1638 reviews
Sales Rank: 7

Format: Kindle Book
Media: Kindle Edition
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 352

Dewey Decimal Number: 910.4
ASIN: B000PDYVVG

Publication Date: April 11, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours

Customer Reviews:

Showing reviews 6-10 of 1638

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How bitter can a bunch of amazon reviewers be? September 2, 2008
2 out of 6 found this review helpful

I cannot believe the bitterness found in many of these criticisms. "Self absorbed" "talking only about herself" - get a grip, people! Have you never heard of the literary genres 'MEMOIR' or 'AUTOBIOGRAPHY'? It's a non-fiction book where the author mainly talks about - yes, you guessed it - his / herself. It's about THEIR life. If Miss Gilbert wanted to write about the poverty in India or the effect the breakdown of her marriage was having on her husband, I'm sure she would have written a book called "Poverty in India" or "My Husband, and What the Divorce Did To Him". In fact, it's credit to her that she did not delve into too much detail about the marriage - I am sure she was protecting his privacy. One reviewer had the audacity to complain "the marriage didn't seem that bad" - who is she to judge what constitutes a bad marriage, especially one about which she knows nothing!!? Liz Gilbert never promised to spill all the gory miserable details of her marriage, and why it went so wrong. As mature readers, we have to be able to guess some of it, imagine what might have happened. That's part of the art, and indeed the enjoyment, of reading. If you want a book that explains every single detail of every person and every thought and every place and every colour and every event ...etc etc. you should go back to reading Goldilocks and the Three Bears, and work your way up from there. As reviewers we owe it to the readers of these reviews to at least make an informed and intelligent judgment on the books we choose to review.

1 out of 5 stars

Make your book fit the "Church of Oprah" theology, and get paid.... September 2, 2008
1 out of 6 found this review helpful

I am beginning to see a trend here in reguards to "the Oprah book club". This book pretends to be a Christian book, however, it clearly denies the core Christian belief that Jesus is the only way. The language used in this book is almost exactly like Oprah said before on air during a debate on religion. This book, and oprah's club are capitalizing on people's ignorance. I think many buy this new-age garbage hook, line and sinker. If you deny that Jesus is the only way, are denying God, and you will not be able to go to heaven. Say what? Yes, God is a holy God, sin can not be in his presense. So, without Jesus dying for our sins, taking our sins away, How can we be in the presence of an all-Holy God? The answer is, we can not. Some may tell you that the true Christians preaching "JEsus is the only way" is mean, however you will be thankful on Judgement day, becaue your sins will be forgiven by what Jesus did on the cross and you will have access to God. Even here on earth, you do not have access to God without being born-again. John 3:3. You must accept Jesus in order to have communications with God. I would avoid this book at all cost, the author is dangerously ignorant.

2 out of 5 stars

I saw Oprah/author hyping the book September 2, 2008
3 out of 4 found this review helpful

Obviously, I can't write a review of the book since I haven't read it.

But this I know: the journey occurred after the book was approved...so her eating, praying, loving adventures probably wouldn't have happened without publisher funding.

And that is an important point. The book is being hyped as empowering women to do things that they've been hesitant to do. Which in general is good, but the book hypers say 'just do it!' which is not good. Believe it or not, the 'just do it!' attitude is unfortunately normal. Thus, being broke and unhappy with life is normal.

The book pushes people to live like no one else (like how you really want to live)...but it doesn't stress that to live like no one else, you first have to live like no one else...yes, that is from Dave Ramsey. Ramsey's books TRULY empower you so you can spend a few months traveling, so you can spend a couple hours every day praying, etc.

EPL seems to be victim-based, escapist drivel.

At the end of the Oprah show, the author's mother gives the author a compliment, but the author turns the compliment into an attack...so after all that spiritual growth, she is still just playing the victim, curling up on a couch...hiding from the world.

EPL does touch on some valuable concepts, but doesn't deliver in prose or as a living example. She talks about the virtue of selfishness...I would much rather you read The Virtue of Selfishness by Ayn Rand than EPL.

Concerning saying "Yes" to life, that is good, but she appears to be quite a negative person. You can just sense her immaturity, snideness, fear, and bitterness.

Concerning eating well, great...Americans can learn a lot from other cultures. But I'd prefer you learn that from nutritionist gurus (like Gary Null), than escapist, elitist EPL prose.

And again, if you truly want to be able to have the financial means to live as you want to live, read Dave Ramsey. He teaches you how to get out of debt and become wealthy in a way that increases personal relationships. Yes, he has a Christian slant, but no one is perfect.

People need to understand that life is short...and the belief systems that we play around with when we are young seriously influence us well into middle age and often beyond.

EPL is being hyped as an empowering belief system or path, but subscribing to/following it will likely lead to an empty, bitter, victim-based life...like the author's.

5 out of 5 stars

Highly recommended September 2, 2008
1 out of 5 found this review helpful

I loved this book by Elizabeth Gilbert. It was sweet, funny, and seemed honest. I was even a little sad when I finished it. I read a lot, and can't remember the last time I recommended a book to anyone, but I've recommended this one to friends.

2 out of 5 stars

Would've been better as an article in Cosmo September 2, 2008
4 out of 5 found this review helpful

Against the better recommendations of several friends, I picked up this book at my local library. It started out well enough...I was appropriately sympathetic to Ms Gilbert's relationship woes. Who hasn't huddled on a cold bathroom floor, sobbing, at 3A? And the Italy segment was fun, as she slowly pulled herself together with the help of pasta, pizza and gelato. Oh, and scrumptious young Italian boys. Her ruminations on WHY she picked this particular time to be celibate were particularly amusing.

Then it all went downhill. Too, too much of Ms Gilbert is really not a good thing. While she is genuinely funny at times, she obviously stretched too far for the jokes (and that's just poor editing, someone needed to tell the writer when to STOP) and the self-absorption just became annoying. While I can certainly relate to the joys of a road romance to rekindle one's inner spark, her descriptions of the Brasilian were tedious and lacking any real fire about HIM. The fire was all reserved for herself.

I think, ultimately, this would have been terrific as a 3-part installment in Cosmo or Oprah's magazine.