I know that things aren't that bad overall, but RIGHT NOW, in MY HEAD things reallyreally suck".

[houseelf]

I'll admit it, I enjoy chic lit and/or priv lit. I enjoyed both of Gilbert's work and agreed with some of the ultimate conclusions she drew even though they are vastly different than the choices I have made with my life. I have to admit that the widespread criticism of Gilbert as a hyper overanalyzer hit close to home and makes me a wee bit protective of her. It's not so bad to be overanalytical is it?

I read every single day of my life. Nonetheless, my literary interest absolutely can not be sustained by reading only Very Important Books. I think one of my all time favorite quotes justifies my slum reading when Faust writes that he desires to “taste within my deepest self. / I want to seize the highest and the lowest / to load its woe and bliss upon my breast / and thus expand my single self titanically.” * (I love the permission this quote gives our hedonistic selves).

But I digress...I freely admit that I enjoy books that pander to purient or hedonistic interests and/or merely entertain. I'm slightly surprised that anyone classifies Gilbert as a self-help author. It is a highly strained reading of EPL to suggest that Gilbert advocates her method as THE way to enlightenment. Read it for what it is. It isn't a license to leave behind the real world and shirk responsibilities, it is an escape, just like Helen Fielding or Stephanie Meyer.

[diggitydot]

EPL isnt my typical genre and I usually avoid books like this, but I'll probably end up reading it. A couple of the gals in DH's program have been trying to get a group of us to read it so we can do a one-off kind of book club night. Not my thing, but it couldn't hurt. The worst that cold happen is I don't like the book and get to drink copious quantities of wine with my friends while we bullshit about other things.

[poky]

I just saw an ad on TV. This is what the voiceover said:

"Elizabeth Gilbert traveled the world in a search for self-discovery. Now you can be a part of the journey. The indulgences of Italy, the inspiration of India, the mystery of Bali. A one-of-a-kind shopping experience in the spirit of Eat, Pray, Love. A special three-day network event. Shop the collection August 6th through the 8th, exclusively on HSN"

(it was an ad in a show recorded a few days ago, hence the dates)

That's pretty much exactly what the article was railing against, isn't it?

[GrayMatterWife]

Can't stand self-help, self-actualization, Oprah, Gwyneth Paltrow, Oprah or Gwyneth discussing their own self-actualization via meditation, vegan recipes, or tantric yoga or whatever the hell New Age fad they've jumped on and how I, too, can be just like them and discover my inner self, or anyone who finds their own story of inner-self-ed-ness so fascinating that it would be worth inflicting upon others.

Kill.me.now.