The bestselling book by Elizabeth Gilbert, “Eat, Pray, Love,” is an autobiographical work that has received mixed reviews from readers around the world. The novel is dedicated to the most difficult topic - the search for the meaning of life. The heroine of the work finds peace of mind gradually, in the process of traveling the world and searching for herself. Numerous reviews and reviews of the book “Eat, Pray, Love,” prompted the American director Ryan Murphy to make the film of the same name.
The novel was published in 2006. In the first year after release, the work became a real bestseller. Initially, the book "Eat, Pray, Love" was published in English. Over time, the work was translated into many other languages, including Russian. By the way, Eat, Pray, Love is the true name of the book in English. “Eat, pray, love” and “Eat, pray, love” - these are two correct versions of the translation, both are considered correct.
Four years after the publication based on the work, a motion picture was shot in which Julia Roberts got the main role. The name of the film, which is most often mentioned in reviews is “Eat, Pray, Love,” and the book “Eat, Pray, Love.” Both the novel and the film gained popularity not only in the United States, but also in other countries.
Idea of ​​the work
The fact that the novel is biographical, says nothing more than the name of the main character. Her name is the same as the best-selling author. You can understand this by barely opening the book.
The plot of the work is dedicated to Elizabeth - a very prosperous and successful woman. Until a certain moment, she lived, not realizing that her life was going wrong, as if by herself. The result of a feeling of dissatisfaction was thoughts about the need for divorce from her husband. After the separation, the heroine tries to start a new life, or rather, find its meaning, restore internal balance. To do this, Elizabeth decides to go on a trip for a whole year. During this time she was in Italy, India, Indonesia.
Even the annotation speaks of the basic idea of ​​this work. It ends like this:
... "Eat, Pray, Love" is a book about how you can find joy where you do not wait, and how you do not need to look for happiness where it will not be. By definition.
Structure and main sections
The book "Eat, Pray, Love" includes three parts, each of which contains 36 chapters. In the annotation, the writer herself compares the content of her work with oriental rosaries, calling them 108 beads in a rosary for reading mantras and seeking happiness.
Each section describes Elizabeth's tenure in one of three countries. For example, in Italy, the author paints in detail how the heroine learned the local language and got acquainted with the cuisine of Italians. In this country, a woman came to understand simple human joys. She realized that you need to accept the changes without fear and fear, with confident steps to enter the new day and enjoy everything that brings it. First of all, you need to enjoy food and not be afraid to gain excess weight. At the end of the first section of The Eat, Pray, Love, the author Elizabeth Gilbert summarizes the first journey. Thanks to a four-month stay in Italy, Liz learned to hope and believe, to see the light at the end of the tunnel. More accurately convey the experience of the heroine will quote from the book:
... gathered herself in pieces and with the help of innocent pleasures turned into a much more holistic being.
In India, Elizabeth, tormented by mental torment, gets a unique opportunity to understand herself and open herself to God. According to the plot, the heroine lives in the ashram - the abode of the sage, is engaged in meditation, meets new people. During the time spent in India, the inner world of Liz is seriously changing, and she sees these changes herself.
The heroine has high hopes for the upcoming trip to Indonesia. Arriving on the island of Bali, she quickly gets used to the way of life of local people, begins to seek communication, build relationships with them. At the end of Elizabeth Gilbert’s novel “Eat, Pray, Love,” the woman shares her conclusions. She finally realized that the world is harmonious, but in order to feel this and become a part of it, you need to open your heart to love.
How readers perceived the novel
Judging by the reviews, the book "Eat, Pray, Love" was perceived by the audience differently. Many Russian and foreign literary critics in their reviews call the work a real masterpiece, but you can also find directly opposite responses in which readers complain about the tedious and uninteresting narrative. Some writers confidently attribute the book “Eat, Pray, Love” to the category of women's novels. At the same time, their opponents have no doubt: the work of the American writer will be interesting to people of different social status, age and gender.
There are also such reviews about the book “Eat, Pray, Love,” in which readers talk about how the novel changed their own lives, made them reconsider their attitude to many things. How many people, so many opinions, so a different attitude to the same novel takes place, which is completely natural. The work was written in an accessible and understandable language for all readers, but given how quickly Gilbert's book gained popularity and was recognized as a bestseller, the work can rightly be called extraordinary.
A few words about the life of the author
Elizabeth Gilbert was born July 18, 1969 in the town of Waterbury, Connecticut. The father of the writer was a chemical engineer, his mother was a nurse. In addition to Elizabeth, another child grew up in the family - her sister Katherine, who later also became a writer.
