*Book Movie Match Up* Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

Photo Credit: Goodreads

Genre: Memoir

Published: January 30, 2007

Pages: 364

Ages: 14+

Synopsis

A transformational journey through Italy, India, and Bali searching for pleasure and devotion—the massive bestseller from the author of Big Magic, on sale now!
This beautifully written, heartfelt memoir touched a nerve among both readers and reviewers. Elizabeth Gilbert tells how she made the difficult choice to leave behind all the trappings of modern American success (marriage, house in the country, career) and find, instead, what she truly wanted from life. Setting out for a year to study three different aspects of her nature amid three different cultures, Gilbert explored the art of pleasure in Italy and the art of devotion in India, and then a balance between the two on the Indonesian island of Bali. By turns rapturous and rueful, this wise and funny author (whom Booklist calls “Anne Lamott’s hip, yoga- practicing, footloose younger sister”) is poised to garner yet more adoring fans.

Review

This was my book club's selection for October's meeting. It's actually impressive that I'm finishing it less than a month late. I also wasn't the only attendee who hadn't finished the book yet, which is important to me.

The book has three very distinct parts, which should be made abundantly clear by the title. I think it takes a very special kind of person to connect with all three of them, and I'm not one of those people. But I also think most people will be able to connect with at least one of the three parts.

I connected with the eating in Italy, and not just because I'm a fat kid that loves pasta and gelato. I think part of the connection is that I currently live in Germany, which is really not so far from Italy (most delivery places in Germany, in my experience, have fairly big Italian food sections on their menu even). In addition to that, I'm trying to learn a second language, although not as aggressively as Elizabeth Gilbert did (after 5 years of living in Germany I'm fluent in food and that's pretty much it.) Whatever the case, I felt like I was actually part of her life in Rome. 

The sections of the book in India and Indonesia left me feeling like I was just reading a stolen diary. The whole book really felt like reading a stolen diary, but I felt less sucked into the ashram and Bali than I did Rome. Those segments weren't as engaging for me, and that's really why I didn't finish the book sooner. I flew through Rome, and drug my feet through India and Bali. 

Overall I'd give Eat Pray Love 4 out of 5 stars because it was interesting and I think there is at least something for everyone to connect with. - Katie 

Buy the Book

Amazon

About the Author

Elizabeth Gilbert is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Eat, Pray, Love, as well as the short story collection, Pilgrims--a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Award, and winner of the 1999 John C. Zacharis First Book Award from Ploughshares. A Pushcart Prize winner and National Magazine Award-nominated journalist, she works as writer-at-large for GQ. Her journalism has been published in Harper's Bazaar, Spin, and The New York Times Magazine, and her stories have appeared in Esquire, Story, and the Paris Review.

Photo Credit: IMDB

Starring: Julia Roberts and Javier Bardem

Directed by: Ryan Murphy

In Theaters: August 13, 2010

Review

As I have done in the past, I watched the movie immediately after finishing the book, and I took notes. Unlike in the past, I stopped taking notes fairly early on because the movie is almost an entirely different story. Even Elizabeth Gilbert seems like an entirely different person in the movie than she does in the book.

I felt like Italy and the part leading up to it were fairly spot on, condensed so things were left out and some small changes were made, but overall they were pretty close to the same. India and Indonesia were barely recognizable as being from Eat Pray Love at all. There were some details that were the same, but not many, and even those things were drastically changed at their heart.

The thing that really got me though, was Elizabeth herself. In the book she describes herself as being very outgoing and able to make friends anywhere. That even comes across in the stories she tells. Additionally, she embraces the adventure she's set herself on whole-heartedly. She hits some bumps, but overall, she's excited to be doing this. In the movie, she comes off as excessively confrontational, especially with Richard from Texas, and rather timid and shy. She honestly made me think more of myself in the movie, and that's not who Elizabeth Gilbert is (unless she did a wonderful job of lying to us in the book). 

I was also bothered by the fact that they added romantic drama to compensate for the real-life drama they cut from the story. It seemed completely unnecessary to me. 

Overall I give the movie 3 stars because I think I would have enjoyed it if I hadn't read the book first, but it gets a big, fat F as an adaptation. 

Buy the Movie

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Challenges

I used this book to fulfill one of my TBR Pile book requirements for the Book Bingo challenge. It was the selected book for my last book club meeting, so it fits. 

For the Popsugar challenge I used it to fulfill the Book I Own but Have Never Read category. I bought it at the thrift store a couple years ago, never got around to reading it. It definitely counts. 

Other categories it could fulfill include

A book that became a movie

A funny book (parts of it)

A book by a female author

A book set in a different country (3 of them)

A nonfiction book

A book a friend recommended

A book based on a true story

A memoir

A book set somewhere I've always wanted to visit (Rome)

A book by an author I'd never read before