Comparing Eat Pray Love

I'm not a fan of self-help or inspirational books.  I tend to find the tone of these books too...inspirational, let's get together and sing kumbaya-ish. Not so with Eat Pray Love.  I happened to pick the book up about a month ago - it was on sale at my local bookstore, and I thought I might as well read it before the movie came out.

I opened the book and found that I couldn't put it down.  Eat Pray Love is funny, and while not exciting, kept me captivated the entire time. Elizabeth Gilbert really did a great job telling her story.  There are parts of her some of us can relate to - but one theme most can understand: the act of trying to find one's self on life's journey.  

Eat: Her trip to Italy is something that truly made me want to get on a plane, fly to Naples and eat pizza (oddly enough, I did have pizza and wine by my lonesome when I was reading that part of the book).  It's about indulgence and taking a little break from life to find yourself.

Pray: I'm mildly religious and not overly spiritual, so this part of the book was the toughest part for me.  But still, I read through it at a quick pace.  And while I'm not one to sit down and pray too often, I do talk to Buddha once in a while.  If anything, this part of the book encourages self-awareness.

Love: And this is where the book played to this little girl's dream - to have a prince charming sweep me off my feet.  But before that can happen, Gilbert had to learn to love herself.  A lesson that all of us needs to be reminded of occasionally.

Naturally, when the movie opened, I had to go watch it.  A girlfriend and I decided to take in the show tonight - opening night.  I read the reviews before going in, so was expecting the movie to be horrendous, plus I understand that there is no way a book can truly be translated onto film.  

After all, how can a person's inner feelings and thoughts be shown through action, when it takes a professional author like Gilbert over 350 pages to describe?

To be fair, the acting was good - I'm not a big Julia Roberts fan, but did enjoy her performance.  The problem, I think comes from this: Hollywood trying to take something that was already witty and charming and trying to make it even more witty and charming.  For example, the treatment of Gilbert's ex-husband.  For comedic factor, they turned him into a goof. Which isn't the person the book writes about.

There were also parts of the story that weren't explained or explored...i.e. the God-like voice in the beginning of the movie.  Or the fact that Gilbert suffered from depression and considered taking her own life.

The book deals with some very serious issues (depression, divorce and self-worth) - but the beauty of the book is that it wasn't preachy.

Character development also wasn't there.  Luca Spaghetti, for example, deserved more of exploration  (Come on, SPAGHETTI!).  And I can't even talk about Richard from Texas.

I think in the end, Eat Pray Love the movie is a beautiful story with a very weak script.  

I asked myself whether or not I would be this critical if I hadn't read the book.  I honestly don't know.  But what I do know is this: the movie will no doubt inspire many to pick up the book.  

And all of us could probably use a little bit more of Eat (though maybe a bit healthier), Pray (self-awareness) and Love (for ourselves, and for those around us) in our lives.