Together with her parents and sister, Elizabeth spent all her childhood on a small family farm in Litchfield, where the family was engaged in growing Christmas trees. Surprisingly, the Gilbert family had no neighbors, no television, no music player, so they received all the news from the newspapers. Reading books and writing small plays was the main entertainment in the family, especially for the sisters.
The author of "Eat, Pray, Love" Elizabeth Gilbert in 1991 received a higher education at a university in New York with a degree in political science. But despite having a bachelor's degree, after studying, she had to work as a cook, waitress, journalist. Interestingly, Gilbert wrote short essays and notes about her culinary experience, some of which are found in her book, The Last American Man, which was published in 2002.
The debut in her writing career was the publication of the story "Pilgrims" in 1993. At that time, Gilbert collaborated with Esquire magazine as a freelance writer. The work of the young writer received a lot of reviews, and Elizabeth herself received offers about the journalist's permanent work in leading national publishers (The New York Times Magazine, SPIN, Travel + Leisure, Allure, GQ, Real Simple).
In addition to the book “Eat, Pray, Love,” to the full version of which there is free access today, Gilbert is the author of another film adaptation. We are talking about the memoirs “Muse Salon“ Ugly Coyote ””, which tells about Elizabeth's work as a waitress in the East Village institution of the same name. They were published in 1997 in the journal GQ. Based on this work, the film “The Ugly Coyote Bar” was shot.
According to Watkins' Mind Body Spirit magazine, in 2012, Gilbert was ranked sixth in the ranking of the most influential spiritual leaders of our time. The personal life of the writer was not so successful. Gilbert has two marriages. The first time she married Michael Cooper. This union lasted from 1994 to 2002. Five years later, the writer connected herself with family ties with Jose Nunes. In the summer of 2016, the couple broke up. In September of the same year, the famous writer came out and announced a relationship with her friend Raya Elias. Apparently, this was the reason for the breakup with Jose Nunes.
Summary
Each reader has the opportunity to find his own meaning in the book "Eat, Pray, Love." According to reviews, the picture, which the author strove to convey, turned out to be so rich and realistic that it makes one involuntarily plunge into the plot. For some, the book becomes a romantic adventure warming on cold winter evenings, for others it becomes a guide to a trip to the described countries, because Italy, Indonesia and India are really interesting to describe here.
The meeting with the main character takes place at the most crucial moment of her life. The story begins with the second chapter, in which the 31-year-old Elizabeth, who seems to have everything for happiness (a good education, a successful family life, a successful career and wealth), realizes herself deeply unhappy. With her husband, they moved away from each other, so she spends nights in the bathroom, sitting and sobbing on the floor. And most importantly, Elizabeth realized that she did not want children. Here is a quote from the book “Eat, Pray, Love”:
... I do not want to be married anymore. I do not want to live in this house. I do not want to have children. But how is it - I do not want children ?! I have to want them! I am thirty one years old. My husband and I have been together for eight years, married six, and our whole life is built on the belief that after thirty - it's time to settle down - I finally calm down and give birth to a baby ...
After parting with her husband after a painful and protracted divorce process, she became close to another man, but this relationship did not take place. The connection brought the heroine only intensified the pain of loneliness and a feeling of emptiness. Fortunately, Elizabeth was given the task of writing a new article on yoga, so she went to Bali on a business trip, which the publication paid for. There, the heroine met the doctor in the ninth generation. The Balinese medicine man then told her that she would return here. Elizabeth was skeptical of the prediction.
Returning to America, the heroine finally received the long-awaited divorce, but she still could not find peace of mind. Her body and soul were corroded by depression. The thought of traveling crept in not by accident: Elizabeth had high hopes for him. She wanted to run away from everything that surrounded her and reminded her of a lack of happiness. Everything was decided with the trip by itself, when Elizabeth received an interesting offer from the publisher: he pays her a year of wandering around the world, and in a year she undertakes to provide him with an autobiographical novel in which she will describe her emotional experiences and impressions of the trip.
Three countries
Those moments that Elizabeth survived are familiar to many women, but, despite their strong desire, not every one of them has the courage to make drastic changes in her life. The main character did not just decide on a difficult annual trip, which implied a change in the outer shell of her existence. Liz longed for a complete inner rebirth. Gilbert's book “Eat, Pray, Love” is the story of renewal, coup, transformation of a broken and unhappy woman into a happy, harmonious and purposeful one.
So, the path to reincarnation lay through an amazing and long journey through three countries, in each of which she spent four months:
- Italy (“Yes”). Here Elizabeth learned to live at her pleasure, tasting national dishes and learning Italian.
