Reviews

A meditation on love in its many formslove of food, language, humanity, God, and most meaningful for Gilbert, love of self. ("Los Angeles Times")

Gilberts prose is fueled by a mix of intelligence, wit and colloquial exuberance that is close to irresistible. ("The New York Times Book Review")

A meditation on love in its many forms?love of food, language, humanity, God, and most meaningful for Gilbert, love of self. ("Los Angeles Times")

An engaging, intelligent, and highly entertaining memoir. ("Time")

Gilbert's prose is fueled by a mix of intelligence, wit and colloquial exuberance that is close to irresistible. ("The New York Times Book Review")

This insightful, funny account of her travels reads like a mix of Susan Orlean and Frances Mayes. ("Entertainment Weekly")

This is a wonderful book, brilliant and personal, rich in spiritual insight. (Anne Lamott)

Gilbert (The Last American Man ) grafts the structure of romantic fiction upon the inquiries of reporting in this sprawling yet methodical travelogue of soul-searching and self-discovery. Plagued with despair after a nasty divorce, the author, in her early 30s, divides a year equally among three dissimilar countries, exploring her competing urges for earthly delights and divine transcendence. First, pleasure: savoring Italy's buffet of delights - the world's best pizza, free-flowing wine and dashing conversation partners - Gilbert consumes la dolce vita as spiritual succor. "I came to Italy pinched and thin," she writes, but soon fills out in waist and soul. Then, prayer and ascetic rigor: seeking communion with the divine at a sacred ashram in India, Gilbert emulates the ways of yogis in grueling hours of meditation, struggling to still her churning mind. Finally, a balancing act in Bali, where Gilbert tries for equipoise "betwixt and between" realms, studies with a merry medicine man and plunges into a charged love affair. Sustaining a chatty, conspiratorial tone, Gilbert fully engages readers in the year's cultural and emotional tapestry - conveying rapture with infectious brio, recalling anguish with touching candor - as she details her exotic tableau with history, anecdote and impression. (On sale Feb. 20) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

A meditation on love in its many formslove of food, language, humanity, God, and most meaningful for Gilbert, love of self. ("Los Angeles Times")
Gilberts prose is fueled by a mix of intelligence, wit and colloquial exuberance that is close to irresistible. ("The New York Times Book Review")
A meditation on love in its many forms?love of food, language, humanity, God, and most meaningful for Gilbert, love of self. ("Los Angeles Times")
An engaging, intelligent, and highly entertaining memoir. ("Time")
Gilbert's prose is fueled by a mix of intelligence, wit and colloquial exuberance that is close to irresistible. ("The New York Times Book Review")
This insightful, funny account of her travels reads like a mix of Susan Orlean and Frances Mayes. ("Entertainment Weekly")
This is a wonderful book, brilliant and personal, rich in spiritual insight. (Anne Lamott)