Or rather, just
Eat, since that's as far as I made it before throwing in the towel. I went into this book with high hopes, since seemingly everyone I talked to just raved about it. What with the new movie out based on the book, I was excited to jump right in. I liked the first few stories. It was compelling and interesting ... but then Liz, the narrator, moved to Italy. I lost her somewhere around her 10 thousandth description of Roman pasta and/or gelato. Being a food-centric person, I was surprised to find myself intensely bored by all of it. And I've been to Rome, I know what she's talking about, and yet still. Instead of this enlightening, soul-searching literary experience, all I got was "blah blah blah I'm so lonely, blah blah blah pastries are yummy."
I gave up on it, and normally it takes me a lot to abandon a book part-way through. I've read
Heart of Darkness and
Anna Karenina cover-to-cover, for Pete's sake, I can read anything. But not this. Emphatic thumbs down. What I expected to be a 21st Century woman's
Fear of Flying (which is by far one of the best pieces of feminist literature ever, go read it immediately), yet all I got was a craving for bruschetta.
Oh well. Life is too short to read crappy books.
On to the next thing on the shelf ...
Another highly touted novel. Hope this one lives up to expectations, since I already own the second one in the trilogy, so I feel an obligation to read both.
Uncle Pete is reading the Dragon Tattoo book. He says it's getting better and better. It started a little slow but now he's enjoying it. And don't forget to read "Learning to Drive in the Rain" - you'll like Enzo.
ReplyDeleteThe girl with the dragon tattoo starts slowly. I am so glad I didn't give up on it because it turned out to be a fantastic read.
ReplyDeleteI definitely didn't make it all the way through the heart of darkness. Well done!
I was thinking about reading the book but I might just see the movie :-)
ReplyDeleteLet us know how the second book is!
Found your blog through weddingbee. :)
ReplyDeleteI am so glad that I'm not the only one who didn't enjoy 'Eat, Pray, Love'.. I had such high hopes for it too especially with the movie coming out. I made it through 'Eat' and I was done! It was very "I'm so lonely..I want to eat" on repeat. haha
I had to seriously skim through the "pray" part, but once you get to the "love" part it's back to being interesting! :)
ReplyDeleteYou crack me up....thanks for the honest review about that book because I almost gave in and purchased it for my ipad. Please let me know what you think about The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, thats one thats on my list as well.
ReplyDeleteOh man, it just gets better from there. It would really be worth your while to get to the other parts. The Eat part is pretty superficial, but it just goes deeper and deeper from there. Don't quit it!!!
ReplyDeleteI HATED Eat Pray Love. HATED. How unoriginal. A middle-aged divorcee takes all her dollars and trots around the globe to eat and pray and maybe find love. Gag. I read the whole thing, pretty much out of spite. You didn't miss anything by quitting. It sucked. I will def. not be seeing the movie. I sort of resent that she's now a millionaire because of her lame, unoriginal life. Bah.
ReplyDeleteI wasn't a fan of the book that much either, yes it had its occasional good points, but for me it was nothing I had never heard before. I had to put it down about half way through and figured I was just bored with it and thought maybe I would return to it...NOPE not yet! I dunno it seemed to mopey and self exploration doesn't necessarily touch people that aren't in that same situation...I guess I can see the appeal to people who are going through self discovery. As far as your new read I hope it's good...I saw the movie and it was weird!
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