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Eat, Pray, Love published by Viking, February 2006
A NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER
Hardcover Nonfiction List 3/12/2006
Acclaimed Best Seller by the American Booksellers Association's
Read Jacket Flaps * Read Reviews
Eat, Pray, Love
The Jacket Flap
published by Viking, February 2006
By the time she turned thirty, Elizabeth Gilbert had everything a modern,
educated, ambitious American woman was supposed to want— a husband, a
house in the country, a successful career. But in-stead of feeling happy and
fulfilled, she was consumed with panic, grief and confusion. She went through a
divorce, a crushing depression, another failed love and the complete
eradication of every-thing she ever thought she was supposed to be.
To recover from all of this, Gilbert took a radical step. In order to give
herself the time and space to find out who she really was and what she really
wanted, she got rid of her belongings, quit her job, left her loved ones behind
and undertook a year-long journey around the world, all alone. Eat, Pray, Love
is the absorbing chronicle of that year. Gilbert's aim was to visit three
places where she could examine one aspect of her own nature, set against the
backdrop of a culture that has traditionally done that one thing very well. In
Italy, she studied the art of pleasure, learning to speak Italian and gaining
the twenty-three happiest pounds of her life. India was for the art of
devotion, where, with the help of a native guru and a surprisingly wise Texan,
she embarked on four months of austere spiritual exploration. Finally, in
Indonesia, she sought her ultimate goal: balance-namely, how to somehow build a
life of equilibrium between worldly enjoyment and divine transcendence. Looking
for these answers on the island of Bali, she became the pupil of an elderly,
ninth- generation medicine man and also fell in love in the very best
way—unexpectedly
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An intensely articulate, sensible, moving and funny memoir of self-discovery,
Eat, Pray, Love is about what can happen when you claim responsibility for your
own contentment It is also about the adventures that can transpire when a woman
stops trying to live in imitation of society's ideals This is a story certain
to touch anyone who has ever woken up to the unrelenting need for change
Elizabeth Gilbert is the author of a story collection, Pilgrims (a finalist for
the PEN/Hemingway Award), a novel, Stern Men, and, most recently, The Last
American Man (a finalist for the National Book Award and the National Book
Critics Circle Award). For the last five years she has worked as a journalist
at GQ, where her feature writing earned her three National Magazine Award
nominations. She lives in Phila
Reviews:
NEW YORK TIMES BOOK 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.” by Jennifer Egan
TIME MAGAZINE
“An engaging, intelligent and entertaining memoir…her account of
her time in India is beautiful and honest and free of patchouli-scented
obscurities.” by Lev Grossman
LOS ANGELES TIMES
“Gilbert's journey is full of mystical dreams, visions and uncanny
coincidences…Yet for every ounce of self-absorption her classical
New-Age journey demands, Gilbert is ready with an equal measure of
intelligence, humor and self-deprecation…Gilbert's wry, unfettered
account of her extraordinary journey makes even the most cynical reader dare to
dream of someday finding God deep within a meditation cave in India, or perhaps
over a transcendent slice of pizza.” by Erika Schickel
SEATTLE POST-Intelligencer
"This is an intriguing and substantive journey recounted with verve, humor
and insight. Others have preceded Gilbert in writing this sort of memoir, but
few indeed have done it better." by John Marshall
ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS
“Fine, sometimes startling…Gilbert doesn’t wear spirituality
like a fresh frock she hopes will make her pretty, but nurtures the spiritual
seed within herself to find the beauty and love in everything.” by Sarah
Peasley
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY
"A" - "This insightful, funny account of her travels reads like
a mix of Susan Orlean and Frances Mayes...Gilbert's journey is well worth
taking." by Jessica Shaw
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
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." Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) (Copyright
Reed Business Information, Inc.)
LIBRARYJOURNAL.com
A Starred Review. "A probing, thoughtful title with a free and easy style,
this work seamlessly blends history and travel for a very enjoyable read.
Highly recommended." by Jo-Anne Mary Benson
BOOKLIST
A Starred Review. "Gilbert, author of The Last American Man (2002) and a
well-traveled I'll-try-anything-once journalist, chronicles her intrepid quest
for spiritual healing. Driven to despair by a punishing divorce and an
anguished love affair, Gilbert flees New York for sojourns in the three Is. She
goes to Italy to learn the language and revel in the cuisine, India to meditate
in an ashram, and Indonesia to reconnect with a healer in Bali. This itinerary
may sound self-indulgent or fey, but there is never a whiny or pious or dull
moment because Gilbert is irreverent, hilarious, zestful, courageous,
intelligent, and in masterful command of her sparkling prose. A captivating
storyteller with a gift for enlivening metaphors, Gilbert is Anne Lamott's hip,
yoga-practicing, footloose younger sister, and readers will laugh and cry as
she recounts her nervy and outlandish experiences and profiles the
extraordinary people she meets. As Gilbert switches from gelato to kundalini
Shakti to herbal cures Balinese-style, she ponders the many paths to divinity,
the true nature of happiness, and the boon of good-hearted, sexy love.
Gilbert's sensuous and audacious spiritual odyssey is as deeply pleasurable as
it is enlightening." by Donna Seaman
Alan Richman's take on "Eat, Pray, Love"
"Spilling out of this funny (and profound) circus car of a book are dozens
of mesmerizing characters, people you'll envy Liz Gilbert for finding, valuing,
loving and, I couldn't help noticing, joining for irresistible meals. I've
never read an adventure quite like one, where a writer packs up her entire life
and takes it on the road." -- Alan Richman.
Anne Lamott on "Eat, Pray, Love"
"This is a wonderful book, brilliant and personal, rich in spiritual
insight, filled with sorrow and a great sense of humor. Elizabeth Gilbert is
everything you would love in a tour guide, of magical places she has traveled
to both deep inside and across the oceans: she's wise, jaunty, human, ethereal,
hilarious, heartbreatking, and God, does she play great attention to the things
that really matter." -- Anne Lamott
Jack Kornfield says about "Eat, Pray, Love"
"Elizabeth Gilbert takes us on pilgrimage, with the humor, insight and
charm that only come with honest self-revelation and good writing." --
Jack Kornfield
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