- India ("Pray"). In this country, the main character was in search of spirituality. Here she was able to let go of her suffering and accept herself, purifying her mind through prayer and service to God.
- Indonesia (“To Love”). On the island of Bali, Elizabeth returned inner balance and harmony, gained inner wisdom and met true love in the person of the Brazilian Felippe. By the way, Jose Nunes, the former spouse of the writer, is the prototype of this hero.
What impression does the novel make?
At the end of the work “Eat, Pray, Love,” Elizabeth Gilbert, it becomes clear to the reader that the whole path taken by the main character was not meaningless. If you look at the plot superficially, it may seem that the trip is nothing but an escape from problems and from oneself. In fact, the woman went to wander through her inner world.
Reading the book “Eat, Pray, Love,” according to reviews, makes each of us think about how well we know ourselves, whether we are able to forgive others or to acknowledge our own mistakes, whether we allow ourselves to act at the behest of the heart, and not of reason, or fear. Once, each person asks the question: what is more correct - to live a familiar life or dramatically change everything in it? Everyone has their own answers.
The heroine is depicted in Elizabeth Gilbert’s book “Eat, Pray, Love,” a bright personality, an active and emotional woman, a talented writer. The novel shows all aspects of her life, describes in detail experiences, excitement, resentment, pain. Many readers, judging by the responses, in the course of reading compare their feelings with what Liz feels. Sometimes it’s very difficult to keep track of the author’s thoughts, which is somewhat hindered by detailed descriptions of rituals and traditions (especially in the section on India). But despite the fact that the book is overloaded with information of secondary importance, it gives a strong impetus to introspection. Gilbert shared many wise and valuable thoughts. One of the interesting quotes:
... We agree to suffer because we are afraid of change. Ruins must be appreciated, because this is the path to change. One must always be prepared for rapid and continuous changes ...
Which is better - a movie or a book?
The Hollywood film studio Columbia Pictures bought the rights to the novel and based on this work released a film of the same name. Some of the points that are in the full book “Eat, Pray, Love,” are absent in the picture. But still the film turned out to be quite interesting and successful, an indicator of which was the huge box office, more than three times the budget.
The movie was released in the summer of 2010. The main role in the movie was played by American actress Julia Roberts. The script and director was Ryan Murphy. In addition to the Hollywood "beauty", other stars starred in the film (James Franco, Richard Jenkins). The role of Felippe was played by Javier Bardem.
And the picture begins and ends in Bali. At first, the actress appears in the image of Elizabeth, standing on the verge, in the end - in the image of Liz, who has already found her right path. As often happens, filming a picture based on specific works, directors usually take into account the idea, purpose, main points, but little things and some events are missed. It happened with the film "Eat, Pray, Love." The book spells out in detail why the main character makes exactly such decisions, why she does just that, and not otherwise. In the cinema, the frames seem fragmentary, although for those who have not read the full version of the novel, the result may seem successful.
The film, based on the book “Eat, Pray, Love,” is often called a short retelling of the work in reviews. Of great importance for the successful adaptation of the novel is the successful selection of actors. According to the audience, the director did an excellent job with this task. All actors are fully consistent with the types of their heroes. Viewers also note the comfortable psychological atmosphere of the film, and the organic combination of what is happening on the set with music, landscapes, and extras, allowing you to directly immerse yourself in the culture of each of the countries in which the action took place. In general, the film creates a positive impression, as many seem bright and optimistic.
Many people ask what is better - to read a book or a movie to watch. Most recommend both. But if you really want to join the work and delve deeply into its essence, keep in mind that the film is just an illustration for the novel. That is why it is better to start with Gilbert’s memoirs. The film lasts a little over two hours - during this period of time it is quite difficult to fit all the multifaceted sides of this story.
On the other hand, watching the film will set the right mood, and the book “Eat, Pray, Love” Elizabeth Gilbert will allow you to delve deeper and more fundamentally into the thoughts of the heroine, to find out the reasons for her actions. Only together a film and a book will help you better feel the story and get positive emotions.
Psychological analysis of the work
It is believed that Elizabeth Gilbert’s novel, “Eat, Pray, Love,” is more focused on a female audience, apparently because most of the reviews are left by women. The problems faced by the main character are really familiar to many modern women. The most difficult thing in such situations is to find a way out of the impasse of depression and find ways to come to life, to feel real.
