Tell a Tale: Eat, Pray, Love

“In desperate love, we always invent the characters of our partners,

demanding they be what we need of them, and then feeling devastated

when they refuse to perform the role we created in the first place.”
― Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat, Pray, Love

Summary (from Goodreads):
In her early thirties, Elizabeth Gilbert had everything a modern American woman was supposed to want--husband, country home, successful career--but instead of feeling happy and fulfilled, she felt consumed by panic and confusion. This wise and rapturous book is the story of how she left behind all these outward marks of success, and of what she found in their place. Following a divorce and a crushing depression, Gilbert set out to examine three different aspects of her nature, set against the backdrop of three different cultures: pleasure in Italy, devotion in India, and on the Indonesian island of Bali, a balance between worldly enjoyment and divine transcendence.

Review:
Wow, I had no idea this was such a controversial book.  I loved it, but when I read other reviews online I was completely surprised by how many people hated it and talked about how narcissistic the author is.  It's a memoir people!  Of course she's going to spend the majority of the pages talking about herself.

Maybe I can just relate because so much of her story is my story.  Not the divorce and terrible depression, but the travelling, constantly in search of something, of yourself, of where you belong in the world.  I can relate to her reticence about love and relationships, having to leave someone even though there's nothing earth shattering wrong, and about not fitting into everyone else's idea about what we're supposed to do and want when we're all grown up.

I loved her journey, her struggles, and her insights.  It's an incredibly easy read and considering it touches on some pretty serious issues in life, it's relatively light hearted and even humorous.

The one and only thing that took away from it for me was when it was made into a movie with Julia Roberts as the lead.  I never would've watched the movie at all except on a long overseas flight it was the only movie I hadn't seen, so I had to press play.  Of course, like most adapted movies, it doesn't live up to the book.

If you're a woman facing big changes or decisions in your life or if you've come through something challenging, then I think you'll enjoy this book.  You'll find a kindred spirit in Elizabeth Gilbert and I think you'll be happy to know, you're not alone out there.

Have you read this book?  Do you think it deserves the extreme criticism from reviewers or the high praise from Oprah?  Did you love it or hate it?  Let us all know in the comments below~