To think Elizabeth Gilbert massively manipulated public perception with Eat, Pray, Love?

My autistic 15 year old son and I watched it at the weekend. He sat quietly through the first bit in Italy then exclaimed ‘oh fir crying out loud. Cliche or what? She’ll find herself through love? What bullshit’. Then a little later he asked why on EARTH it’s Raj’s favourite movie? ‘ (from big bang which is why we watched it to begin with’) I just got self indulgent navel gazing vibes and also reminded of the similarly excreble the salt path where you just want to shake the main protagonist and tell them to grow the fuck up.

People have always been a sucker for highly embellished "I had such a wild time in foreign lands" stories though. Just look at bestsellers through the ages - The Alchemist, The Story Of San Michele, Seven Pillars Of Wisdom, The Odyssey etc.

I read about 20 pages and could not stomach her self absorbed nonsense, and read a few parts where she is travelling to see if I was missing anything but it was once again filled with the same nonsense this was the height of Eat Pray Love hype

I have no idea how the book became the book you must read but having done a lot of the traveller trails in Asia you meet people like EG all the time

If you want to read a really good funny book about spiritual awakening during travels read Are You Experienced its hilarious

💯

I don't think she did it to make money. More, you can be anything you want to be. As long as you're the one telling the story lol. And come on, nothing wrong with writing yourself a nice wee chunk of Javier Bardem.

Well obviously! All these 'journey' books are written to make money, so they will all twist and bend the truth into something sellable.

EPL = perfect example of ‘auto-fiction’.

I loved it as a sanitised piece of escapism but throughout thought - what! In the whole year she had not one set back????

She tried to kill her most recent lover, a woman. And then wrote a book about it. I will leave you to Google!

I haven't read her stuff and don't plan to, but I'm a bit uncomfortable with having relationships with both sexes being seen as 'rebranding'. I understand how it's easy for monosexual people (either straight or gay) to think of it that way, because it doesn't make sense to them - but some people do just fancy both sexes.

I'm also not really clear how publicising her relationship with a woman would be 'strategic'. Most readers are straight, and are mostly interested in reading about straight relationships. If anything she was probably at least slightly risking her established readership, which wanted to hear about ending up with Javier Bardem, not one's best female friend. Also makes the book harder to publicise in more conservative countries.

Tbf I think even at the time of publication most people thought it was enjoyable fluff (at best). I've not heard anyone seriously describe her as a guru. If anything it read a bit like a soap opera, I think that was the appeal. A bit of a Shirley Valentine thing of running away from real life.

Since then I'd say stuff has come out about her that is more concerning, she seems quite a messed up, manipulative person.

Eat pray love.

Not read the book, but to me its just a woman who wrote a book, and made some money from it.
I have seen the film, and see it as just that a film.
I dont read in to it i just watched it.

DNF the book.

Didn't watch the movie.

A whole lot of bullshit.

She lost me from the opening chapters about how awfully traumatised she felt about walking out of her marriage (she left him not vice versa) so that she needed a publisher to fund her navel-gazing for a year.

If anyone got through that self indulgent borefest and decided to go on a journey of self discovery Id be surprised. ' eat' was ok but god it was tedious!

Do you not just think people change/ evolve/ whatever? So she wrote a book that to be fair was a very enjoyable one, people gravitated towards it but that doesn’t mean she has to live what her philosophies were back then forevermore?

There was no sense of actual self-esteem - I am deeply sceptical of any story where a romantic relationship is required for a happy ending.

Plus - she put on weight because she ate proper dinners in Italy but that was ok because then she went to an ashram and got skinny.

I didnt consider her aspirational in the first place

Is it bad that I’ve never heard of it? 😳

You all should read " The Signature of All Things". Brilliant book. Also her New Yorker and other magazine pieces.

I’ve never read it or seen the film. Trite, mawkish nonsense wrapped up in faux spirituality from what I could gather.

She is of a similar ilk to the writer of the salt path really I feel.

There was a fairly thorough but fair takedown in the guardian a couple of months ago. She's certainly left some broken hearts on the way.

She's a nutter.
But also a great writer.

I have no clue who liked it

The Guardian?? 🤪

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/sep/23/eat-pray-love-review

I mean I skim read it as a still quite naive and slightly idiotic 20something and even then i thought it was a load of American "ohhhh are you excited for Euroooope" navel gazing claptrap

I have no clue who liked it

Groomed? Seriously? She wrote a book, people were free to read it or not, take on board what she wrote or not. I know I read it, think I felt ambivalent about it and don't remember a word of it. Anyone (over 16) who feels one book is their spiritual guide needs to have robust look at themselves.