In fact, no less enjoyment from acquaintance with this work is received by men. Why is the reader so deeply imbued with the plot of this novel? First of all, because the plot is real, based on events from the author’s biography. Empathy is a natural psychological reaction, because each person is trying to "try on" what is happening on himself, to feel the whole salt of a particular situation. What the main character survived can theoretically happen to each of us, regardless of gender, marital status, presence of children, etc.
From the first pages, the heroine attracts the attention of readers to her problems. Once Elizabeth came to the realization that life was not going according to her script. The woman, bursting with bitter tears, began to analyze the past years, as a result of which she decided to completely rebuild and radically change her inner world, to open up to new achievements and changes. She herself does not understand why she is sobbing sobbing in the bathroom, because she seems to be doing well. Elizabeth does not understand her own desires and turns to God for help. She appeals to the Almighty, declaring that she does not want to live so further. What is so lacking for a woman who, it would seem, has everything? And Elizabeth needs only one thing - to achieve enlightenment, which subsequently will push her to change.
On the other hand, the heroine’s unhappy husband can be considered the real victim of this novel. Elizabeth refused him in exchange for the realization of her desires. After all, her husband did not interfere with her career at all, was not against traveling, meditating, delicious food and other worldly pleasures that Liz supposedly found again. In this sense, its actions are not amenable to logic.
It is common for a person to seize any stressful situations. Ample portions of various goodies, as a cure for depression, have become partly a symbol of the main character’s trip to Italy. But why exactly this country? After all, Elizabeth could go anywhere, even to Russia. Then, instead of Italian gastronomic masterpieces on the Apennines, she would have to savor cabbage soup with cutlets, dumplings and borsch. On the other hand, the author describes Italy fascinatingly, not limited to culinary delights. In this section, readers come across the traveler’s notes and the foreigner's look at a foreign country. Moreover, Gilbert is not engaged in stating certain facts, but simply shares curious little things that can be forgotten immediately after reading without a twinge of conscience.
In a similar way, the writer talks about her everyday life in Asian countries. With everything she talks about, she had to face in person. At the same time, Gilbert did not try to open India as well as Italy. The primary for her was the Buddhist teaching and the development of meditation. It’s hard to understand the connection between yoga, meditation and God that an American Catholic has grasped, but only one thing is clear: it’s important to achieve perfection in any direction.
Criticism of the author
The work of Elizabeth Gilbert "Eat, Pray, Love," according to reviews, is not like those who have already visited those countries that the American wrote about. The description of national characteristics is too superficial, and therefore carries no valuable information in itself. On the other hand, scarce information about India and Indonesia may be an incentive for readers who want to know more about these countries.
The novel will also not appeal to those who are familiar with the methods of meditation, yoga, searched for themselves and once experienced the torment of reassessing life values ​​and self-determination, or, conversely, always knew what they want in life. The heroine often annoys such people. Little sympathy for Elizabeth and men.
Many readers find this book shallow and false. Allegedly, the work was written insincerely with the expectation of the psychology of a modern woman and the use of the weaknesses of readers. To someone, the novel seems so boring and dull that they do not have the strength to read it to the end.
Another drawback of the work is its Americanism. Roman Gilbert is not much different from typical American stories in which far-fetched and exaggerated problems take place. There is falsity in the atmosphere, which causes rejection, especially among readers from Russia. On the other hand, one cannot meet here the platitudes of ladies' novels, or the abstruse philosophical maxims.
Positive feedback
In general, the book is madly liked by people who dream of traveling to distant lands. Gilbert interestingly describes the orders and foundations, the appearance of local residents, their values ​​and attitudes, points to the main differences in the mentality of Americans and Europeans, people of the West and East. A competent and unobtrusive historical excursion conducted by the writer is dosed in the text. If you believe what readers write in their reviews, “Eat, Pray, Love,” Gilbert is an accessible and easy to read work, not overloaded with foreign phrases and complex philosophical treatises.
The work of the writer allows us to understand that all people are different. Here completely different heroes meet with their history. Each of them contributed to this book, shared a piece of his life and philosophy. Readers note the advantage of monologues over dialogs in quantity - this allows you to better understand the feelings and desires of the main characters. The book seems to absorb, involuntarily makes you plunge into the world of Elizabeth and experience all the events with her.
This novel will be especially useful for ladies who have learned the hardships of the divorce process. It is worth reading the book also for pregnant women, who, against the background of hormonal failure, often become suspicious, tearful and insecure. The work of the American writer motivates self-improvement and self-development, is an excellent incentive for reading books about yoga and meditation, about Indian gurus and Indonesian healers, and the social structure in Bali. After reading the book, many readers have a desire to go to Italy and enjoy the best dishes in the world, learn the language and never lose heart!