Stars: 3/5
Location: Italy, India, and Bali (Indonesia)
Sub-genre: Memoir
Publication date: 2007
Well-written and at times hilarious, Eat Pray Love was more an account of Elizabeth Gilbert’s own personal insights than a typical travel book about the places she went. She travels first to Italy, the India, and finally Indonesia in search of certain things and finds all of them as expected.
Her accounts and descriptions are well-written and she is not afraid to poke fun at herself, which is enjoyable. However, everything in her trip seems to be a little too dramatic. I disliked when Gilbert goes off on a fantastic insight/epiphany she has and needs to share. What I liked better was her scenes with people there and scenes that reveal a little of her reaction to the places and cultures around her (as opposed to reacting to feelings she has and debates within herself).
A nice mix of humor, description, and culture reference. For me, I wish Gilbert had more of this: more of the people she met and cultures she experienced, than her personal insights and drama.
Bryanna Plog 